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e91 keith barker – telling a really good story
Season 3 Episode 91
- 'I look for stories that are not there just to educate people. If I tell a really good story and it happens to be about the global crisis, about global warming and about the effects on community, if I get your heart, then you're gonna go forward and look at other things, you're gonna start doing some research. It's like, I wanna look at and so to me, I always tell people, tell a really good story and get them on your side, and then they'll go and do their own work. As opposed to like, these are the seven things that are happening in the world right now, due to global warming. When people feel that they, they immediately start going to their shopping list or the things that they're gonna do, or if they feel they're being lectured but if you tell them a really good story, they're gonna be engaged in the story they're gonna, their heart's gonna be in, they'll have a nice little cry or they'll get angry and they'll, they'll walk outta that theatre and they will feel empowered to do something or maybe empowered to read something or to reach out to an MP and say, I gotta do something.'
eith Barker is from the Métis Nation of Ontario and is artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts in Tkaronto. He is the winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Playwrights Guild’s Carol Bolt Award for best new play. He received a Saskatchewan and Area Theatre Award for Excellence in Playwriting for his play, The Hours That Remain, as well as a Yukon Arts Award for Best Art for Social Change.
He’s a kind, generous and thoughtful person.
I met Keith while we were both working at the Canada Council in the mid 2010’s. We reconnected at the National Arts Centre’s 2019 Summit on Theatre and Climate Change presented at The Banff Centre.
Our conversation touched upon indigenous theatre, the impact of telling a good story and the impact of placing artists in spaces with community members, telling their stories and talking about the crisis ands includes excerpts from e92 santee smith - about SKéN:NEN and interconnectedness and e44 bilodeau - the arts are good at changing culture.
There were many memorable moments in our conversation. This quote in particular resonated with me:
To me, artists being right in on the conversation, being present and actually pushing the agenda is absolutely the thing we need to be. That's where we need to be. Too many politicians and policy and all that stuff. You're watching that stuff fail right now and to put artists in spaces with community members, telling their stories and talking about the crisis… that's happening and engaging people, that's the power of theatre and that's the power of art. That, to me, is the thing that's gonna push people to make changes or to start talking or to enter into dialogue. Because right now we have a left and a right that isn't gonna speak. They don't like each other. They don't like their politics, but you get them in a room together and they actually break bread and start having food. They realize that both their kids go to the same school. They both drive the same car. They both love hockey. You know, if we start finding those connections through art, then they they're gonna engage. And it doesn't matter if it's an indigenous artist telling that story or you know, another, IBPOC person or anybody else. If you're telling a good story, people are gonna be engaged and, and it'll compel you to wanna do something.
I also have a special treat for you in the last 5 minutes of this episode. You’ll hear near the end of my conversation with Keith that I accepted to produce a radio version of his APOLOGY, MY play which was commissioned by the 2021 Climate Change The
Published on 4 years ago