Cliff Berrien
Wall Associate
For 50 years Cliff Berrien has been a student-practitioner of rhythm and drumming, inspired by the music of the African Diaspora and other global music, dance and art traditions. Cliff’s work-play responding to the Climate and Nature Emergency invites full bodily engagement to “stay with the trouble” through music, movement, art and other creative and self-reflexive practices. Cliff’s sessions explore the worlds of rhythm and cultural expressions of collective joy as ways to develop creativity, to nourish curiosity, and to deepen emotional and relational resilience. He is currently designing programs based in his extensive study of eco-social arts practices, psychology, contemplative practice and African and global cosmologies to contribute programming for The Deeptime Network, and is also a member of the team of presenters in the Rooted Global Village.
Primary Recipient Awards
During this residency, the 12 catalyst artists, who are active in the arts sector in Canada and internationally, will collaboratively reflect on how art can help us to “stay with the trouble” and face the complexities of our current times: to not turn our back to the turmoil of difficult things, while remaining grounded and attentive to what it means to be human within a wider web of relations.
Drawing from their multi-disciplinary practices which include theatre, puppetry, dance, music, clowning and visual arts, the artists are working on how to activate different modes of feeling, thinking, relating and acting as forces of social change that may open up not-yet-imaginable possibilities for co-existence in the future.
