The Directors of the Project – The Artists Collective

Dr. Geraldine Fuenmayor

Digital Storyteller, Urban Planner and Modeler, Writer, actress and Artistic director

@geraldine_fuenmayor

I am a Venezuelan that immigrated to Canada in 2008 and moved to Calgary in 2009. Back in my country, I was a faculty member of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Universidad Central of Venezuela. As a planner, I participated in several workshops listening the needs of different communities in the slum areas of Caracas. In Canada, I started to explore telling stories through playwriting, acting, directing and storytelling in an attempt to tell my own story. As a playwright, I have contributed to the scripts of the plays “Peregrinos” [Peregrines] (2020), “Cuéntame de Tu Amor” [Tell me about your love] (2017), “Inmigrante Soy” [Immigrant, I am] (2014). In 2019 I directed my first play “Pequeña Venecia” [Little Venice]. This experience provided me with a better understanding about how to guide people to tell the stories they need to tell. As an actress, I have performed in Calgary in five plays. I am a founding member of ExpresArte theatre club since 2015. Since early 2020, I became part of the team of the Digital Storytelling project “Living Migration.” As part of this project, I supported Hispanic and Chinese immigrants in the process of telling compelling stories of loss and resilience using digital resources. As one of the directors of the project “Who am I?” I supported six Hispanic artists to tell their stories as artists, while providing more opportunities for her voices to be heard and her work to be known.

Cecilia Barboza

Digital Storyteller, Architect, Mosaic and Glass Emerging Artist

@cebarbglassart

I started exploring visual arts since I was a young adult. I studied painting and sculpture at the same time I was pursuing a career in architecture. My passion for the ancient art and architecture took me to finish a Master degree in Heritage Conservation, which gave me the opportunity to participate in important projects like the Conservation of the Venezuela’s Parliament Building or the restoration of the Teatro Principal in Caracas. Through these experiences in the Heritage restoration field in which I was exposed to work with different materials, arose my passion to work with glass. In 2009, I studied mosaic art in Montreal in the studio “Mosaikashop. From there, I have been producing a variety of art pieces using different materials and techniques as smalti on wood, glass on glass and glass on stone. I am a founding member of ExpresArte Theater Club, where I experimented in the theater scene in Spanish. After this, I ventured to take some storytelling workshops where I was later invited to be part of the team of the Digital Storytelling project “Living Migration,”(a community outreach project housed in the Language Research Centre of the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literature and Cultures at University of Calgary). In 2020 I supported two workshops, for the Spanish spoken community and for the Chinese community of Calgary. During these experiences, I became skillful with Wevideo software, and supported in the final production of all the stories presented on the First Digital Storytelling Festival of the University of Calgary. I am one of the directors of the project “Who am I?” where I supported six Hispanic artists to tell stories about how they discovered themselves as artists.

The mentor of this Project

Hortensia Barrios

Digital Storyteller Consultant

Research Fellow, Language Research Center, University of Calgary, Canada

Applied Linguistics, Master’s Student, School of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature

@justanotherlinguist

Through the study of languages, I have met many unique people with compelling stories of loss and resilience. These stories are often unheard or forgotten. Their stories make them who they are and situate them in time and space— giving them a voice, connecting them with their communities, deconstructing stereotypes, and initiating changes.  My research focuses on understanding the ways people construct their multiple selves in socio-cultural situations through the instrumentality of language.  I engage in research that can lead to purposeful contributions to the public good through collaborative, action-oriented, and creative forms of scholarship.

I provided mentorship and guidance to the project Who am I? supporting the artists collective through the development of this project.