QUIET PARADE 2024 design by Matthew Hoffman.

QUIET PARADE
An experiment in collective access creation

Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 1-2pm
The Blackwood, University of Toronto Mississauga

Initiated by Aislinn Thomas
Curated by Ellyn Walker
Commissioned by The Blackwood

Free to attend.

With Julian A M.P., Atanas Bozdarov, Trevor Copp, Deaf Spectrum, FlagSSS Day Collective, Birdie Gehrl, Ame Henderson (with Skye and Lleu), HUSH BAND, Sof Kreidstein, Germaine Liu and Mark Zurawinski, Lorena Torres Loaiza, Not Yet Collective, Peter Owusu-Ansah, Leena Raudvee, Shayla Shenanigans, St Marie φ Walker, Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky.

Most public spaces and gatherings are inherently high-stimulation. Competing sounds, bright lights, scented products, unpredictable crowds, and the like present barriers to those who thrive in low-stimulation environments.

QUIET PARADE invites artists and the public to participate in creating a sensory-friendly, float-based ensemble that experiments with unconventional approaches to celebration and accessibility. Like a traditional parade, a series of discrete expressions come together to compose a multifaceted whole. One might encounter a marching band whispering songs of peace, joyful public stimming, heaping armfuls of soft sculpture worms, a dance between a broom and a walker, and more.

Unlike traditional parades, QUIET PARADE is experimental as much as it is experiential, and dependent on everyone’s contributions to shape it. This project is guided by the desire for pleasurable, joyful, and extravagant experiences of accessibility in the broadest possible terms—with all the improvisation and messiness that entails. QUIET PARADE embraces our shared interdependence, approaching the creation of access as an ongoing, iterative, relational process and a deep source of possibility, connection, and magic.

Gathering together can happen in a multitude of dreamed-for, yet-to-be-experienced ways. Please join us in creating QUIET PARADE this September.

Call for Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers to support QUIET PARADE! A range of opportunities are available, including helping on the event day, and assisting with artist floats and workshops leading up to the parade. Complete our volunteer sign-up form to learn about opportunities to support QUIET PARADE. Deadline: September 6, 2024.

Images (left to right): Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, Drum Major, Parade on Your Rain (video still), 2024, four channel video. Courtesy the artists. Sof Kreidstein, In Touch / In Motion, part of Aislinn Thomas, QUIET PARADE, 2022, project documentation, presented by MSVU Art Gallery at Nocturne: Art at Night Festival in Halifax, NS. Curated by Laura Ritchie and Claire Dykhuis. Photo by Justin Jarvis, courtesy of MSVU Art Gallery.

QUIET PARADE Public Programs

A series of art-making workshops that offer opportunities to engage more deeply with parade artists and their practices. Join us in creating textile-based stim-toys for yourself and others, building instruments for a gentle rain orchestra, and making flags for a snail-inspired flags corp. Attend one or all three.

All are welcome. Free to attend. Register for all programs on Eventbrite.

In Touch / In Motion: A Stim Toy-making Workshop
Saturday, September 7, 12–2pm
Tangled Art + Disability, 401 Richmond St W, Toronto, Suite 124
Facilitated by Sof Kreidstein

A neurodiverse-centred workshop where participants make their own stim toys. These stim toys are textile tassels, which participants create by feeling through a wide selection of textured yarn, fabric strips, and beads, selecting the materials they personally gravitate towards.

Parade on Your Rain: Instrument-making and Playing Workshop
Wednesday, September 11, 5–8pm
Blackwood Gallery, 140 Kaneff Centre
Facilitated by Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky

This workshop supports the creation of Parade On Your Rain, a performative “float” for QUIET PARADE, which playfully reinvents a marching band as a rainstorm that moves across space.

Slowcore FlagSSS Corps: Flag-making and Movement Workshop
Tuesday, September 17, 3–5pm
Blackwood Gallery, 140 Kaneff Centre
Facilitated by FlagSSS Day Collective

Participants will create flags that, when activated at the parade, will form a large flag sculpture inspired by the snail–a supremely slow and quiet creature. The workshop will also include a series of guided collective movement activities to prepare participants for the parade.

Access & Accessibility
QUIET PARADE embraces a dynamic and contextual understanding of accessibility. We approach access as an ongoing, collaborative process and are committed to addressing access tensions and conflicts. Planned-for points of access include live visual description, ASL interpretation, seating options, a Loud Zone, a Chill Zone, fragrance reduction, COVID precautions, livestream and documentation. Visit The Blackwood’s website for forthcoming detailed site access information and Access Guide. We welcome ongoing access requests and value the expertise of lived experience. Contact us at blackwood.gallery@utoronto.ca or (905) 828-3789.

Acknowledgements
The first iteration of QUIET PARADE was presented by Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery at Nocturne: Art at Night Festival in Kjipuktuk / Halifax in 2022. It was curated by Laura Ritchie and Claire Dykhuis with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, Support 4 Culture, and the Halifax Regional Municipality.

QUIET PARADE 2024 is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the University of Toronto Mississauga, the City of Mississauga, and the Community Foundation of Mississauga. Proudly sponsored by U of T affinity partners. Discover the benefits of affinity products!

The Blackwood
University of Toronto Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Rd.
Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6

www.blackwoodgallery.ca
blackwood.gallery@utoronto.ca
905.828.3789
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Image Descriptions
1. Orange earplugs and the letters “QUIET PARADE” are scattered at various angles against an orange background.
2. The image is a side-by-side composition. On the left, a person is seen against a bright blue sky with scattered clouds, their face partially obscured by a fluffy cloud-like material that covers their head, giving the impression of being enveloped by a cloud. On the right, another person, dressed casually in a striped shirt and flat cap, is handing out colourful strands of fabric, as part of QUIET PARADE 2022, while others in the background appear to be participating or observing. The scene is set in a park with trees showing fall colours.