Climate change is an existential threat that demands the most complex collective action ever required of humanity. Mobilizing social change is a greater challenge than the technological change many suggest is necessary to course correct. This talk sketches the science of climate change and how literature and the arts will help shape the ideas and narratives critical to social change, with special reference to Hamilton Harbour and its evolving relation-ship with the community that surrounds it.

Dr. Chris McLaughlin has been executive director of the Bay Area Restoration Council in Hamilton since 2011, is an adjunct professor in McMaster’s School of Earth, Environment & Society and teaches environmental policy in the Arts & Science program. He is the Canadian Co-Chair of both the International Joint Commission`s Great Lakes Water Quality Board and the Advisory Board of the Global Center for Climate Change and Transboundary Waters.

Most artists have to find the balance between their creative calling and putting food on the table. The painter whose work you admire on a gallery wall waits tables at a diner five mornings a week. For the lucky ones, vocation and job may become a kind of call and response, where one flows through and enriches the other in unexpected ways.

John Terpstra maintains the difficult balance as a (mostly retired) cabinetmaker and carpenter. He is the author of many books of poetry and creative non-fiction, in which trees make a regular appearance. His work has won or been nominated for numerous local and national awards.

The creative industry in Hamilton has evolved as the city has cycled through awareness of the importance of culture on the economy and on the well-being of its citizens. This talk takes an inside look at changes in the arts in Hamilton over the last two decades in relation to music. A prime example is Hamilton’s free music and arts festival, Supercrawl; plus music-based event spaces and other festivals and opportunities for emerging talent.

Tim Potocic is owner and president of Hamilton’s Sonic Unyon Records, which was the organizing force behind Supercrawl. A longtime member and current chair of the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), he has received awards both as a Hamilton Citizen of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year.

Marlis Butcher and her team were the first visitors to one of the most remote Canadian national parks—Qausuittuq—located on Bathurst Island in the high Arctic. In this presentation, Ms. Butcher takes her audience along with her, virtually, on the group’s expedition, experiencing what it’s like to travel in Nunavut, visit Inuit communities, and discover one of the major objectives of Qausuittuq National Park: preserving the habitat of the endangered Perry Caribou.

Marlis Butcher is an environmental conservationist, author, and photographer. She is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and of The Explorers Club, an international organization promoting field exploration.

The mismatch between English spelling and pronunciation makes learning to read in English challenging for both those who grow up speaking English and those who learn English as an additional language. The first half of the talk reviews some of the numerous reasons that gave rise to the complex orthography (spelling) of modern English. After a brief journey through the linguistic history of English, the talk will present lessons learned over the past decade with regard to teaching reading and writing from an innovative university bridging program for English-language learners at McMaster.

Dr. Moro is Associate Professor of Linguistics, Associate Director of the ARiEAL Research Centre, and founding Director of the English Language Development (MELD) program, all at McMaster University. She has led numerous initiatives for undergraduate students and has been recognized for her teaching and education mentorship.

[This lecture was presented via ZOOM.]

The age structure of Canada’s population is shifting higher, consistent with a global trend, as people live longer and birthrates decline. People over 100 years old are in fact the fastest growing age group in the country. Health researchers are interested in asking what can be done at individual and societal levels to add to the number of healthy years and improve the quality of living for older adults. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is a major national study that follows approximately 50,000 adult volunteers aged between 45 and 85 starting from 2010 over an approximately 20-year period.

Dr. Parminder Raina, a professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University, and lead principal investigator of the CLSA, will describe some of that studies' important findings.

Johann Sebastian Bach and Joseph Haydn stand as pillars of their respective eras, Bach in the Baroque and Haydn in the Classical, and are inextricably linked through their contributions to music and the fascinating parallels in their careers.

Bach and Haydn both rose through the court system, composing for the whims of Dukes and Princes, navigating strict social hierarchies and even imprisonment (in Bach’s case) to advance their careers. Bach and Haydn’s careers saw both composers reach wider, public audiences than their predecessors, reflecting the cultural shift of music from private courts to public spaces and shaping how music was consumed.

Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) Composer-in-Residence Abigail Richardson Schulte will provide both captivating stories from the lives of Bach and Haydn and piano demonstrations to explore how these artists shaped the music, and the consumption of music, in their respective societies.

[This event was presented by the HPO in partnership with HAALSA as part of the HPO`s Composer Festival. It was held in St. Paul's United Church in Dundas, Ontario.]

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an art museum in Kleinburg, Ontario. It is the largest publicly funded art gallery in Canada that focuses exclusively on Canadian and Indigenous art, both historical and contemporary. The permanent collection consists of over 6,500 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, their contemporaries, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and contemporary artists who have contributed to the development of the art of Canada.

John Geoghegan, Associate Curator of Collections and Research at the McMichael, is kindly replacing our previously scheduled speaker, who is unable to be present on this occasion. He will talk about rethinking the narrative of Canadian and Indigenous art and what it means to be "Home to the Art of Canada".