{"id":5846,"date":"2014-07-25T00:06:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T07:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=5846"},"modified":"2014-08-27T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T03:18:09","slug":"pandoras-collective-co-founder-talks-to-ji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/07\/25\/pandoras-collective-co-founder-talks-to-ji\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandora\u2019s Collective co-founder talks to JI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bonnie Nish also started Summer Dreams.\u00a0(photo by Robin Susanto)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a passion for writing poetry,\u201d said Bonnie Nish, a local poet and an executive director of Pandora\u2019s Collective. \u201cBut I also want to build a community of writers. Writing is an isolated occupation. Building a community around it brings us together. When I\u2019m with people, working on a Pandora\u2019s event or the Summer Dreams festival, I get as much as I give.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nish refused to define herself by one word or profession. \u201cI\u2019m many things,\u201d she said. Nish has a bachelor\u2019s degree in English, a master\u2019s in art education and is completing her PhD in expressive arts therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpressive arts therapy uses all of the arts \u2013 from writing to visual arts to music \u2013 to unlock people\u2019s creativity and help with conflict resolution,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt engages the part of our brains we don\u2019t usually use. I\u2019m in the process of setting up a practice and I\u2019m also trying to organize a series of workshops.\u201d Among her clients are individuals (children and adults), corporations trying to build their teams and couples in need of counseling.<\/p>\n

Helping people achieve their potential through arts is her ultimate goal in life. \u201cI always wanted to be a writer and a teacher,\u201d she said. Both her wishes came true. She has been a poetry workshop instructor since 1996, first in California and later here, in Vancouver, sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for poetry with adults and teens.<\/p>\n

Since 2006, she also has worked for the Vancouver School Board as an education assistant for elementary school children with disabilities: Down syndrome and autism. \u201cI\u2019m drawn to children who need extra help,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I like working one on one. It allows me to build a relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her other work stems from the same sources: her need to give, to mentor, to unite writers. \u201cWhen I came to Vancouver in 2002, I joined a writers\u2019 group. Later, I set up my own group. My kids were still young, so we met weekly in my house and had a writing session on a \u2018prompt,\u2019 a different prompt every week. We wrote around my kitchen table.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t enough. Nish and her poetic cohorts wanted to take their poetry to the wider world, so they founded Pandora\u2019s Collective, a nonprofit organization that promotes poetry and literature in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat began over 10 years ago as a small writing group sitting around my kitchen table every week has evolved into a whole gamut of weekly, monthly and yearly events and readings, which reaches hundreds of people,\u201d she said. \u201cWe feature poetry contests for all ages, with entries coming from as far away as Italy and Egypt. We award a scholarship each summer to enable a teen to attend the Vancouver Public Library\u2019s Summer Book Camp. With Pandora\u2019s Collective, I have facilitated workshops in alcohol and drug rehabilitation centres, at Covenant House, the Gathering Place and throughout the Lower Mainland in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI\u2019ll strive as long as we\u2019re doing this to keep Pandora\u2019s an inclusive place for all writers, where they can find community, where their words are taken seriously and they\u2019re able to continue to find their voice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Pandora\u2019s provides a safe space for all writers to be heard. \u201cThis has personal importance to me,\u201d said Nish. \u201cI understand the need to be heard. I\u2019ll strive as long as we\u2019re doing this to keep Pandora\u2019s an inclusive place for all writers, where they can find community, where their words are taken seriously and they\u2019re able to continue to find their voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Pandora\u2019s flying high, Nish turned her focus to another project: she started the annual Summer Dreams literary festival in 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed that lots of people did lots of events in Vancouver,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it was a good idea to bring them all together, to give them more exposure \u2026 to showcase to the public what we do on an ongoing basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2013, its 10th year, the festival had grown into a multi-day event, comprised of 27 literary groups with more than 100 performers. Unfortunately, for 2014, the festival is taking a hiatus, as its founder and heart, Nish, has a health problem. In 2012, she suffered a severe concussion; in 2013, a second one. \u201cMy short-term memory was affected,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t read, couldn\u2019t write, couldn\u2019t find words.\u201d<\/p>\n

While gradually getting better, Nish has found a way to turn her pain into an opportunity for other writers. She is undertaking the publication of an anthology of stories \u2013 essays, poems or memoirs \u2013 about concussion and its effects. She already has submissions from more than two dozen writers. Publication is scheduled for 2015.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSome days, when I am tired, I wonder why I continue. The answer, when I really take the time to think about it, is very clear. It is because of this great community \u2026 of which I have become a part. I am so thankful for this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing all of this because it is my passion,\u201d she says on her website. \u201c\u2026 It is the people who email me to say that they feel connected because of my e-newsletter. It is the girl who stopped me on the street to tell me that she had done our workshop in a drug rehab and was still straight and still writing. It is all the volunteers who come out year after year to keep the festival running. It is the poets, established and beginners\u2026. They are what keep this whole thing alive. Some days, when I am tired, I wonder why I continue. The answer, when I really take the time to think about it, is very clear. It is because of this great community \u2026 of which I have become a part. I am so thankful for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more, visit Pandora\u2019s Collective\u2019s website, pandorascollective.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bonnie Nish also started Summer Dreams.\u00a0(photo by Robin Susanto) \u201cI have a passion for writing poetry,\u201d said Bonnie Nish, a local poet and an executive director of Pandora\u2019s Collective. \u201cBut I also want to build a community of writers. Writing is an isolated occupation. Building a community around it brings us together. When I\u2019m with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[1662,1663,1664],"class_list":["post-5846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-bonnie-nish","tag-pandoras-collective","tag-summer-dreams"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}