Roberts Street Social Centre shed residency

(The Toronto Zine Library can send you a copy of the application form if you are interested)

Roberts Street Social Centre
RESIDENCY APPLICATION – 2009
The residency program runs seasonally at The Roberts Street Social Centre, from June to September each year. Residencies are two weeks long, and residents are provided with space, equipment and support for their project as well as living space in a garden shed in the backyard of the Centre. We encourage projects that relate to the mandate of the Roberts Street Social Centre, in any medium.
Mission Statement:
The Roberts Street Social Centre is a space for people to come together to share skills, knowledge, and resources. It is a collection of projects dedicated to providing free or affordable access to independent and alternative media, art, and education. We support critical, creative projects and inspire social change with DIY (do it yourself), non-hierarchical, and consensus-based approaches. We aim to be active in our communities by collaborating with other groups and projects. We strive to be inclusive, aware of barriers and discrimination, and welcoming to all ages.
We house:
• the Ink Storm Screenprinting Collective studio
• the Anchor Archive Zine Library
• the “Crow's Nest” space for events, workshops, and meetings
• an artist and zinemaking residency
• kitchen and bathroom facilities
• a yard with firepit and garden
Residency Program:
Residencies are two weeks long, and the residency program runs from June to September. Locals are welcome to apply, but priority will be given to out-of-town applicants.
Residents are housed in the shed, an actual garden shed in the backyard. Accommodation in the shed is simple and rustic – there is a bunk bed, several shelves and hooks, adaptable workspace, and an extension cord provides electricity. A kitchen and bathroom are available inside the Social Centre house. Life in the shed could also be described as urban camping. The rest of the yard has a vegetable and flower garden, a fire pit, and benches. We offer you the use of a bicycle while you’re here. Billeting may also be an option.
We are interested in proposals for projects that embody the same sort of do-it-yourself spirit as the Social Centre, and that contribute in some way to the community and/or the space. Projects should be executed or completed during the two-week residency, so please try to keep your project fairly simple! Two weeks is not much time. You don't need to have a finished product but we do ask that you share your work with us in some way, such as a public event – a reading, release, launch, art show, performance, workshop, whatever – either at the Centre or a more appropriate venue. We will help you plan and promote this event. We are interested in any sorts of proposals – not necessarily zine-based (although that is certainly welcome). We offer you support and help executing your project, and access to supplies that we have here.

The Roberts Street Social Centre, located at 5684 Roberts Street, is a small Maritime-style house with a bathroom and kitchen for you to use. The Anchor Archive Zine Library occupies the front room of the house and is open twice weekly to the public. We have thousands of zines and books, for browsing and lending to members. We have an old and slow iMac computer with internet (and wireless access), scanner, printer as well as zine making tools like typewriters, stationary supplies, Letraset, clip art, etc. The back room is a collectively-run screenprinting studio (Ink Storm), which is available for you to use as well and has open hours twice a week the same time as the zine library. There is a light table to burn screens using photo-emulsion, silkscreens for printing on fabric and paper that you can use, and other supplies.
Halifax is a small city on the east coast of Canada, about twelve hours drive from either Boston or Montreal. The Roberts Street Social Centre is located just off Agricola Street in the North End. There is a small and welcoming community of activists, artists, musicians and neighbourhood people to meet. Other great resources available locally include the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative, Centre for Art Tapes, the eyelevel gallery, the Khyber ICA, Halifax Coalition Against Poverty, Bike Again Co-operative, the Halifax North Public Library, and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. We love collaborating with other local groups, and can help make connections and suggest contacts that would apply to your project.
Due to the very public nature of the Roberts Street Social Centre, and the very rustic nature of the shed, we realize this residency program is not for everyone. Residents must be prepared to work in a busy, social environment with little privacy, be comfortable with dust, the occasional spider web and be fairly self-sufficient with meals and housekeeping. If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to explore the possibility of billeting, please feel free to get in touch with us before the application deadline.

The deadline for applications is February 15 2009.
We will let you know by the beginning of March.
Thank you!

Last Minute Friday Night Closure

The zine library will not be hosting open hours tonight from 5-7 due to extenuating circumstances. Sorry! The library will also be closed next Friday, the 26th, but will be back on Friday January 2nd. Sunday library hours - from 1 to 3 - will continue as usual.

Call for Submissions- Create the Situation

This is a zine-related open call for subs I received from co-curator Kerri-Lynn Reeves in Winnipeg via email yesterday. Sounds great...!

-Tara (TZL)

*****

WE WANT

YOU TO

CREATE

THE SITUATION!

Create the Situation is looking for contributors. We want you to create the situation!

Inspired by the popular Yippie slogan "create the condition you describe", Create the Situation provides an opportunity for a broader awareness for creative acts of daily activism through the creation of short run zines that provide suggestions for ways to engage with ones city. Ideas from previous issues have included DIY pothole repair instructions and starting a neighborhood welcoming committee to get to know the neighbors who already live in your neighborhood that you just don't know yet.

In the Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell writes that a revolution isn't one huge monumental event, but instead a series of small things that build up and make a difference. These ideas for small acts that can be done in the neighborhoods and institutions that make up ones city can in turn lead to making changes in their social engagement with their environment and their neighbors that can lead to at the very least engaged citizenship.

This project is intended to inspire people to take these actions into their own hands, to create not only engaged communities, artists, activists and creative types, but ultimately to create engaged citizens.

We are looking for between 4-12 people to create issues of CTS. (Link to the issues we made). What are your ideas for how to interact with the people and places in your city in potentially unexpected ways?

Accepted individuals will receive a small honorarium as well as printed issues of the quarterly zine. Create the Situation will be printed in the DIY spirit of zine publications. The black and white photocopied booklet will list ideas for how to engage with not only ones neighbors, but with the institutions and infrastructures of the city in unexpected ways. Suggestions might include ways to use your local library, music stores, art galleries, and parks as well as ways to engage with people in your community and inventive solutions for city maintenance. CTS will also be available online as a PDF, as well as mailed out to subscribers and provided free locally in Portland, OR, Winnipeg, MB and the hometown of each contributing author.

To submit please follow the guidelines below to submit your ideas for how to create the situation!

Guidelines for submissions:

• 4 suggestions for ways to engage with ones city. How would you "create the situation"? Feel free to include illustions, photos or diagrams if applicable.
• A brief bio (100 words max)
• Name, address, contact information

Email submissions to createthesituation@gmail.com by December 15, 2008.

Accepted contributors will be notified by January 3, 2009.


http://createthesituation.org/

City of Craft 2008

We are very excited to have a community vendor table at this year's City of Craft! At our table, we will be providing info about our collective activities, handing out literature, selling memberships, and selling our awesome resource zines and pinback buttons to raise much needed funds for our fast approaching 2009 programming! Please come out and support the TZL, and this incredible annual local craft-stravaganza!

For vendor, installation, and related event information, check out City of Craft's website.

City of Craft
Saturday, December 13, 2008
NOON - 8:00pm

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West
(Downstairs)
Toronto, ON