The Reception is a two-day symposium that is intended to strengthen the arts sector in southwestern Ontario by providing opportunities for shared learning and networking in the arts, specifically focused on BIPOC artists and cultural producers. The symposium opens on Friday, November 29th, with Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, who will perform Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet, with a string quartet from The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the McMaster University Choir (sponsored by the Socrates Foundation).

Saturday, November 30th will feature a day of workshops, performances and performative lectures on rites of solidarity and activism. In response to the need for educational tools and best practices for inclusion, methods to navigate inhospitable terrain, and models for solidarity in action, workshops will explore subject matter such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action, activist burnout, and embodied strategies for enacting structural change, with such workshop leaders as Elwood Jimmy, Decolonize This Place, David MacDonald and Senjuti Aurora Sarker. Speakers and performances that centre BIPOC experience include Marissa Largo, Keira Boult, Shanika Maria, Mother Tareka and Red Betty Theatre. Ending the day with a celebratory dance party, DJ Spooky will perform a set, followed by DJ Shub, of A Tribe Called Red.

The venue is physically accessible.