QUIET PARADE

Organized by Aislinn Thomas, in collaboration with MSVU Art Gallery and with support from Eyelevel, QUIET PARADE is a low-stimulation parade and celebration taking place in Kjipuktuk/Halifax as part of Nocturne 2022. As its name suggests, QUIET PARADE will be a parade but also a platform to experience a vibrant, extravagant, sensory-friendly event that embraces access as a shared and interdependent practice. QUIET PARADE seeks to embody a quiet that interrupts the noise of the city, experimenting with new ways of collectively creating and sharing space.

Date: Saturday, October 15 at 2:00pm
Location: Fort Needham Memorial Park – park map with route below
Rain Date: Sunday, October 16 at 2:00pm

While QUIET PARADE centers low-sensory accessibility, all are welcome and it is important that everyone who wishes to participate is able to do so. To help ensure an enjoyable and accessible experience for all parade attendees and participants, organizers have created an Access Guide with information on the many aspects of the parade, event site and access supports and resources available. At the parade, Access Team members will be at a Welcome Table and circulating through the site should attendees need assistance or information at any point during the event. Thank you in advance for helping to make this event accessible. QUIET PARADE takes an experimental approach to collective access and organizers hope that it will be a positive experience for all!

A = parade route on a flat, paved path
B = accessible parking, accessible washrooms and accessible entrance to the park
C = paved path that goes uphill
D = parking lot and entrance to the park with a paved path that goes uphill
E = paved path and stairs into the park

Please consult the Access Guide for additional details about the park and parade route.

Access Guide

The Access Guide outlines the access needs and supports that have been integrated into QUIET PARADE, such as COVID-19 safety protocol, live visual description, seating options, guidelines for how to reduce fragrance and toxicants, ASL interpretation, artist info and more.

QUIET PARADE is guided by the understanding that accessibility is contextual, varied, and dynamic. If you have questions or access needs to support your ability to attend the Parade, please don’t hesitate to contact QUIET PARADE organizers at quietparade2022@gmail.com

About Aislinn Thomas

Aislinn Thomas (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes video, performance, sculpture, installation, and text. Many of her recent projects respond to disability. She is grateful to work alongside and in the legacy of so many who treat access and survival as spaces for creative acts, experimentation, and pleasure. Aislinn is a white, disabled and chronically ill settler of Ashkenazic and British descent. She lives in Unama’ki, on ancestral and unceded Mi’kmaq territory.

** A note about Poetry on Tiptoes from artists Sophie Pilipczuk and Jessica Winton: “Creation with and in communities is always a process of learning for us. Since making Poetry on Tiptoes we have come to understand how our depiction of braille was not accessible for braille users; we apologize for any negative impact this may have caused. Access is a shared, ongoing process of learning and the complex outcomes that emerged from this project will inform how we approach access and collaboration in our artistic practices going forward.”