This project brings together individuals with disabilities and their support networks (including caregivers, mentors and support staff) alongside researchers, socially-engaged artists, music therapists, Indigenous knowledge keepers and educators, well students, advocates, industry innovators and community organizations.
Thank you to our many partners and our funders who are all listed on the home page for joining us in this project. It would not have been possible without their wonderful support.
The researchers and artists are:
Dr. Michelle Stewart
Dr. Michelle Stewart is an Associate Professor in Justice Studies and Director of the Community Research Unit at the University of Regina. She holds multiple appointments on research teams including being the Strategic Research Lead with Canada FASD Research Network. As an applied anthropologist, Michelle’s work involves community-engaged projects focused on cognitive disabilities, mental health and racialized inequalities. Michelle’s research addresses these social justice issues through mobilization of research findings that focus on policy outcomes while also working directly with stakeholders to change programs and practices as a mechanism to bring about better justice outcomes for individuals but with attention to the systemic nature of these forms of oppression. For more information about her research please visit https://fasdresearchproject.com/
Dr. Rebecca Caines
Dr. Rebecca Caines is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the University of Regina. She is the director of the Regina Improvisation Studies Centre, which is a site in a national partnership that examines improvisation and social practice, entitled the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation. Her research investigates the creative and political potential of community-engaged art, new technologies and interdisciplinary art, and she has made collaborative art projects with partners in Australia, Canada, Northern Ireland, China and the Netherlands. You can see more of her projects here: http://rebeccacaines.org
Jayden Pfeifer & Johanna Bundon
Photo Credit: Danielle Tocker
Jayden Pfeifer and Johanna Bundon are professional improvisers from Regina, Saskatchewan. They co-created the kit with Stewart and Caines, and worked on the pilot and feasibility stages of the wider research project. They have solo careers in theatre and movement arts, and work together on interdisciplinary art projects and community projects across Canada, and internationally.
Artists & Consultants:
- Jayden Pfeifer
- Johanna Bundon
- Rick Kotowich Indigenous Health and Community Education Consultant
Project Manager:
- Krystal Glowatski
Video & Technology:
- John Campbell
Research Assistants:
- Alexandra Johnson
- Mia Bell
- Joanne Bear
- Jeff Vollmer
Special thanks to:
Chris Kortright and Robyn Pitawanakwat for their invaluable help with building the toolkit.
Special thanks to Jan Lutke for planting the seeds that lead to this project and her continued insight on its development.
Thanks also to Myles Hemmelreich, Dorothy Reid, Marsha Wilson, Lisa Brownstone, Amy Salmon, Dorothy Badry and Peter Chaote for their thoughtful insights on ways to further improve the project.