The project began in the fall of 2021 with a call to graduate students from across Canada to collaborate with CERC Migration to produce a creative work that investigated multiculturalism.  Our call coincided with the 50-year anniversary of multicultural policy in Canada, a federal initiative to recognize the nation’s racial and cultural diversity, and to promote the inclusive and equal participation of all Canadians. The policy initiatives of multiculturalism have brought enthusiasm as well as disappointment. We continue to witness the dichotomies of equality but also inequality, community but also exclusion, especially where Indigenous reconciliation and decolonization remain unresolved.

Through a competitive process, a select group of graduate students were invited to receive training support and mentorship to explore their personal experiences with race and diversity in the production of a creative work using a medium of their choice. They were asked to express criticisms and also new thinking on the future possibilities of multiculturalism.

On July 2, 2022, CERC Migration unveiled Under the Tent as a live performance at the Aga Khan Museum as part of the Museum’s Rhythms of Canada festival. We are pleased to share seventeen works with our online audience, so that they, too, may reconsider multiculturalism and its future possibilities.   

The project is led by Cyrus Sundar Singh, Research Fellow, CERC Migration and Anna Triandafyllidou, Chair, CERC Migration.