Date:
November 2024

Description:
In partnership with Une école montréalaise pour tous (UEMPT) and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Céline Malépart and I - a duo of multidisciplinary artists and designers - collaborated with 12 classes of primary school children aged 6 to 9 from 4 Montreal elementary schools on a co-creation project for the ballet The Nutcracker.

Each class was responsible for one side of a large-scale banner depicting a character from the Nutcracker, and the character was an amalgam of drawings by all the students in the class. The students then decorated the characters with a mix of fabrics and illustrations.

We split each class into two groups: one worked with Céline on the banner, while the other collaborated with Christine on smaller-scale collage projects using fabrics and drawings. Afterward, the groups switched activities, allowing all students to participate in both projects.

Students were able to keep their individual creations, and the banners were installed in the Wilfrid-Pelletier theatre at the Place des Arts in downtown Montreal, where The Nutcracker ballet is taking place.

Workshop design:
Céline Malépart, Multidisciplinary artist and illustrator

Workshop facilitation:
Céline Malépart, Multidisciplinary artist and illustrator (Céline et ses Bidules)
Christine Kerrigan, Multidisciplinary artist and designer (alioop)

Partners:
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, The Nutcracker
Une école montréalaise pour tous (UEMPT), Québec Ministry of Education*

*The mission of Une école montréalaise pour tous (UEMPT) is to contribute to the educational success of all students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Montreal, taking into account their needs and resources. Drawing on the expertise it has developed in collaboration with all its partners, Une école montréalaise pour tous is pursuing its actions to reduce the gaps in success between students from disadvantaged and more privileged backgrounds. In this way, it contributes to implementing the mission of Quebec schools with a view toward social justice.

Photography:
Christine Kerrigan
Céline Malépart