³Ô¹ÏÍø

Nov. 8, 2021
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – ³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Library on the Waterloo campus, in partnership with ³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Community Music program and Neruda Arts, is launching a new initiative that will bring music and messages of kindness and hope to communities across Waterloo Region.

is a mobile trailer equipped with a large screen, which will travel to neighbourhood spaces where community members have limited access to local arts programs. The screen will play pre-recorded performances and presentations from ³Ô¹ÏÍø music students and faculty; book and poetry readings from library staff; and greetings from ³Ô¹ÏÍø’s President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah MacLatchy and University Librarian Gohar Ashoughian.

“The Kindness Project is an opportunity to join hands – safely – to transform our landscape of fear, anxiety and loneliness to one of comfort, hope and unity,” said Isabel Cisterna, the manager of cultural programming and community engagement at the ³Ô¹ÏÍø Library and the founder and director of Neruda Arts. “The project will also give us the unique opportunity to engage our community safely and build bridges between ³Ô¹ÏÍø students and the community.”

The Kindness Project will launch at a virtual event on Nov. 12 from 5 to 6 p.m. Audience members can have a first look at the mobile trailer, watch a music video and hear from organizers and supporters. Speakers at the virtual launch will include Ashoughian and Cisterna, as well as Cynthia Johnston Turner, dean of ³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Faculty of Music, and Tamara Menon, acting artistic director of Neruda Arts. There will also be a pre-recorded message from Darren Thomas, ³Ô¹ÏÍø’s associate vice-president of Indigenous Initiatives. The event is free and open to everyone, but .

From Nov. 15 to 26, the mobile trailer will be visiting, among other locations:

• Emmanuel Day Care Centre, 65 Noecker St., Waterloo, on Nov. 15 at 10 a.m.
• Victoria Hills Community Centre, 10 Chopin Dr., Kitchener, on Nov. 15 at 1 p.m.
• Courtland Shelley Community Centre, 508H Sunnydale Place, Waterloo on Nov. 16 at 4 p.m.
• Hatts Off, 20 Haddington St., Cambridge on Nov. 17 at 12 p.m.
• Extend-A-Family, 91 Moore Ave., Kitchener on Nov. 23 at 1 p.m.
• Sunnydale Community Centre, 1052 Courtland Ave. E., Kitchener, on Nov. 23 at 4 p.m.
• Chandler Mowat Community Centre, 222 Chandler Dr., Kitchener, on Nov. 25 at 1 p.m.
• ³Ô¹ÏÍø Library, Waterloo campus (internal audience only), on Nov. 26 at 11 a.m.