St. Stephen’s College Leading into Being: Enhancing Compassionate Imagination through Opera By Rose-Marie Nigli A Project Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of St. Stephen’s College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MINISTRY © Rose-Marie Nigli Fall 2016 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to St. Stephen’s College to reproduce single copies of this dissertation and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the dissertation is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, St. Stephen’s College will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author’s prior written permission. Abstract This research, through a theology of appreciative voice, Presence and Service, used an Indigenous expressive arts-based approach in partnership with the Canadian Opera Company, to explore how a group of 15 vulnerable, immigrant and/or first generation immigrant youth live with their struggles while finding compassion and imagination. My goal was to engage the youth aged 18-29 years, labeled “at risk”, in writing, designing, staging and performing an opera. Through this experience they found their individual and collective voices and were able to realize their leadership and emotional intelligence capabilities. Key words: Indigenous; Indigenous methodology; appreciative voice; arts-based research; Canadian Opera Company; compassionate imagination; emotional intelligence; theology ii Dedication If you were misguided, misrepresented or misunderstood, If your world was coloured with pain and indifference, If you were rejected even though you did your best, If poverty and marginalization were your companions If you had to live with indignation and repeated insult, If spoken truth gave birth to ridicule, If you were the last to be chosen and the waiting felt like eternity, If you were hollered at boisterously, only for them to realize it was a mistaken identity, If you fled war, and are up most nights hearing and seeing and remembering, If love dismantled your identity and fate manipulated your serenity, If you were orphaned, If you began to parent at a tender age, If you hesitated as you learned to put pen to page And numbers left you in a daze, You fill me with imagination And Compassion brings me closer to the Creator Artist, In turn, I dedicate my work to you. iii Acknowledgements Oh Creator/Artist, I acknowledge with words that cannot express, The full depth, Of my gratitude for My supervisor, doctoral committee members, academic institutions, editors and readers, My thesis guide for "encouragement and possibility" My children and husband for their creativity, The youth and educational artists who worked alongside me, My parents, grandparents, and those gone before me For the many moons between, seasons and periods of growth, I try to be thankful To show how I feel, To show how the Spirit Has coloured my world, With love, thankfulness, praise, writing & annotating, My heart is open, my soul cleansed I am grateful to all and to the Creator /Artist iv I am deeply appreciative of the youth who participated in this artistic leadership endeavour, and I am thankful for the artist educators from the Canadian Opera Company who shared their time and talent. I acknowledge with thanks, the financial support of Toronto Community Housing, and of George Brown College in this research. v Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: For the Love of the Artist ............................................................................. 6 The Breadth and Depth of Artistic Creation ................................................................... 7 Spiritual Intelligence ..................................................................................................... 13 The Voices of Artists, Reflecting the Image of God the Creator .................................. 15 Chapter Two Innoweave: Where Story Becomes Theology and Story as Expressive Art Becomes Healing .............................................................................................................. 24 Theological/ Integration of Ministry Themes ............................................................... 24 Stories and Transformation ....................................................................................... 29 My Theology as a Way of Life ................................................................................. 32 Experiences ............................................................................................................... 34 Image: Struggle as Storm .......................................................................................... 36 Idea: Difference, Play ............................................................................................... 37 Theory: Emotional Intelligence .................................................................................... 39 Theory: Appreciative Voice .......................................................................................... 41 Intertwining Theology and Theory ............................................................................... 42 Chapter Three: The Path to Finding Voice ....................................................................... 48 Finding Voice through the Art of Baking ...................................................................... 49 Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 51 An Indigenous Expressive Arts-Based Approach ......................................................... 53 The Relationships.......................................................................................................... 59 The Process ................................................................................................................... 60 Data Collection and Analysis .................................................................................... 62 Validation .................................................................................................................. 63 Ethics............................................................................................................................. 64 Research Ethics Board .............................................................................................. 65 Chapter 4: Opera Our Collective Story ............................................................................. 67 Introduction to the Youth .............................................................................................. 67 Introduction to Cindy and the Canadian Opera Company Educational Artists ............ 70 vi Our Collective Process: The Operatic Stages ............................................................... 73 Prelude ...................................................................................................................... 76 Imagination ............................................................................................................... 78 Creativity................................................................................................................... 80 Writing the Story ....................................................................................................... 81 Designing the Story................................................................................................... 85 Staging the Opera ...................................................................................................... 85 Singing the Dreamer's Story ......................................................................................... 87 Chapter 5: When Art Speaks for Itself .............................................................................. 89 To See ............................................................................................................................ 90 To Know ........................................................................................................................ 94 Shaping the Artistic Work ............................................................................................. 99 Presentation: The Showing ......................................................................................... 102 Chapter Six: Reflections on Art as a Way of Thinking ................................................... 107 References ....................................................................................................................... 129 Appendix A: Toronto Community Housing