Creative Continuum Conference 2024

Seeding Cooperation, Intention, and Care

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we often felt the need for a stronger presence of the arts community in places such as the Rideau Community Hub, and integration of their work with local activities and community not as an exception but as part of the everyday culture.

with our activities, we sought to foster a strong connection between each member of the local community that attends the Hub, and art as lived and practiced by the participants. This event allowed us to plant seeds for the critical role that art can play at local level to promote a more just, cohesive and caring society.

the Urban Imaginaries Ottawa project was a key participant at this year’s Creative Continuum Conference at the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre. The theme of the 2024 conference was ‘GARDENING’, chosen due to its symbolic and literal meanings, offering a space for conversations where participants are invited to view the local arts community as more than an ecosystem and rather as a ‘garden requiring cooperation, cultivation, and intentional care’. Creative Continuum 2024 explored topics like climate action, place-making, and creative entrepreneurship that bring together community, artists, and change-makers to generate forward-thinking, action-oriented discussions. 


@ Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre, Ottawa, May 10, 2024

the community wall was placed in the front entrance of the building and invited the event’s guests to write or illustrate their responses to the prompts on each of the three panels. As the day went on, the walls filled with responses and our team drew connections between some of the responses to get an understanding of the responses written by the participants. The wall is still up the the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre for the Hub’s users to continue to add their thoughts as they come in to use the space.

community wall

when you see cooperation in a community you see…

care in a community feels like…

when you act with intention in (or for) your community you…

  • DESIGN WORKSHOP

    we are excited at the opportunity to collaborate with the arts community and explore the unique and powerful ways art practice can cultivate and seed meaningful connections within and across the local community. Our hope for this event is that we create a 'bountiful garden' seeded with cooperation, intention, and care between the local community and the arts community. During the workshop, participants will work in small groups to develop tangible artifacts that illustrate possible contributions the art community can make to this 'garden'. The resulting artifacts will be displayed at the community hub after the event.

  • the warm up

    a brief sketching activity will ask participants to illustrate what intention, cooperation, and care looks like to them. The participants have two minutes to complete each section.

  • sharing ideas

    each person at the table has 1 minute to share their sketches and briefly explain the key points for each of the guiding words. This knowledge, together with the imaginary work of the wall activity will seed the building of the prototype.

  • building a prototype

    each group will develop an artifact (prototype) to explore and illustrate how the arts community might contribute to the local community - a garden promoting cooperation, intention, and care, - through their art.

  • artifact storytelling

    to render the artifacts legible to visitors to the hub, a headline needs to be created along with a brief description (story) of what the artifact is communicating. These will be captured on 1 large index card that can be displayed alongside the artifact itself.

  • collaborative presentations and discussions

    each group will have 3 minutes to present their artifact to the room, with 2 minutes for questions and feedback.

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