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Dear Concordia Clubs, Associations, Federations, Fee Levy Groups, Working Groups and student organizers,


My name is Lex Gill; I'm the President of the Concordia Student Union. I don't normally have the luxury of communicating directly with every organization on campus, but I'm reaching out to you because this message and this movement is too important to stay silent. Please read it fully, think about it, and pass it on to your members and volunteers if you can.

On November 10th, we will make history.

The Quebec government has proposed some of the most extreme and unjust tuition fee hikes in the province's history: a total increase of $1,625 over the next five years for Quebec residents, and the potential for thousands of dollars more for out-of-province and international students.

This increase means that students, even middle-class ones or those of them lucky enough to have financial assistance from their parents will have to make difficult choices; many of our peers will be forced to drop out, take reduced course loads, or have to choose between paying rent and paying their tuition bill.

The statistics are clear. These increases are not only bad for the economy and bad for individual students, our friends and family, but they directly jeopardize our collective right to education. I want to remind each one of you that tuition is comparatively low in Quebec only because students have fought for it — and this year, we need to fight for it again (and win!).

There's a huge diversity of groups on this mailing list, some of which are directly involved in advocacy work, and who have undoubtedly heard these arguments before. Others may never have thought of themselves as "activists" or as "political" people, or as organizations involved in these issues. The truth is though, this issue is too big for any group to stay silent, no matter who you are. It affects us all—and silence, as they say, is to be on the side of the oppressor.

So to those latter groups, we know it sometimes it takes a bit of courage to stand for something, but it's really just about supporting your members and ours. Concordia's reputation and diversity has been built on a history of accessibility and this tuition increase is a nail in the coffin of everything that makes this school great. It's about time we got together and fought back.

This November 10th, students from across Quebec will be organizing a massive protest against these increases in Montréal. The delegation from Concordia is having a rally at noon in front of the Hall Building—with awesome local DJs, food and entertainment. We're providing free transportation (as many school buses as it takes!) to get all those people to Émilie Gamelin (Berri-UQAM) for 2pm to join thousands of students in a march to the Premier's office. It's going to be massive.

But look, students need your help and we'd be crazy if we thought we could do this alone. So please, forward this message to your mailing lists. Get your friends to check out freezetuition.ca and join and share the Facebook page — both for the actual demonstration and the Concordia rally. Invite us to talk at your next event. Tell your friends. Tell everyone, actually!

Things are really changing on this campus. ASFA is calling a General Assembly for a strike mandate on November 10th. The Provost and President of the University have told professors not to penalize students for participating on the Day of Action. The student newspapers are more supportive of this issue than anything I've ever seen them get behind. There's nothing stopping us from organizing the biggest event in Concordia's history, so what are we waiting for?

"Fine Lex, you've convinced me. What can I do?"

So glad you asked!

ENDORSE THE CAMPAIGN PUBLICLY by emailing me back with your group's name ([email protected]). Yup. It's just that easy.

FORWARD THIS MESSAGE to your mailing list. I'll take the heat if they get it a few extra times (sorry).

HELP ORGANIZE by showing up at Friday night Mob Squad meetings (every Friday, 5pm, 7th floor Hall Lounge).

CONTRIBUTE YOUR TALENT! can you program, silkscreen, throw mean dance parties or have other awesome skills? Email [email protected] and let Taz know!

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS or really, tell everyone: friends, frienemies, professors, strangers on the metro...

...AND YOU KNOW WHAT?

November 10th is just the start, but there's the talent, and commitment, and creativity on this campus to win. Let's make it happen. We wouldn't do this job if we wanted to lose.

FREEZETUITION.CA

 
     

 
 
 
That's what I named this colourway...KA-POW!!! based on some of the reactions it received from subscribers.  I think I ought to tame it down a bit for future batches ;)

Details:
-Hand-dyed with acid dyes
-Yardage 220 yards (201 meters)
-Unit weight 100 grams (3.53 ounces)
-Gauge 18.0 to 20.0 sts = 4 inches
-Needle size US 7 - 8 or 4.5 - 5mm
-Hand-wash


peace, Janna
 
Picture
Bicycling with Pamela, 2010. Ink on Bamboo 15 x 22"
Born in Ajax, Ontario, Kristin Nelson received her BFA in Visual Arts from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2003. She is an inter-media artist inspired by questions of community, gender, politics and place. Kristin looks to challenge stereotypes of community through her artistic practice, valourizing those often made invisible. Her recent work includes a photographic drag king trading card project; a life size knitted hay bale; etchings of Winnipeg parking lots and giant cross stitches of Pamela Anderson. In 2008 Kristin completed a residency at the Banff Centre, Reverse Pedagogy, with artist Paul Butler. She recently worked at the Manitoba Printmakers Association in Winnipeg and served on the board of directors for the Manitoba Craft Council. She has exhibited work at Centre A, Gallery Gachet and The Lowercase Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.), at the Lyndon Center (Austin, Texas), Gallery 803, aceartinc. (Winnipeg, MB) and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Kristin Nelson won the Canadian Dimension Magazine’s Artist Award on Saturday 13th November 2010, nominated by aceartinc.

Kristin is speaking this Tuesday, October 18th @ 12:40 pm
Concordia University, EV 9.730

All are welcome!
Bring your lunch if you'd like :)


 
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 1st

Interfold is the student run magazine at Concordia that showcases visual artwork within the Fine Arts Faculty. It is published biannually, and seeks to include diverse art practices based around a theme.
Interfold magazine attempts to bridge disciplines, create links among artists and provide a portal for the next steps for Concordia students. We hope to establish a professional, appealing magazine that offers a well-rounded scope of works from each branch of the Fine Arts department and archive student work for years to come.
Interfold will create an environment within the physical magazine, acting as a two-dimensional exhibition space. Our works will fall under the theme of confines within various perceptions and capacities. Everyday we experience interiority, within a building, within a city, within our bodies, within our mind. Through proprioception, we can understand our world, and the spaces that confine and protect us.

How do limitations affect the way we experience a space?
Do we perceive the structure of the body, of the mind as a space of absolute freedom?
How can someone find artistic liberation within confines?
How are the confines within our body different or similar to those that are manufactured or societally based?
How do people delimit confines around themselves?
Where does the paradox of liberation begin to constrict personal freedom?
Can destruction occur within something meant to create or establish an entity? Are confines inevitable, even within a structure of democracy?

GUIDELINES:
-Pieces need to be completed works, please submit high quality photographs (300dpi)
-Please include short artist statement and description of the work.
-Written works can be no longer than 2000 words.
- 2 pieces of work per person.

SEND ALL WORK OR QUESTIONS TO: [email protected]

**If you have submitted to other magazines on campus, please don’t submit the same work to us!!**

www.interfoldmagazine.com

 
This Friday October 14th two fine arts undergraduate students, Janna Maria Vallee and Amira Shabason, will be sharing about their summer 2011 work experiences.  Both students worked in exciting fields relevant to their studies at Concordia University and will each give a presentation on their respective roles and experiences.




Janna Maria Vallee traveled to the Northwest Territories where she taught a self-designed six-week fibres program as a part of the Ulukhaktok Handicraft Project, a program facilitated by Aurora College.  The goal of the Ulukhaktok Handicraft Project is to foster an economic environment that supports growth and diversification of the arts economy in Ulukhaktok, NWT, by providing training to older workers so that they may have the ability to produce a variety of handicrafts and maintain a sustainable livelihood.



Amira Shabason spent her summer in Toronto working as a programs assistant at the Ontario Crafts Council (OCC), where she helped coordinate and produce exhibitions, fundraisers, and artists' symposiums for both the OCC Gallery and for the organization's Growing Ontario's Crafts Community initiative in Ontario's remote and rural Northern communities.  The OCC is a provincially-mandated, member-based, non-profit organization aimed at supporting and promoting the careers of artists working primarily in wood, fibres, ceramics, glass and metal.  The OCC aims to achieve its vision and mission by offering the public opportunities to engage with craft through exhibitions, The Guild Shop (their Yorkville retail location), through publications such as Studio magazine, and by partnering with other art-based organizations, institutions and trade shows.

The presentations will begin at
12:40pm on Friday October 14th at
Concordia University (1515 St.Catherine W.) EV 9.730

All are welcome, and bring your lunch!