A new Citizen Scientist project for the Lower Saint Lawrence, blending knowledge, culture and heritage, with Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence.
Heritage LSL is proud to launch Citizen Science: The Intersection of Knowledge, Culture and Heritage. This two-year project offers the Lower Saint Lawrence residents the opportunity to participate in workshops with three duos of artists and scientists in 2027, learning about the rich natural and scientific heritage of the region, and creating community artworks which will be exhibited publicly in Spring 2028.
Each artist-scientist duo will work in a different site offering workshops between March and November 2027. In Métis-sur-Mer, sound artist Robin Servant and Dr Catherine-Alexandra Gagnon (UQAR) will teach field recordings along the river and shoreline. In Bic, visual artist Joan Sullivan and Dr Gwénaëlle Chaillou (ISMER) will be exploring the impacts of hypoxia, or dropping oxygen levels in the St Lawrence River. In Cacouna, Wolastoq choreographer and performer Ivanie Aubin-Malo will be working with ecologist Ariane Breault to look at Indigenous knowledge systems and the ecology around Parc cotier Kiskotuk.
Would you like to participate? Here is a chance to learn something new, expand your horizons, and meet interesting people and challenge your ways of thinking!
Heritage LSL is looking to recruit 12 – 15 people (over 16 years of age) per site, to participate in the workshops. No prior experience is necessary: just a curiosity about the waters, rocks, plants and animals of the land which we share, and an openness to exploring how creative processes can help develop communal understanding. In addition, participants will have the chance to learn new practices of observation and recording the environment around them, working with science educator Ingrid Birker.
If you are interested in being part of this project, please write to HLSL Cultural Coordinator Rachel McCrum at rmccrum@heritagelsl.ca. The workshops will be conducted in English and in French: they’re also an excellent way to practice your language skills! Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence’s mandate is to support the vitality of the Anglophone community of the region, and foster the well-being and feeling of belonging for all its members. This project is funded by the Secrétariat aux relations avec les Québécois d’expression anglaise, and supported by the Government of Canada.
The project launch will be on Thursday October 22 at Theatre du Bic (50 Rte du Golf-du-Bic, Rimouski, QC G0L 1B0), 15h – 17h. There will be presentations from the artist and scientist duos, and a chance to find out more about the project. It’s free, although advance registration will help us to plan the event. Click here to register.
