WorkWeekend 2024: Overcoming Writer's Block with Marcel Stewart

Overcoming Writer's Block with Marcel Stewart

November 22 | 10:30AM - 2:30PM

Writing is vulnerable. Writing is messy. Writing is challenging. Writing is exciting. Writing is rewarding. Writing is…

So often, we start a piece of writing that may be left unfinished and undone. Life gets in the way. Work gets in the way. Our inability to see where the story goes blocks us. How do we overcome this?

In this 4-hour workshop, participants will bring a piece of writing (novel, essay, play, film, speech, song, poem, etc.) that was started but never completed. Through exercises, prompts, and brief discussions, writers from any discipline will leave with a renewed sense of purpose, ready to dive back into their unfinished works.

ABOUT WORKWEEKEND:

Welcome to Industry’s WorkWeekend, three days of workshops and events designed to empower Hamilton artists to do the work they want to do. WorkWeekend is open to adult artists of all career levels, from emerging to established and beyond. Free snacks and coffee also provided!

We’ve tried to make WorkWeekend as barrier-free as possible with a $20 entry fee per workshop. If this presents ANY barriers to you whatsoever, please get in touch with associate producer Maddie at [email protected] so we can ensure your participation.

All WorkWeekend workshop spaces live in accordance with Industry Safer Spaces policy, available on our website. Everyone is welcome, safe, and respected.

Industry's WorkWeekend is made possible with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Hamilton City Enrichment Fund.

ABOUT MARCEL STEWART:

Marcel Stewart is the Artistic Director of bcurrent Performing Arts and the Director of Artistic Outreach for SpiderWebShow Performance. Together with Adrienne Wong and Michael Wheeler, he curates FOLDA, an annual festival of live digital art in Kingston, ON. For three years, Marcel was the Outreach Director at Suitcase in Point, co-founding the Nest Artist Residency and Electric Innovations.

As an artist, Marcel has worked with theatre companies nationwide and internationally. In his work, Marcel investigates telling stories that connect artists and audiences to a cultural and ancestral past, while also imagining a future without borders or boundaries. Marcel is passionate about crafting narratives that focus on joy as a form of resistance against the prevailing colonial narratives that have shaped the Black Canadian experience. He uses digital technologies to expand this work's reach, bringing collaborators in remotely and taking the work out to a wider public. He’s interested in finding non-traditional ways to build community through performances and storytelling that are interactive and welcoming.

When Marcel is not creating theatre, he is an arts educator who has facilitated programming for community youth groups, professional actors, and students in university, high school, and elementary. He has taught classes at the National Theatre School of Canada, Brock University, and Sheridan College. His major project, Windrush (or Gone to See a Man About a Dog), is a coming-of-age story that platforms binaural sound to explore Caribbean folklore, grief, and home.

www.bcurrent.ca

www.folda.ca

Host or Publisher Industry