WISE PRACTICES FOR A WICKED WORLD
Led by Jennifer Roberts-Smith, Nicole Nolette
The Summer Retreat of the SBF/MSMA Research Practice Committee will bring together faculty, students, and early career researchers for hybrid workshops at Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in August 2025. Responding to recent and increasingly acute financial instability and political uncertainty across the post-secondary theatre sector, these workshops will develop and demonstrate emerging “wise practices” (Calliou and Wesley-Esquimaux) in response to the “wicked problem” (Rittel and Webber) of advancing decolonization, antiracism, equity, diversity, inclusion, and access (DC/AR/EDIA) in the current climate.
In the months following this in-person exchange, virtual discussions among Research Practice Committee members facilitated by the project team will support the mobilization of workshop outcomes to post-secondary theatre departments across Canada.
Open to all SBF/MSMA Research Practice and Knowledge Sustainability Committee members.
PREPARATION
A Google Drive folder has been created for the event which will contain all the material.
SCHEDULE OVERVIEW
[LINK TO PDF]
MONDAY, AUGUST 25 | 10 am–5 pm ET
SUSTAINING WISE PRACTICES
10:00 AM | | WELCOME Introductions + Purpose of today's workshops
SBF/MSMA Knowledge Synthesis & Mobilization
Role of the Archive & Archiving WG PREPARATION: REVIEW the Retreat Schedule.
[Calendar Event] |
11:30 AM | | Break - 30 mins |
12:00 PM | | WORKSHOP 1 – INTRODUCING OUR DIGITAL ARCHIVE CWRC Home page & Directory
Interpreter: Christiane Martel
Following a 30-minute break, Workshop 1 will introduce SBF/MSMA’s Digital Archive. Our Archive is housed in the CWRC digital research infrastructure developed by SBF/MSMA’s Archiving Working Group lead, Dr. Susan Brown at University of Guelph. This is where – eventually – all SBF/MSMA’s resources and records will be housed, including the records that individual research clusters choose to preserve. In this session, we’ll explore and give feedback on the Archive’s site architecture, home page, and directory of project members.
PREPARATION: ACCESS your CWRC account using these instructions (15 minutes).
DOCUMENTS: Slides | Questions | Google Doc for feedback [Calendar Event] |
1:00 PM | | Break - 1.5 hours |
2:30 PM | | WORKSHOP 2 – ARCHIVE USES AND USABILITY Approach to needs assessment
Interpreter: Christiane Martel
After a longer lunch break, we’ll reconvene for Workshop 2 to support the Archiving Working Group in designing a systematic study to assess what project members need from a useful and usable archive. We’ll provide feedback on the form and content of the Working Group’s draft design for an Archiving Needs Assessment, developed by Dr. Luciano Frizzera, our Archiving Postdoctoral Fellow.
DOCUMENTS: Slides | Questions | Google Doc for input
[Calendar Event] |
3:30 PM | | Break - 30 mins |
4:00 PM | | WORKSHOP 3 – SYNTHESIS [PART 1] Bilingual Lexicon + DAY WRAP-UP
After a final 30-minute break, Workshop 3 will introduce the first of two collaborative approaches to synthesizing new knowledge emerging through relational design research. SBF/MSMA General Co-director Dr. Nicole Nolette and Archiving PhD candidate Alice Hinchliffe – will present one of the resources that will be housed in our Archive: SBF/MSMA’s Bilingual Lexicon.
[Calendar Event] |
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26 | 10 am–5 pm ET
DEVELOPING WISE PRACTICES
10:00 AM | | WELCOME Purpose of today's workshops
SBF/MSMA Governance & Methodology
Resources for today
[Calendar Event] |
11:00 AM | | Break - 30 mins |
11:30 AM | | WORKSHOP 4 – SITUATING WICKED WORLDS Regional Cluster working conditions
Interpreter: Christiane Martel
Following a 30-minute break, Workshop 4 will focus on Situating the Wicked Worlds in which we currently find ourselves working. Led by SBF/MSMA General Co-director Dr. Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Methodology Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Jeff Gagnon, this workshop will result in maps that visualize the regional and sector-wide financial and political conditions presenting challenges and opportunities for our work in Year 3. We’ll return to these maps throughout Year 3 to design, revise, and reflect on the progress of each Research Cluster’s pilot project.
[Calendar Event] |
12:30 PM | | Break - 1.5 hour |
2:00 PM | | WORKSHOP 5 – RESTORATIVE APPROACH Resonances & Ways forward
Interpreter: Christiane Martel
After a longer lunch break, Workshop 5 will explore how a restorative approach can help address the challenges we anticipate and support our individual and collective work in Year 3. Led by Dr. Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Governance Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Sunita Nigam, this workshop will build on the introduction to a restorative approach offered by Governance Committee Member Dr. Jennifer Llewellyn in May 2025. We will collectively articulate the ways a restorative approach already resonates with the work of SBF/MSMA, and identify new possibilities it suggests. PREPARATION: WATCH both recordings on the Restorative Approach presented by Jennifer Llewelly: - Workshop Video,presented on May 26, 2025 (2.5 hours)
- Follow-Up Vidé, recorded on August 5 août, 2025 (35 min)
To access the folder which contains the recordings, please use the password provided. If needed, contact sbf.msma@gmail.com.
PLEASE NOTE: The recording and all related documents are for internal use only. For usage, please contact Jennifer Llewellyn from our Governance Committee. [Calendar Event] |
3:00 PM | | Break - 30 mins |
3:30 PM | | WORKSHOP 6 – SYNTHESIS [PART 2] Collaborative auto-ethnography
+ EVENT WRAP-UP
+ Next steps
Following a final 30-minute break, Workshop 6 will introduce and explore collaborative auto-ethnography. We will test this approach to collectively identifying and articulating wise practices, which is being developed for SBF/MSMA Research Clusters by Knowledge Synthesis Working Group Lead Marie-Ève Skelling-Desmeules.
We will conclude with a short prediction of next steps, including a preliminary outline of the agendas for meetings of the Research Practice Committee and Governance Committee in Year 3.
[Calendar Event] |
