The 2024 Guest Curatorship at the Words & Music Show closed to applications on February 19, 2024.
A component of QWF’s Fresh Pages Diversity Initiative, the Guest Curatorship is designed to help an aspiring literary artist who is Black, Indigenous, or a person of colour develop skills in creating and curating literary other arts events. The selected candidate receives a modest honorarium and a free one-year membership in QWF.
The selected candidate works with an experienced curator to curate their own literary, musical, and performance event, from defining the event-to-be to selecting and inviting performers, gathering bios and other info, writing press releases and structuring and presenting a live show. The show typically presents poets, writers, performers, and musicians, and in the past has branched out to include, circus artists, magicians and comics from time to time. The guest curator can create a theme-based presentation or a simple variety show.
The guest curator is selected by QWF’s Words & Music Committee.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must live in Quebec and be Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour.
- Applicants should have already demonstrated an interest in presenting either their own work in public presentations or in creating a literary, musical or other arts event.
- There is no age or publication requirement.
- Candidates who have already curated more than three public events, or who work for an event creation agency or company, are not eligible.
2024 Timeline:
- Call for applications: January 10, 2024
- Deadline for applications: February 19, 2024
- Notification of results: March 2024
- Public show: Fall 2024
The 2024 Mentor
Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, author, performer and producer. Her poetry collections include Bothism and Nouveau Griot, and her debut novel Book of Wings won the 2022 CAM/Blue Metropolis New Contribution Prize. Her French autotranslation Livre des ailes (2023) is fresh from Marchand de feuilles. With a twenty-five-year practice in oral poetry and music, she performs internationally and has released studio albums and short films including the upcoming concert film CYANO SUN SUITE. She is president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word Program, and produces interarts events as Mother Tongue Media. She moonlights as a whirling dervish. www.mothertonguemedia.com
2022 Program
Ceta Gabriel was the Guest Curator in 2022
2021 Program
Avleen Kaur Mokha, also known by her creative alias Mirabel, was the Guest Curator in 2021
2020 Program
Prakash Krishnan was the Guest Curator in 2020
