Page 22 - 2018 Festival Edition

believe
speak
oppression
want
lies
STRATFORD FESTIVAL FORUM
freedom to
freedom to
freedom from
freedom from
freedom from
For the 2018 season, the series kicks off July 14 with Freedom to Believe, featuring Toronto Star journalist and editor Haroon Siddiqui, author and columnist Michael Coren, and
Lee Maracle of the Centre for the University of Toronto’s Indigenous studies discussing beliefs and values in a modern society.
Freedom to Speak is the topic July 21 for panellists Sheila Copps, the former deputy prime minister, Michael Vonn, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association policy director, and Althia Raj, the Huffington Post’s Ottawa bureau chief
Co-founder of Black Lives Matter Janaya Khan, human rights activist Remzi Cej and Christina Gray, a senior research associate with the International Law Research Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, will turn their attention to Freedom from Oppression July 28.
On Aug. 11, a panel comprising journalist and documentary filmmaker Sally Armstrong and humanitarian advocate James Orbinski, the former president of Doctors without Borders, will address Freedom from Want.
This year’s series concludes in the Studio Theatre Aug. 18 with CBC senior correspondent Susan Ormiston, social critic Linda McQuaig, and freelance journalist Desmond Cole discussing Freedom from Lies.
“I’m the host, so people want to hear these people, not really me,” said Kennedy. “My job is ensuring they say what they want and need to say. I’m there not to show off but to show them off, which is a very reward- ing task. As host of Ideas, I have the best job in the world. Stratford has been – and continues to be – very generous to me.
“It’s a pleasure to be part of the Stratford event in such a magnificent theatrical surrounding, being a participant alongside these great and very interesting people. What I do is to help turn this into a lively, engaging conversation between brilliant minds. Another, and possibly the most amazing, privilege of my job is meeting and often becoming very good friends with these people.”
He points to highlights like year two of the Stratford Ideas venture, when the focus was on the Massey Lectures, which were established in 1961 to honour Canada’s then Gov. Gen. Vincent Massey. The purpose was to enable distinguished authorities to communi- cate results of original studies on subjects of contem- porary interest.
“The Massey Lectures is the most amazing cultural institution that I’ve had the pleasure to be connected to over the years,” said Kennedy. “It has been part of CBC Ideas since about 1965. The Stratford connection is mind-blowing and in that same kind of category.
“There’s no question this is a perfect partnership. We get a lot of very good radio programming from this and it is becoming quite an attraction for the Festival. The audiences are generally between 100 and 150, never any less than those numbers.”
In 2016, with a panel comprising the acclaimed award-winning historian Margaret MacMillan, veter- an politician Bob Rae, and CBC’s Karin Wells, there was a much larger crowd. As a result, the event was shifted from the Studio Theatre to the considerably larger Tom Patterson Theatre.
Kennedy also speaks fondly of the relationships he has formed with guests over the years, like three-time Amnesty International Media Award winner Sally Armstrong and McGill University professor and member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Payam Akhavan.
“Sally and Payam ... had never met before, so it was a great personal pleasure to introduce them to each other,” he said. “They are simply remarkable people. I love them and love what they have done and continue to do.”
While he admits putting together the Stratford event is no easy task, he modestly shies away from tak- ing any credit for the program’s growing popularity.
“To put it simply, I trust Philip implicitly,” he said. “He is adept at balancing everything, looking for and always finding panellists with world-class minds. Sometimes they know each other while, on other occasions, they are meeting for the first time.
“We have a very good partnership and the calibre of our guests clearly demonstrates how well this project is working. The partnership between CBC and the Stratford Festival is unique to me but, given the pres- ent state of public broadcasting, it has become a buzz- word of sorts. I’m eagerly looking forward to Stratford’s 2018 season.”
For more information on tickets, contacts and schedules for Ideas at Stratford: Freedom To Speak please go online to https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/WhatsOn/ PlaysAndEvents/TheForum/Freedom-to-Speak.
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THE BEACON HERALD | 2018 FESTIVAL EDITION