Ocean People Inspire
September 12th, 2024
St. John's, NL, Canada
A recently held public event ‘Ocean People Inspire’ was a welcoming and moving celebration of the many ways oceans, people, and their inspirations come together.
Hosted by the Ocean Frontier Institute Module I (OFI-I) in collaboration with Moving Together for Marine Conservation (MTC), the event contributed to the 2024 Year of the Arts, named by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to celebrate the province’s rich arts and cultural sector. The event was MC-ed by Dr. Evan Andrews and Dr. Ratana Chuenpagdee, co-principal investigators of MTC at the Department of Geography, Memorial University.
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Before the official start of the program, the audience had a chance to have their photo taken in front of the Ocean People Inspire photo booth. As the photos above show, the booth was a big hit.
As they entered the venue, the audience was invited to partake in the ‘Collective Art Making’, an interactive activity led by St. John’s artist Kelly Jane Bruton. Each member of the audience was given a piece a paper and encouraged to share what inspires them about the ocean. These notes, that express a sense of awe, amazement, gratefulness, and love toward the ocean were collected during the event and incorporated into a ‘Dear Ocean’ letter, as shown below.
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The focal point of the event were the readings and reflections from the writers who participated in ‘The Ocean is a Magnet’, a short story competition. This competition brought together 16 emerging writers whose stories explored various and diverse relationships and visions that shape ocean and coastal futures in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. About a dozen of writers attended the event in person, some with their proud family members, reading excerpts from their stories and reflecting on the journey of how these stories came to be and what they mean to them.
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The short stories have been compiled in the e-book titled ‘Ocean People Inspire: Short Story Collection’. The e-book, edited by Evan J. Andrews, will be published in October under the TBTI Global Book Series. The event also included a sneak peak of the upcoming Ocean People Inspire podcast that will be released later this fall.
Conservation, in particular the ways in which youth can and should be involved in marine conservation was also highlighted during the event. Emi Koch, a founder of Coast2Coast Movement reflected on her extensive experience on working with youth in Peru. A video was also shown that highlighted the findings from the MTC ‘Moving Together with Youth for Marine Conservation’ ongoing initiative, led by Melanie Downer, the project’s research assistant. ‘Colours of Conservation’ drawings, done by youth across the province in which they illustrated what is important to them about the ocean were displayed as well.
Two short talks further illustrated the complex and invaluable connections between people and ocean, and the ways in which we study them. Dr. Kelly Vodden, a professor from the Grenfell Campus at Memorial University, reflected on her work as a community researcher, sharing little vignettes about the many ocean people that inspire her. Meanwhile, Dr. Brad Levett, a professor in the Classics department at Memorial University, highlighted the often-forgotten role of art and humanities in ocean research.
During the ‘Garden Party’ portion of the event, the audience visited different booths and stations that exemplified various ways in which people and ocean are connected. As the audience wondered through venue, they explored the artwork made by St. John’s based artists Marie Louise Aastrup, Virginia Berry, Simone Cominelli and Elena Sizova. Additionally, they learned about the work of the three organizations that hosted the event, including MTC, OFI Module I and TBTI Global as well as about the inspiring work done by the social enterprise Fishing for Success located in Petty Harbour.
The light bites served during the ‘Garden Party’ were provided by Hungry Heart, another social enterprise from St. John’s that uses training and employment as a dignified means of helping people regain their confidence, skills, and economic independence.
We are also thankful to the Lantern, for providing us their space and being accommodating. The Lantern is a modern venue with a long history that aims to uphold the principles of community, charity, service, and social and ecological justice.
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The evening ended with the launch of the Ocean People Inspire e-book and a promise to keep building on the ways we connect to the ocean and each other as ocean and coastal people.
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To find out more about the inspiration for the Ocean People Inspire event as well as why bringing people together to share stories and experiences is important not only for the MTC but the Memorial University too, check out the interview with Dr. Andrews in the Gazette.