Panel Discussion

Looking for Courage, and Finding Encouragement

Art, Culture, and Homelessness Relief during Covid-19

Host: Rebecca Zandbergen, CBC Radio One – London Morning

Panelists: Chuck Lazenby, Unity Project; Brian Meehan, Museum London

Panel Coordinator: Patrick Mahon, Artist/Professor, Western

Join CBC Radio One’s London Morning show host, Rebecca Zandbergen in conversation with Museum London’s Brian Meehan, Unity Project’s Chuck Lazenby and Panel Coordinator, Patrick Mahon, Artist/Professor, Western University, to review the pandemic’s impact, the system responses and adaptations within the arts, culture and social service sectors.

With the onset of the pandemic, the necessity for organizations like Unity Project and Museum London to adapt to a suddenly changed landscape of needs and challenges within their respective communities was at many points urgent. Indeed, to pivot in unforeseen ways often required ingenuity, determination, and courage – and it still does. In this panel, we will examine how the demands of the pandemic for Unity Project and Museum London were and are, at times, dramatically different, and yet similarities regarding the demands on the two organizations in these times also exist.

We will ask, “What has been the role of ‘community,’ both inside of these organizations and surrounding them? And what are the ways that ‘business as usual’ has needed to be attempted, and ‘a whole new world’ needs to be accepted?”

Ultimately, even if silver linings aren’t to be found these days, it’s important to ask about the sources of encouragement that suggest there will be a viable future for Unity Project and Museum London, and to hear about how these organizations are anticipating and working towards those tomorrows. Join us to hear stories that bring together the truths about current realities with thoughts and aspirations that remind us to hope, to plan, and to imagine.