In the ranged jaws of the Gulf,
a red tongue.
Indians say a musical God
took up his brush and painted it,
named it in His own language
"The Island".
— Milton Acorn
a red tongue.
Indians say a musical God
took up his brush and painted it,
named it in His own language
"The Island".
— Milton Acorn
I grew up on Prince Edward Island, live in Greenwich Village in New York City and have been involved with festivals my entire professional life. My mother Maxine was an Island artist and my father Barrie worked in agricultural research. I connected with my friends playing music — first at school and later as a member of a local rhythm and blues band. When I was thirteen, my mother Maxine moved into a neglected brownstone on Dorchester Street, in downtown Charlottetown. It was a prototypical artist, work-live space — of the type I'd come to covet after moving to New York — that at the time seemed, "Pretty weird, Mom." Max's offbeat friends would frequent her shop and I remember Milton Acorn's visits vividly.
Conversations around social change were lodged firmly in my subconscious at an early age but it wasn't until I found myself immersed in the independent documentary film community years later, that I was exposed to young people making a difference telling important stories with passion, perseverance, and a commitment to truth and justice.
Young people making a difference aided by the rapid recent developments in immersive storytelling technologies is at the heart of the Jackpine Institute's reason for being.
Prince Edward Island is a remarkable place. The bitter sweet sense of isolation common to island communities around the world is ever-present on PEI where non-locals are labeled "from away." The Island inspires introspection, its unequalled pastoral beauty can simultaneously take your breath away and create a sense of deep calm. The people who've made a living from the land and the ever-present sea harken to an earlier time where people created things with their hand of value and worth.
I'm proud to establish an institute borrowing its name from Milton Acorn's unique literary form — the Jackpine Sonnet — and inspired by his ceaseless belief in social justice and the special island which was his home. We're excited to launch the first annual Prince Edward Island Film, Food & Idea Festival in July next year. Stay tuned!
Colin Stanfield
President/CEO
Prince Edward Island Film, Food & Idea Festival, Inc.
Conversations around social change were lodged firmly in my subconscious at an early age but it wasn't until I found myself immersed in the independent documentary film community years later, that I was exposed to young people making a difference telling important stories with passion, perseverance, and a commitment to truth and justice.
Young people making a difference aided by the rapid recent developments in immersive storytelling technologies is at the heart of the Jackpine Institute's reason for being.
Prince Edward Island is a remarkable place. The bitter sweet sense of isolation common to island communities around the world is ever-present on PEI where non-locals are labeled "from away." The Island inspires introspection, its unequalled pastoral beauty can simultaneously take your breath away and create a sense of deep calm. The people who've made a living from the land and the ever-present sea harken to an earlier time where people created things with their hand of value and worth.
I'm proud to establish an institute borrowing its name from Milton Acorn's unique literary form — the Jackpine Sonnet — and inspired by his ceaseless belief in social justice and the special island which was his home. We're excited to launch the first annual Prince Edward Island Film, Food & Idea Festival in July next year. Stay tuned!
Colin Stanfield
President/CEO
Prince Edward Island Film, Food & Idea Festival, Inc.