Date: Friday, May 31, 2024
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: Seaquam Secondary School, 11584 Lyon Rd, Delta, BC V4E 2K4
Performer: Jugpreet Bajwa
Wingspan: Dis/ability Arts, Culture and Public Pedagogy expands its Dis/Deaf Artists’ Program to become national. Wingspan will document the journeys of all the artists and students in a documentary.
Internationally renowned Jugpreet Bajwa, an Indo-Canadian classical, folk, and rock singer, will work with Seaquam Secondary and Elsie Roy Elementary students to create a performance to showcase at Seaquam School on May 31, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. The Honorable Carla Qualtrough will provide welcome words.
Wingspan Dis/Ability Arts, Culture & Public Pedagogy is Canada’s first accessible and inclusive Disability and Deaf Artist Residency Program in Canada’s schools and is a UBC VPRI Excellence Cluster. In 2024, under the leadership of Dr. Leslie G. Roman, UBC Professor of Educational Studies and visionary for the Wingspan program, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary cluster of colleagues, asks: how can the aims of Canada’s Accessibility Act take center stage in the hearts and minds of students, teachers, and staff in partner K-12 schools? Like starlings in a murmuration, Wingspan has flown into schools in three Wing Provinces: British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario. Wingspan, this year, has gone national.
“Creating inclusion begins with educating students, teachers, and educational leaders that disabilities or Deafness are not something to fear or feel shame about. The more we learn, the more we appreciate what artists with disabilities and Deafness bring to the table of our schools (K-12) and our entire educational system”, says Prof. Roman, a leading scholar of disability studies and sociology of education. Artists have been placed in K-12 schools or as touring artists who perform in art galleries, museums, or community centers.
Artists and teachers have been co-teaching in five schools and four districts nationwide. School districts include: The BC Wing-the Vancouver School Board’s Elsie Roy Elementary and the Delta School District’s Seaquam Secondary; Ontario Wing-the Toronto School District Board; the Oasis Secondary Alternative School Sites of Art and Social Change and the Skateboard Factory; and the Manitoba Wing-the Winnipeg School Division’s Greenway Elementary and Churchill High School.
The program began in February with a retreat at Loon Lake Lodge in Maple Ridge, BC, to co-train the teachers, artists, and staff. Students in schools have had the opportunity to have sustained learning experiences with artists with disabilities or Deafness in residencies of up to 8 weeks. They have also been treated to experiences of touring artists and taken on field trips to art galleries to exhibit their art or hear the performances of Wingspan artists or perform alongside them. Celebrations of learning or showcases feature not only the work of the Wingspan artists but, most importantly, what the students have learned from the role model artists in their classrooms in each Wing province.
BC’s two school districts, Delta and Vancouver, are thrilled to have Jugpreet Bajwa, an Indo-Canadian Classical, Folk and Rock singer, working with their students. Jugpreet brings his talent and motivation to Jesse Costello’s grade four classroom at Elsie Roy Elementary in Vancouver and Andrew Robinson’s grades 11 and 12 English and Literature classes, as well as the classrooms of teachers in Delta’s Seaquam Secondary program in the Fine Arts classrooms from music to theatre, from grades 9-12.
Canadian audiences will know Jugpreet Bajwa from his celebrity status as a televised performer of our national anthem at Vancouver Canuck and Whitecap games, as well as the U.S. anthem for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Jugpreet Bajwa’s musical journey began at the tender age of five. It evolved into a lifelong passion despite facing the adversity of Eye Cancer, to which he lost both of his eyes. With a degree in Indian Classical Music and a Diploma in Western Classical Music, Jugpreet sings in 16 languages. A graduate of Seaquam, he returns as a role model and a barrier-breaker to achieving post-secondary education degrees.
Barriers to all facets of education, post-secondary education, and employment are multiple, from economic to cultural and structural. A significant proportion of youth with disabilities aged 15 or older report experiencing bullying and being excluded or avoided at school. Wingspan has been creating a culture of artfully performing inclusion in our schools to redress ablism and create awareness to advocate for the resources to close well-documented gaps for the institutional support for students with disabilities or Deafness. Jugpreet Bajwa defies the grim statistics reported in Statistics Canada 2022 and the barriers to entering and completing post-secondary education. He attributes his success to good mentors at his high school, such as school counsellor Mark Arends. Cultures of inclusion mean having the school-based language to tackle ablism and provide counter-narratives and peer and school-based supports. Jugpreet Bajwa’s accomplishments include triumphs in international singing contests, performing in over 1000 shows globally and judging musical competitions. He has represented Canada at FICCI Frames in India and received honours such as the Darpan Awards for Breaking Barriers, the Drishti Award for Innovation in Arts, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. The release of numerous albums and singles in various genres and languages reflects his life’s mission: spreading love and peace through music globally.
Wingspan artists are tackling stereotypes and co-teaching with adventurous teachers who are taking up the challenge of teaching about disabilities and Deafness as enriching differences, identity, and pride. “Our attitudes towards people with disabilities need a major overhaul – and the place to start is in our public schools,” says Dr. Leslie Roman. During their residencies, the artists will be visible, creating conversations about accessibility, inclusion, ableism, and school-wide disability and Deaf pride in school-wide assemblies, co-teaching and performing in their artistic media, and providing the schools with new lenses through which to see art made by artists with disabilities or hear about their experiences through their unique voices and stories.
Following the journey in the classrooms is NFB award-winning director Thomas Buchan, who is filming the experiences of the Wingspan program in all three provinces for a documentary. Thomas is a Director and Director of Photography (DOP) for several feature documentaries, collaborating with the National Film Board (NFB), CBC, and the Knowledge Network. He is co-directing this film with Prof. Roman.
The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, has strongly supported Wingspan since its inception. A successful human rights lawyer and Paralympic swimmer, Minister Qualtrough is a champion for Delta and is committed to addressing inequality and advocating diversity. Minister Qualtrough has been visually impaired since birth. In 2016, she first emphasized eliminating barriers for youth and all Canadians with disabilities nationally and globally. Honourable Qualtrough looks forward to providing welcoming words at the BC Showcase at Seaquam Secondary School in the Delta on May 31, 2024. Press and the public are invited to the Showcase at 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Wingspan artists, film directors, teachers, cluster leaders, and educational leaders for both districts are available for interviews, photos, and more information upon request. School visits and showcase media visits are welcome.