Making Otherwise: on sustaining creative practice in the face of precarity

March 27, 2026 - March 27, 2026

Critical Distance is pleased to present Making Otherwise: on sustaining creative practice in the face of precarity

Date & Time: Sunday, May 31, 2026, 4-6 pm

Curated by Ingrid Jones through the Collaboratory for Black Poiēsis curatorial fellowship at University of Toronto, Making Otherwise convenes an intimate roundtable bringing together artists and culture workers whose practices span installation, performance, sound, and socially engaged practice. For this session we are pleased to welcome actor and playwright Lara Arabian; curator, cultural producer and educator, Andreann Asibey; and artist and educator, Amy Wing-Hann Wong. 

Each guest speaker will offer a short presentation  as an opening into collective conversation on  how they have sustained their artistic process in a moment defined in part by digital acceleration, overproduction and extraction. Curator Ingrid Jones will facilitate the discussion, taking cues from from bell hooks’ theorization of the margins as a place of strength, Edward Said’s reflections on alienation, and Audre Lorde’s insistence on the costs and ultimately necessity of resistance and critical care Questions to be explored may include: What challenges and breakthroughs shaped the project’s outcome? What strategies allowed you to work slowly, deliberately, and in ethical relation? And, how can racialized artists and cultural workers sustain themselves and their practices in the wake of precarity, dispossession, institutional friction, and public scrutiny? 

Making Otherwise is presented by Ingrid Jones and the Collaboratory for Black Poiēsis in partnership with Critical Distance as a part of CDCC’s 2026 Study Hall season.

This event is free to attend. Refreshments will be served and all are welcome. As space is limited, please REGISTER HERE

About the Curator(s)

Andreann Asibey

Andreann Asibey (Drea) is a Ghanaian-British-Canadian curator, cultural producer, and educator known for her people-centered practice. Her work bridges the gap between community engagement, public programming, and cultural production, grounded in her three guiding principles: community, culture, and conversation. Drea’s practice reflects a deep commitment to amplifying systematically marginalized voicesFind out more

Ingrid Jones

Toronto-based curator and creative director, Ingrid Jones, examines the intersections of decolonial curatorial practice, transnational solidarities, and the politics of museum representation. Her research engages themes of marginalization and refusal through installation, media, and collaborative projects. She has curated exhibitions and programs for the Doris McCarthy Gallery (Toronto), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin), and the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. She has also lectured and created masterclasses on photographic best practices and design for Toronto Metropolitan University and Sheridan Institute, respectively. Her work has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Reesa Greenberg Fund, and featured in Vice Berlin and Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, among others.
Find out more

About the Artist(s)

Amy Wong

Amy Wing-Hann Wong (b. 1981, Toronto, she/they) is an angry Asian feminist disguised as an oil painter. Her practice ranges from painting-based installation to collaborative projects that explore the politics of making noise and thinking through together. She is an Assistant Professor at OCAD University. Often inverting private and public spaces, Wong asserts ways inFind out more

Lara Arabian

Lara Arabian is a trilingual Toronto-based artist by way of Beirut, Lebanon, upstate NY, and Paris, France.  A Dora nominated actor, she’s worked with companies across Canada including: Citadel Theatre, Modern Times, Outside the March, Aluna Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Canadian Stage, Theatre Passe Muraille, TfT, Studio 180,  Pleaides Theatre, Cahoots,Find out more

Partners + Co-presenters

The Collaboratory for Black Poiēsis

The Collaboratory for Black Poiēsis (CBP) is an experimental, multidisciplinary research incubator and co-working research-creation hub, an archival nexus, and creative atelier/studiolab that is rooted in the importance of black study, Afro-Indigenous relations, and Afro-diasporic technologies. The CBP was established in 2022 and is led by Prof. SA Smythe. ItFind out more