Engaged Practitioner in Residence 2015-2016

The Engaged Practitioner in Residence program creates a campus presence for a community expert, generating opportunities for them to contribute to student, faculty, staff, and community-partnered activities. Each Engaged Practitioner in Residence (EPR) brings their own knowledge and expertise to this role, allowing for maximum innovation, creativity, and reach across the University.

The 2015-2016 pilot year of the Engaged Practitioner in Residence (EPR) bridged campus and community through creativity, offering options to integrate artistic approaches into research and teaching. The inaugural EPR, Georgia Simms, is a professional dancer, educator, entrepreneur, and Guelph alumni. She provides interested collaborators a chance to investigate what dance, theatre and performance can do in academic and educational contexts.

Get an overview of the activities conducted by Georgia during the 2015-2016 pilot year of the EPR.

About Georgia

Georgia Simms is a professional dancer, educator and entrepreneur with expertise in both performing arts and social sciences. She is a U of G alumni and former President’s Scholar and has longstanding involvement in community-university partnered research and arts-based practices, specifically with respect to water governance. Her work integrating research, performance and community engagement has been shared in many contexts, including site-specific and stage productions with the Guelph Dance Festival, and projects animating the Market Square Splash Pad with the City of Guelph.

Learn more about Georgia and her projects

Ways to Collaborate

• Course content support (guest lectures, demonstrations, workshops)
• Consultation for customized design of creative processes that support research (e.g. knowledge mobilization strategy)
• Opportunities to strengthen teamwork dynamics among research collaborators & partners through workshops
• Ideas for engaging presentations, lectures and/or community events
• Creative skills development tailored to specific research or teaching needs

Examples of activities conducted as part of Georgia's residence

At the Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum:

• Workshop: "Performing Knowledge Mobilization: moving our experiences"
• Presentation/Discussion: "Community on Campus: what is an engaged practitioner in residence?" (Read reflections from a participant here)

At the Knowledge Mobilization Summer Institute:

• "Energizing our Engagement"

At the Graduate Student University Teaching Conference:

• "Finding the Physical in Facilitation"

At the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium:

• Workshop: "Connecting and Communication through Dance Improvisation"

In collaboration with Dr. Jeji Varghese for undergraduate course SOC*3850, The Sociology of Water:

• "Bodies of Water: a creative exploration of human relationships to water through stories and movement"
• "Decisions and Democracy: listening, facilitating and engaging for collaborative action"

In collaboration with Dr. Carla Rice for graduate seminar FRAN*6200, Embodiment and Bodily Difference:

• "Philosophy in Motion: exploring phenomenology and post-structuralism in physical experience"

In collaboration with Dr. Wayne Caldwell for graduate students in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development:

• "Bringing Performance to Planning: creating community development opportunities that are meaningful, active and interactive"

With the University of Guelph Learning Services for the Presentation Boot Camp:

• "What you say without speaking: body language, movement and communication"

With researchers and staff of Project Re-Vision:

• "Delving into Dance as Tool for Storytelling"

With graduate students in the Department of Geography:

• "Re-Imagining Research through Movement"

For the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, Thinking Spaces: Reading Group and Speaker Series

• "Freeing Frameworks: A movement improvisation workshop" (See the workshop video created by João Franca)

With the KTT-KMb Learning Circle

• "Getting the A's: Moving from Anxiety to Authenticity in Research"

For the University of Guelph Learning Services Presentation Boot Camp

• "Performing your Presentation: using theatrical metaphors to engage listeners and communicate effectively"