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Jack Layton: Art in Action is now available, $25! Quattro hasl produced a book of 300 pages, including some photographs, in time to celebrate May 2, the anniversary of the New Democratic Party becoming the official opposition. Send in your orders to info@quattrobooks.ca. Here’s the publisher’s information: http://www.quattrobooks.ca/books/jack-layton-art-in-action/, edited by Penn Kemp. Contributions may also be in the form of donations! Gift now, gift often..! See What People Are Saying, below. Jack Layton: Art in Action is published by the well-respected publisher, Quattro Books. For this timely and indispensable publication, it is necessary to raise $10,000. Consistent with Jacks approach of appealing to all Canadians, I am soliciting support. Donations to Jack Layton: Art in Action can be sent to the not-for-profit corporation, The Association for Art and Social Change, with a note that it is to go to Jack’s book: 100% of that donation will be given to Quattro to use for the production of the book. The address for the Association is 89 Pinewood Ave., Toronto, ON, M6C 2V2. Contact: John Calabro at jcalabro28@yahoo.ca., 416-419-3541. Further information is online at http://www.quattrobooks.ca/books/jack-layton-art-in-action/. Those who donate $100 or more will receive a complimentary copy of the book. Epigraphs for Jack Layton: Art in Action “Jack first inspired me when I was a community organizer and housing activist in Hamilton while he was a Toronto City Councillor. He came to my city to talk about homelessness and poverty. Not only was he passionate and articulate but even back then, in the mid 1990s, he had clearly embarked on a mission to work for real change for people. These are characteristics that Jack exhibited even as he rose to the position of Leader of the Opposition in Ottawa. He remained the same Jack, through and through: caring, thoughtful, articulate, passionate and driven to make a real difference. And he did. ” Andrea Horwath, Leader, Ontario New Democrats “Jack loved art. Not that he ever saw himself as an artist. Sure he could play guitar and fiddle with a harmonica but his real artistic power came from his ability to recognize creative possibilities in other people. Art is about bringing people together and interpreting our place in the world. Jack made politics his art and in doing so made our world a better place.” Charlie Angus, NDP MP, Culture Critic What People Are Saying for Jack Layton: Art in Action Read this beautiful book about Jacks passion for the arts. He loved to make music, dance and he was happiest when he led massive sing-alongs. I hope Jacks story will inspire you to live your life based on love, hope and optimism. Olivia Chow, www.oliviachow.ca/ If you want a better Canada; if you want to know what Canada can be, then you need to allow yourself to be inspired by Jack Layton. And this superb, engaging book is the place to start. Tim Flannery, www.timflannery.com.au/ “Jack Layton, more than any other politician I’ve ever known, was able to combine politics, the arts, compassion, and uncommon sense into a public life that is a blueprint for public service. I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants to serve as Jack did. And for everyone who votes.” Thomas King, http://www.uoguelph.ca/phdlts/faculty/king.html On a public stage dominated by soul-less celebrities and establishment hacks, Jack Layton stood out as an engaged, passionate, caring, courageous human being. This tribute volume captures Jack well. It reminds us why he meant so much to so many people, and how he exemplified what is best about Canada. Linda McQuaig, www.lindamcquaig.com/ In a country and world where political actors too often view their roles and responsibilities narrowly, brutally, and incuriously, these portraits of Jack Layton show a man whose outlook was capacious wide in embrace and deep in experience, as a real, rich, and wise political life should be. Joan Barfoot, www3.sympatico.ca/jbarfoot/ Jack would have loved this book. Art in Action in tribute to him captures his energy, creativity, activism and love of life. Judy Rebick, http://transformingpower.ca/ Jack Layton’s inspiration lives on in our hearts, words and actions. This magnificent book is a beautiful tribute to this courageous and dedicated man! Brenda McMorrow, www.brendamcmorrow.com Jack lit up a room with his energy and his daring hope. And now his spirit shines through this exuberant book, transcending the “austerity” message of these times. May we be transformed by Jack’s message of abundant life for all! Vicki Obedkoff, www.trinitystpauls.ca/blog/3 This book spells LABOUR OF LOVE with an emphasis on both labour and love. Penn Kemp has called for, collected and catalogued the memories of Canadians recalling Jack Layton’s contributions to our culture. What a great way to channel the positive energy Jack generated! – Steven McCabe, www.stevenmccabe.ca/ This amazing celebration of Jack Laytons legacy demonstrates how he lived at the very juncture of art and activism: his life one pragmatic poem. Eloquent tributes from family, friends, and admirers reveal how very much we require Jacks integrity at this time. This book is truly an enormous achievement and contribution, showing the many ways in which Jack turned politics to art in the largest sense. Susan McCaslin, www.susanmccaslin.ca Few politicians really put their heart and muscle and mouth (Jack sang with his!) behind their pleasant platitudes about culture. Jack Layton was a true enthusiast — engaged, inspiring, and effective — and it’s terrific to have this volume that focuses on his many contributions to all the arts. Susan McMaster, web.ncf.ca/smcmaster I’m among the lucky residents who encountered Jack on his bicycle in the early days en route between appointments, including invitations to community arts events. His natural warmth and gift for empathetic support was a source of encouragement throughout his working life, and this gift, whether from local bicycle whizzing by or national podium raising our hopes, reassured all of us, perhaps especially artists, that sometimes the good guys are in charge.” Vera Frenkel, www.verafrenkel.com “By choosing to remember and memorialize Jack Layton in Jack Layton: Art in Action, Canadians commemorate peace, civility, religious and cultural inclusiveness, optimism, the arts, social and environmental change, political dialogue, improved public services, improved cities, and an improved country. Canadians continue the process, in other words, of polishing the myth and remembering the politician we one day hope to have. In this way, the reconstructive ritual of collective memory was and remains an act of evoking or calling to mind, if not restoring, to politics and the social fabric what so many Canadians would agree has long been lost and forgotten.” Matthew McKean, http://www2.carleton.ca/history/people/matthew-mckean I sincerely hope you can support this inspiring project celebrating such a great man and his ongoing legacy as well as promoting Canadian art and culture through the stories in this book. Please do donate generously. If you have any questions about the project, please contact me, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Penn-Kemp/126450531030?ref=ts&fref=ts. The book is a collection of anecdotes, interviews and thoughts about Jack Layton and his involvement with arts and culture, as a way of reflecting his life as a political activist. I have gathered stories, from a paragraph to a page or two, on encounters with Jack in the many arts and cultures that intrigued him. I also include pieces on how Jack has continued to influence our lives and our activism; how his spirit has stayed with people since his death in August 2011. Jack inspired me personally to become an activist. Like so many others, I still strongly feel his motivating spirit– for this book project in particular! Throughout his long municipal and federal political life, Jack welcomed and encouraged everyone to become an activist to effect change. His support and enjoyment of arts and cultures in Canada underlay his politics. Now the time has certainly come to celebrate his legacy and to carry on, with him as example! What would Jack do? is my current mantra. The project has a very encouraging momentum all its own. Theres a lively article on http://eedition.thelondoner.ca/doc/The-Londoner/londoner_0719_vp/2012071801/6.html#6. My radio show, Gathering Voices, features interviews about Jack Layton: Art in Action on Radio Western, 94.9 FMm with Irene Mathyssen, Olivia Chow and Mike Layton. The show is scheduled and will then archived on www.chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices. I’m including in the book sections on Jacks interest in diverse cultures and his influence on folks of all stripes over the last while. Although many of the contributions have been from Ontario, I’m attempting to reach communities across Canada that Jack touched, especially Qubecois, Native and, of course, Chinese. Included are reflections, anecdotes, poems or photos from Irene Mathyssen, Judy Rebick and other politicians and activists; from a wide range of artists including Luba Goy, Lorraine Segato, Joy Kogawa and Robert Priest. Charlie Angus and Don Ferguson have promised to send pieces in within the next month as have many other politicians, artists and ordinary Canadians. What has moved me most deeply in this process is that while some of the contributors have been high-profile in their field, many of the pieces are from ‘ordinary Canadians’ whom Jack reached, sometimes just with a word or small kindness or through media coverage. His ability to listen with full attention is the quality that permeates nearly every piece. As I work on the book, Jack continues to have a powerful influence on me personally in encouraging me to explore different approaches and avenues for the book and to persevere with Optimism! Jack is the wind behind the sails of the book and, I trust, the sales! This project lets us reclaim, restore and rejuvenate the Canada we love by focussing on how Jack lived! My main aim in Jack Layton: Art in Action is to encourage folks not to abandon politics but to keep positively proactive just as Jack did. He was a strong supporter of our many Canadian cultures that offer us such diversity and perspective. As Jack would say, Never turn down an opportunity to serve! I first met Jack when I lived on Toronto Island through the Seventies, fighting City Hall to “Save Island Homes.” Fifteen years ago, I became part of his extended family: my husband’s brother is married to Jack’s sister Nancy. Jack welcomed me with his customary inclusivity. I called him my outlaw; he called me sister. Olivia Chow endorses this work, as does his family. She writes: “I heartily encourage folks to send Penn your stories of Jack’s relationship with, and his support of the arts. This project is a great opportunity to share our stories about how Jack and the NDP celebrated our Canadian cultures and what we must do together to continue this great relationship. You know he loved to make music and we loved to dance!” Appropriately, Quattro Books is a publisher that wishes to reflect the unique cultural character and dynamism of Canada now: what it has been and what it is in the process of becoming. They are very keen on the project: A book that may underscore the fact that we used to have a great tradition of having the government help the arts, a tradition that has been eroded over the years. On their page, they write that they are honoured.
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