Since the middle of March 2020, here in Regina we have witnessed an invigorated and, at times, innovative campaign to find meaningful ways to connect and foster community through creative practices, while maintaining the newly required social distancing and self-isolation protocols. As a mama who parents two young kiddos (6 and 4 years old) on my own, I have spent considerable time reflecting upon how these new, seemingly arbitrary rules for living are impacting children. 

 

After the first week in lockdown, we decided as a family to contribute to our community by producing a weekly radio show designed for young children (and those young at heart) for the Imagine Kids Music! program on 91.3FM CJTR (Regina’s Community Radio Station). Some of the themes we have explored are: kindness, compassion, fear, bike riding, family games, feeling good about ourselves, gratitude, Black Lives Matter, Pride, the new back to school Covid rules, and the scary fun of Halloween. 

 

Although we planned to produce the show during lockdown, we decided to keep going, and are continuing to produce a weekly show focusing on kids!

 

From this work, I have developed further research around thinking about this example of community radio programming and its potential impacts as living heritage, and also what it will mean to look back on what we have created together and for one another during this particular moment. I presented on this work as part of the Heritage Talk Series in June 2020 and I am currently writing an article for a Covid-arts theme related issue of a journal. The radio piece was in the inaugural issue of the magazine Sterkte.