Ruth Howard (artist)

Ruth Howard is a Canadian artist who creates large-scale arts and theatre projects with urban communities ^[1] and has been called "a key figure in the Canadian Community Play movement".^[2] She is currently the Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre, a company she founded in 2001.

Early life and education

Howard was born in ? on April 29. Her father was the renowned researcher into visual perception, Ian P. Howard. He mother is Antonie (Toni) Howard (nee Eber).

Howard studied at the Eastbourne College of Art and Design, at University of Toronto where she obtained a BA Honours, and at the National Theatre School of Canada (Design).

Early work

Howard worked for many years as a professional theatre designer, as well as with various forms of popular and participatory arts and theatre. Her family is integral to the work she does for Jumblies. She lives on Wards Island with her partner of thirty years, Steve Cooper, with whom she has three children: Shifra, Helah, and Eli .

In 1991, Ruth was invited by Dale Hamilton to be a designer for the Spirit of Shivaree in Rockwood, Ontario. This introduction to the community play form, which combines high-calibre art making on an epic scale with a philosophy of wholehearted social inclusion and an astonishing capacity for social change, was a life-changing experience that has inspired the course and nature of her work ever since.

Ruth went on to design community plays in Canada and the U.K., in locations such as Blyth, Ontario; Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan; Enderby, British Columbia; and Torbay, England and Manchester, England and to create interdisciplinary projects that adapted the form to reflect her evolving artistic interests and Toronto’s realities. At the same time Howard began to produce and create her own theatre events: initially in school communities, but growing in size and complexity. In 2000, she produced a multi-lingual performance piece in South Riverdale’s Twisted Metal and Mermaids Tears, which had a strong impact on Canada’s community arts scene and prompted Ruth to found Jumblies Theatre in 2001.

Jumblies Theatre

Following the success of these projects, Howard founded Jumblies Theatre in 2001 to support what had evolved as an approach of establishing multi-year residencies in urban communities leading to large-scale, participatory, performance pieces. These pieces were adapted from, but retaining many of the guiding principles of the Community Play model.

Jumblies has since undertaken residencies in five communities and created several highly-acclaimed productions in including "Once A Shoreline:" in Davenport West (2004); "Bridge of One Hair" in Central Etobicoke (2007); the "Twelfth Jewish Children’s Work Commune Re-enactment" at Camp Naivelt (2008); and "Oy di velt vet vern yinger (Oh the world will grow younger)" at the Mayworks Festival in 2009. Jumblies’ most recent large-scale production, a Scarborough telling of Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, "Like An Old Tale", took take place in Scarborough in December 2011, with hundreds of community participants, and dozens of professional artists.

Jumblies Theatre has had projects such as:

• Lawrence Heights-ending with a production called I’m Tapingi Too!;
• Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre- a four year residency involving several large events, and culminating in Once A Shoreline in May 2004, a music-driven theatrical work composed by Wende Bartley, integrating professional performers, singers and musicians, community choirs and local people of all ages and backgrounds^[1]
• Etobicoke- in connection with Montgomery's Inn and TCHC culminating with a production of "Bridge of One Hair" at the Harbourfront Centre as part of the Worlds Stage in 2007 with music by Alice Ho and poetry by Hawa Jabril and Duke Redbird.
• Scarborough ON (currently) at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre.^[3]

Publications

• Easy to Say: Reflections on the roles of art and the artist in Canadian adaptations of the Colway Community Play form funded by Canada Council for the Arts, Co-written with Rachael Van Fossen, Jan 2005
• Produced short video on Once A Shoreline process as part of Documenting Engagement Vancouver, Jan. 2004
• The Cultural Equivalent of Daycare? , funded by In Print Dialogue, Community Arts Ontario, 2004
• The Aesthetics of Including Everyone Alt Theatre, Fall 2002.
• Holding On and Letting Go: Designing the Community Play Canadian Theatre Review, spring 1997
• "Is Anyone Political Any More?", Canadian Theatre Review, Edited by Kim Renders, Julie Salverson and Jenn Stephenson, Fall 2011.
• "Out of the Tunnel There Came Tea", Chapter in VIVA! Community Arts and Popular Education in the Americas, SUNY Press and Between the Lines, edited by Deb Barndt, 2011
• "Placemats for September 11th", Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English, Vol.17: Political Popular Theatre, Ruth Howard, Ed. Julie Salverson, General Editor Ric Knowles, Playwrights Canada Press, 2010.

Professional affiliations

• Associated Designers of Canada (Board Member 1990 to 1993)
• Common Weal (Founding Board Member 1992 to 1994)
• Jumblies Theatre (Founder and Artistic Director 2001 to present)
• Community Arts Ontario (Board Member 2003 to 2005)
• Shadowland Theatre (Board Member, 2005 to present)
• Canadian Oral History Society Member
• Advisory Council Member for York University’s Community Art Program (2005 to present)
• Consultant for AGO Arts Access/ Collection X Project (2005 to present)
• Toronto Community Foundation, "Vital People" award, 2005
• 2007 participant in the New World Stage Festival, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

Awards

2000 Our Millennium Award for South Riverdale Lives and Legends 2000 South Riverdale CHC, Citizen of the Year (Ruth Howard) 2002 Community Arts Ontario, Best Practices for "More or the Magic Fish" 2004 Toronto Urban Institute, Urban Leadership Award Nomination 2005 Toronto Community Foundation, Vital People Award 2005 Fresh Ground Commission, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (Jumblies Theatre) 2007 Great Grants Award, Ontario Trillium Foundation (Jumblies Theatre) 2007 nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Costume Design for Bridge of One Hair 2008 Toronto Community Foundation, Vital Ideas Grant (Jumblies Theatre) 2012 Ontario Trilium Foundation Provincial Great Grants Award (Jumblies Theatre) 2012 Canadian Urban Institute City Soul, Urban Leadership Award 2012 TAPA George Luscombe Award for Mentorship in Theatre

References