Welcome to the Listening Room
The Listening Room is an oral history project born in the depths of COVID-19. For months, we have followed threads of stories, community and friendship at the MABELLEpantry, on the phone and in the mysterious, shared space of internet Zoom meetings. In this way, we make the invisible threads connecting and binding our neighbourhood, visible.
Click any card below to listen and share.
About us
Michael Burtt
Over 30 years, Michael has worked with environmental, labour, media, and faith-based sectors. Michael led Making Room Community Arts as its founder and Artistic Director where he developed Sand in Water, a process of community engagement bringing people together through meditation, story-sharing and hands on activities such as art-making.
Melanie Fernandez-Alvares
Melanie a drama artist who holds an ATCL in Speech and Drama from Trinity College (London) and coaches effective speaking and performance. Melanie is the creator/facilitator of Searching for Stories, a project that finds stories in unique personal connections and experiments with ways to give them voice.
Billy Main Pardo
Billy is an illustrator, maker, and community arts enthusiast who holds a BDES in Illustration from OCAD University. Billy is the hand behind bringing the stories of The Listening Room into the visual world, highlighting and celebrating community members’ generously shared words.
Thank you to all who shared their stories, time and wisdom with us, including:
Anastasia, Andris, Angela, Anna, Ann, Annie, Bernadette, Bettina, Blanca, Bonnie, Brian, Bunny, Catherine, Cathy, Chandra, Chandrowty, Chomm, Claudette D, Claudette R, Dalal, Daphne, Deb, Deepa, Dorothy, Dushka, Elizabeth K, Elizabeth M, Em, Eutis, Faten, Gloria, Grace, Helena, Hilda, Hope, Inez, Jaime, John, Joseph, Julia, Kathy, Kim, Kitty, Kyong, Laboni, Lakshmi, Lana, Lena, Linda, Loreto, Lorna, Lola, Lakshmi, Lojaen, Lourdes, Maria M, Maria G, Maria S, Maria R, Mario, Mariya, Mary, Merle M, Merle B, Monika, Muna, Nancy, Narelle, Nash, Neena, Neris, Norm, Normalyn, Orfa, Patricia, Raffaela, Rosanna, Sabina, Sabitre, Sheila, Shelley, Shirley, Skye, Sue, Susan, Susi, Tatiana, Veronika, Waed, Yasmin, and Yohan.