an artful exploration of why and how people sometimes do good things towards each other
Grounds for Goodness is a multi-year arts project exploring stories and though about why and how people sometimes behave in good ways towards each other, particularly across group identities and in times of difficulty and emergency. The project is conceived of and led by Ruth Howard, From 2019 to 2022 it was produced by Jumblies Theatre + Arts: navigating through the pandemic with many online workshops and short films, and a hybrid 2-week residency in Mississauga in February 2022.
Since then Grounds for Goodness has been revived as an independent project of Ruth’s, with cross-Canada hosts, artistic collaborators and community participants, thanks to a touring grant from the Canada Council for the Arts , and support from hosts and partners. Over the past year, Grounds for Goodness has travelled to Halifax (November 2023), Ottawa (March 2024), Thunder Bay (April 2024), Haliburton (May-June 2024), with other iterations, including Sratford, Ontario, in the works.
To find out more, explore this website, and feel free to write to ruthhowa@gmail.com.
We have all grown up with and inherited evidence that people, especially in groups, do harmful things to others – often those from other groups. We may be less aware of times that groups of people have helped, protected and rescued others from harm. These stories are there if we look for them – hidden in history, folk tale and memory. They show that elements can combine to nurture social goodness – a goodness that is perhaps “always difficult, rare and fragile. And yet possible.”*
*From The Fragility of Goodness, Tzvetan Todorov
