Music elevates, inspires, awakens, and moves us. Art has the transformative power to open hearts and minds. Life touches each of us in personal ways. A certain cause may speak to us so loudly that we are compelled to action. Our organization can answer this call.

Our Vision

Instruments of Change uses the arts as an educational tool to empower people to become instruments of transformative change in their own lives. By expanding community access to cultural activities, we allow diverse populations the opportunity to make and experience music and art. Through our community-based art projects, which serve schools, hospices, shelters, community centres and prisons, we create synergetic experiences that give both our facilitating artists and our participants a means of expression to find their authentic voice using a variety of artistic modes.

Our Objectives

- To bring music and art to the broadest possible demographic, allowing people the chance to experience, make and do art themselves.

- To connect and impact the creators and audience of our art by enabling participants to become agents of change in their own lives through the act of collective art making.

- To advocate for the value of the arts by illustrating their broad-reaching benefits through our projects, performances, and stories.

- To create a sustainable organization, using diversified funding strategies and by developing numerous community partnerships.

Our News

Waldorf Rock Lottery, Jan. 29th, 8 pm
Girls Rock Camp and Instruments of Change will join forces to produce the Waldorf’s very first Rock Lottery, on Sunday, January 29th at 8 pm. This awesome event will raise funds for our Ladies Rock Camp which we are set to launch in February, at a BC women's prison.

Check out what happens when we mash-up-up twenty of Vancouver’s hottest musicians into five completely new bands, and then give them only 24 hours to create an original 15-minute set for the show. It’s gonna get a little wild, it’s gonna get a little loud – and it’s going to be REALLY FUN.

The show will feature the looping magic of the Cruz brothers; performance maven prOphecy sun and fellow Tyranahorse member, Darren Fleet; the ubiquitous Chris-a-riffic on the keys;rapper Rup Sidhu; the sultry pipes of Dominique Fricot; guitarist/singer/songwriter, Jenny Ritter of the recently parted band, the Griffs, and more.

$10 minimum donation. Tickets available at brownpapertickets.com, Red Cat and Zulu Records or at the door.

Community Mapping Projects at Sunset and Renfrew Community Centres
In 2012, Something Collective’s primary community engagement in the Sunset neighborhood will be the development of a community-mapping project. We Are Here, will interact with the public using a a multitude of artistic mediums to “draw out narratives of why residents value their neighbourhood and how they want it to grow and change.” (cityecology.net) Something Collective wants to hear from the Sunset community as they secure participants for their project. The artists at Something Collective can be reached at info@somethingcollective.ca, where more information is posted about their other projects and planned activities.

Something Collective has also received $12,000 from Vancouver’s Artists in Communities program, to pursue another interdisciplinary, community-mapping project with neighbors of the Renfrew Community Centre. In Our Footprint, Something Collective will use audio, visual, choreographic and environmental mediums, to facilitate a process that will enable the Renfrew community to track how they interact with their environment, using all five of their senses.

Finally, after a vibrant celebration of Something Collective’s Incubator Residency at Moberly, on Nov. 20th, these artists will present their second open studio by bringing an interactive performance piece into the Sunset schools on Aprils 20th. Keep checking somethingcollective.ca for more information.

Art for Social Change Film Festival at VanCity Theatre, June 11-15, 2012
Instruments of Change is also excited to announce that VanCity Theatre has agreed to co-produce an Arts for Social Change Film and Speaker Series for their Arts of Conscience workshops, June 11-15, 2012.

Our Projects

Artrike

This pedal-powered, multi-functional stage in development is intended for community-engaged theatre productions. Instruments of Change artists Juliana Bedoya (sculpture and performance installation), Maggie Winston (puppetry and theatre) and Laura Barron (music and creative writing) are currently construction of this stage, in partnership with students from the UBC Mechanical Engineering Department CAPSTONE course. This emissions-free creation will be an active piece of mobile art that provides a space for collaboration, innovation and education. The structure is scheduled to be completed by summer 2012, with plans to stage its first production by the end of 2012, thanks to our partners and a generous donation from the JT Foundation.

Expect Artrike to be hitting Vancouver streets soon. Click here to download PDF sheet with details about this inventive project.

( images: Preliminary Artrike sketch, Ladies Rock Camp band)

Women Rock!

Our artists will facilitate a program at a BC prison, where women will learn to play rock instruments, form bands, manage gear and write songs. At the end of our three-month Women's Rock! program, hosted during Spring 2012, the women will have the empowering experience to perform for their peers. This initiative was born out of a partnership between Instruments of Change director, Laura Barron, and singer/songwriter, Leah Abramson. Previously, as band coaches at Girls Rock Camp in Portland, OR and Vancouver, BC, they each witnessed the enormously positive impacts of this program when working with 8-18 year-old girls. Consequently, they are eager to share this powerful, rehabilitative experience with women in prison while teaching them team-building skills and cultivating their creativity.   This program is made possible by the generous donation of instruments-on-loan from Vancouver's Girls Rock Camp.

Something Collective

This team of professional artists and activists have joined forces because they realize that they share the necessary aspiration, vision and creative skill set to effect social change through their art. This like-minded group includes Flick Harrison ( media arts), Natalie Gan (dance), Maggie Winston (puppetry, theatre), Juliana Bedoya (sculpture, performance installation), and Laura Barron (flutist, yogi, writer). They had the fortune to meet in 2010, in Judith Marcuse’s SFU course Exploring Arts for Social Change, and this shared experience has already spawned various artistic collaborations which have addressed issues of homelessness, gentrification, sustainability and consumerism.  In June 2011, they were selected for a three-year Incubator Residency, serving the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre, as well as the Sunset Community Centre & Ice Rink. This exciting opportunity provides them a shared studio space at MACC, from which they can pursue their individual art practices while developing a variety of future projects intended to serve the Sunset community.

Click here to learn more about Something Collective's vibrant array of activities.

( images: Something Collective artists), and toy puppet theatre for Something Collective's original inter-disciplinary school show, Captain Creative.

Arts of Conscience

From June 11-16, 2012, Instruments of Change, in partnership with theVancouver International Song Institute, will present Arts of Conscience, an intensive 6-day workshop designed for inter-disciplinary artists and community members interested in the burgeoning field of Art for Social Change. Each day will feature guest speakers who are leaders in this global movement, including Judith Marcuse, internationally renowned dancer/choreographer and Director of the International Centre of Art for Social Change at SFU, Reena Lazar, Executive Director of Peace it Together, a filmmaking program for youth, Cyndy Chwelos, Program Director at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre, David Diamond, Artistic Director of Headlines Theatre and Susan Sommers, President of the Music Therapy Association of British Columbia.

Registered participants will also be led through diverse classes and experiential activities, working directly with a variety of community organizations, to explore the possibilities for their art practice in the service of social transformation. Topics include Cultural Diplomacy, Arts in Conflict Prevention, and Arts Therapy. Additional training includes workshops in Facilitation Skills, Incorporating Arts for Social Change Curriculi into University Settings, and Working with Trauma Populations.

Each evening will conclude with a film screening, co-produced byVanCityTheatre. Each film powerfully illustrate the socially transformative impact of the arts in action. Films include Wasteland, a documentary the three year art project of Vik Muniz with the garbage workers of Brazil; Twelve Angry Lebanese, a film about the radical work of Zeina Daccache as she directs a theatre piece with inmates from a high security male prison in Lebanon; Favela Rising, following Anderson Sá, a former drug trafficker who establishes the grassroots Afro Reggae movement amongst the youth of the Rio slums; Rhythm Is It!, a movie documenting the empowering work of Berlin Philharmonic in their outreach program which enlisted 250 inner-city German school children to dance with their performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and a selection of student short films from Peace It Together.

For more program and registration details click here.

Classical Classroom

This program brings educational classical music performances to underserved schools throughout North America, recognizing the crucial role that arts in the schools can play. Current productions include Bach Rocks and Mozart Swings as well as Music Can Be Anything, performed by Forbidden Flutes, the wildly imaginative duo formed by Laura Barron and Liesa Norman in 1998. In addition to recent concerts for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside schools, Lord Strathcona and Seymour Elementary, Instruments of Change has produced concerts for students in Massachusetts, Arizona and the Yukon.

( images: Forbidden Flutes Classical Classroom performance, Saint James Music Academy Giving Room benefit house concert)

Giving Room Concerts are benefit house performances, produced by Instruments of Change, which fuse the power of music with our communities' generous spirit of philanthropy in the service of a variety of non-profit organizations. By bringing world-class live performance into people's home to raise funds for the charity of the host's choice, the Giving Room creates meaningful experiences for its artists, its hosts and its beneficiaries. In 2010, Instruments of Change collectively raised $12,000 for Vancouver's Saint James Music Academy, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the Sedona Sunrise Seniors Centre.

Our Supporters

Do you believe that art can change lives?
If so, we invite you to contribute to our efforts in any of the following ways:

Send a generous donation to:
Instruments of Change
211 W 15th Ave.
Vancouver, BC, V5Y-1Y1

Volunteer for one of our community-engaged art projects:
Please contact laura@laurabarron.net with your interest.

Stay informed about our activities:
Click Here

Ask us to facilitate an art project in your community:
Instruments of Change collaborates with communities to determine the most appropriate art project for them. We work with a variety of inter-disciplinary mediums, including music, creative writing, dance, visual arts, film, puppetry, and theatre. Please contact us at laura@laurabarron.net if you think that we can serve your community in some way. We will lsiten thoughtfully to your indvcidual needs as we develop the project that best suits you.

Host a Giving Room concert:
Also feel free to reach us at that same address if you are interested in hosting a benefit house concert for the charity of your choice. Instruments of Change can produce a world-class, tailor-made event for you in your own home.

Our Board

Patrick Stafford Smith, President, Principal of Vertical Strategies, Management Consulting
Sarah Dickinson, Vice President, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Blast Radius
Geoff Cross, Treasurer, Program Manager, Translink
Sylvie St. Onge, Secretary, former manager of Montizambert Photography Studios
Liesa Norman, Forbidden Flutes Founder, singer/songwriter
David Pay, Artistic Director, Music on Main

Our Pledge

They were nothing more than people, by themselves…….
but all together, they have become the heart and
muscles and mind of something perilous and new,
something strange and growing and great.
Together, all together, they are the instruments of change.

-Keri Hulme, The Bone People