EDITOR LIAM HILL-ALLAN |

THURSDAY, NOV. 21,2019 |

THE VOICE 3

Campusnews

The cast of Anon(ymous); set by Jessica Oostergo, costumes by Mara Gottler, lighting by Alan Brodie. susim/TTED PHOTO BY DAVID COOPER

Langaras diversity drama

College backed diversity project stalled after funding trouble

m= By RAY CHOPPING

Langara-funded research

project aimed at increas-

ing diversity in its theatre

programs has stalled after
insufficient funding.

‘The project will provide Langara’s
contemporary art curriculum with
plays, scenes and monologues, which
will more directly reflect the cultural
mix of the students who bring the
works alive on stage.

Artistic director of Studio 58

Kathryn Shaw, who is spearhead-
ing the project, said there has been
a severe lack of diversity in Canada’s
theatrical teaching curriculums for
along time.

‘The project was started by Shaw in
the summer of 2018 after receiving
a Research and Scholarly Activity
Fund award from Langara.

According to Shaw, the goal of the
project is “to diversify and decolonize
the Studio 58 curriculum.”

Kelly Sveinson, the chair of Lang-
ara’s Applied Research Centre said

that awards allow Langara faculty
members to pursue projects outside
their main curriculum, which

help deepen the college’s

teachings.

Shaw used the grant money to hire
two research assistants and compile
a database of more than 600 plays
from around the world.

“We need to stretch beyond the

canon of old white men’s plays,”

Shaw said. “We need to find voices
from all ethnicities, women and

LGBTQ and better reflect them to

Ashley Cook and Isaac George Hotchkiss in Anon(ymous). suBMITTED PHOTO BY DAVID COOPER

our own diverse student body.”

But with the award money
exhausted to pay for the research
assistants, the project has effectively

stalled.

“I simply don't have the time to do
it,” Shaw said.

“We need to find
voices from all
ethnicities, women
and LGBTQ and
better reflect them
to our own diverse
student body.”

— KATHRYN SHAW, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF
STUDIO 58

Plays found in the new database
are proving popular with students.

“It’s a really important thing that
Kathryn is doing,” Silken Lawson, a
third term student from Studio 58
said.

Studio 58’s current produc-
tion Anon(ymous), a contemporary
re-imagining of The Odyssey, directed
by Carmen Aguirre, is just one of the
plays found through Shaw’s database
project.

Anon(ymous) narrates a story of a
young refugee boy who travels to the
U.S. looking for his mother who has
disappeared.

“It’s so relevant, it tells many
stories of people silenced in our
world today,” Lawson said.

College
surveys
wellness

New database to
compile health stats
= By HENRI NGIMBIS

L angara College is one of three
post-secondary institutions
currently participating in
the rollout of a new survey aimed at
providing Canadian universities and
colleges with student mental health
statistics.

‘The survey, called the Canadian
Campus Wellbeing Survey, was
launched in early November. Histor-
ically, Canadian post-secondary
institutions have relied on statistics
compiled in the National College
Health Assessment, a survey run by
the American College Health Asso-
ciation.

However, according to the CCWS
Information Package 2019-2020,
“There have been concerns regard-
ing the appropriateness and value of
the NCHA in a Canadian context.”

Guy Faulkner, one of the project’s
UBC based research members, said
that gathering this kind of Canadian
information is important.

“Interventions that promote
health and wellbeing among young
adults are needed,” said Faulkner.
“Such interventions, however,
require measurement tools that
support intervention planning,
monitoring and evaluation.”

In this case, the tool used is a
survey on health topics such as
physical activity, sexual behaviour
and substance use.

The survey is in a pilot phase and
is currently only active at Langara,
UBC and the University of Toronto.

However, according to an email
from CCWS project manager Nikki
Reiter, 17 additional post-second-
ary institutions will join the project
between January and March of 2020,
following the current pilot phase.

Reiter said participating schools
will be able to use the system to view
their own statistics, as well as others.

“Institutions will be able to
compare themselves nationally to an
ageregated dataset and see how they
fare in core areas of student wellbe-
ing,” Reiter said. “We hope that the
CCWS will be the new standard for
information gathering for student
mental and physical health and well-

being on campuses across Canada.”

COLLEGE STUDENT STATS
MENTAL HEALTH BY THE NUMBERS

68.9%

Felt overwhelming anxiety at some
point in last 12 months.

Felt very lonely at some point in last 12
months.

Felt very sad at some point in last 12
months.
SOURCE: ACHA.ORG