Alyssa Martens

Experience

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  Bolton Academy of Spoken Arts

  Nov 2016 - Dec 2019

  • Designing and managing process-based creative writing programmes for young people • Managing a team of writers-in-residence • Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the academy's creative writing anthology by and for youth: FIRECRACKER• Equipping young people with the tools to write, perform, and speak with confidence in diversified spaces through a robust speech arts and writing curriculum and regular performance and publishing opportunities• Preparing young people for RCM, Trinity College London, and other regional speech arts examinations and competitive performances• Designing new curriculum for the academy’s growing creative writing programmes • Piloting and leading a new creative writing programme for Early Years students Show less

  • Associate Writing Programs Manager

    Sept 2018 - Dec 2019

  • Speech Arts & Writing Instructor

    Nov 2016 - Aug 2018
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  Culture Days | Fête de la culture

  Jul 2019 - Sept 2019

  Culture Days Ambassador

  • Curating a place-based installation at Library Park (University of British Columbia)• Developing interpretation for the installation to support multimodal engagement• Acting as a festival ambassador to support programming impact• Building stakeholder relationships to increase festival reach

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  Thrive Youth Development Canada (Formerly DAREarts)

  Feb 2020 - Jul 2022

  Artist-Educator

  • Designing arts-based leadership workshops that equip young people to be confident communicators• Delivering workshops in schools, community centres, and cultural organizations both in-person and online

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  Sierra Club BC

  May 2020 - Oct 2020

  Artist-in-Residence

  • Designing a place-based creative writing curriculum for youth, exploring intergenerational knowledge exchange and environmental learning• Delivering a virtual pilot programme to students across the Province of British Columbia• Training educators across Canada in how to approach creative environmental learning in the classroom

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  City of Vancouver

  May 2020 - Jun 2021

  Graduate Placemaking Researcher

  • Researching public space revitalization from an anti-oppressive and community-informed perspective• Activating and leading a community-engaged placemaking project in collaboration with South Asian older adults in South Vancouver that centres local stories through public art• Building a network of stakeholder relations to increase project reach and community impact• Commissioning artists to create public works

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  Practice Greenhealth

  Nov 2020 - Feb 2021

  Storytelling Consultant

  • Developing a practical storytelling guide (including recommendations for oral, written, audio, visual, and video communication formats) to support health care workers in amplifying stories of sustainable development innovations across the sector• Presenting research and outcomes at the Planetary Health Alliance Annual Meeting (PHAM)

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  Vancouver Park Board

  Jan 2021 - Jul 2022

  Lead Artist, Arts & Health

  • Designing and facilitating community-engaged art with older adults to improve community well-being and social inclusion• Working with a network of stakeholders to uplift and increase project reach and community impact

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  Megaphone Magazine

  Mar 2021 - Jul 2022

  Creative Writing Instructor

  • Designing creative writing workshops with adults recovering from substance misuse and addiction• Facilitating programming through a detox centre, a neighbourhood capacity building series, and the inaugural DTES Writers Festival (2022)• Preparing programme participant writing for publication in Megaphone Magazine and the Voices of the Street Anthology

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  ArtStarts in Schools

  Sept 2021 - Aug 2023

  Gallery & Public Programs Manager

  • Managing the ArtStarts Gallery—Canada's only gallery exclusively dedicated to showcasing young people's art• Curating weekly creative learning programming (workshops and performances) for family audiences• Curating biannual interactive exhibitions for young people• Commissioning artists and artist groups for public programmes and exhibitions, including studio, media, performance, and literary artists• Developing access-first exhibition interpretation for non-specialist audiences• Developed and led a career accelerator programme for early career artists• Mentored early and mid-career artists in art facilitation skills for young audiences• Built 25+ civic partnerships to increase programming reach in underserved communities• Increased engagement and participation with gallery programming by 600% over two years Show less

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  Studio Poetica

  Jan 2023 - now

  • Co-creating an immersive installation that explores ecological interconnectedness through poetry, sound, and computational art• Writing the poetic script for the narrative environment• Conducting research in consultation with Imperial College London physicists, to inform installation design and development• Building stakeholder relationships to support co-production with various cultural partnersThe first iteration of this installation was exhibited from November-December 2024 in partnership with Hypha Studios and _threadsafe (London, UK). Show less • Leading the creation of an immersive sound installation reflecting on experiences of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest• Commissioning Brazilian, Indigenous, and South American artists to co-create the narrative environment through field recordings, sound composition, and spoken word poetry• Overseeing contracted artists, designers and technicians• Designing and supporting the delivery of access-first exhibition interpretation• Building stakeholder relationships and leading plans for exhibition at various cultural venuesThis project is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Edith Lando Foundation, and premiered at Lobe Spatial Sound Studio (one of two 4D Sound studios in the world) in November 2024. Show less • Conducting research in consultation with Arctic scientists, geographers, climatologists, and Sámi knowledge keepers to better understand issues relating to the climate crisis and its effects on Arctic and Northern ecosystems• Writing a poetic manuscript that explores the resilience and erasure of colours, sounds, and textures that are dissolving in the face of Arctic loss and damageThis project is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and included an artist residency at the Spitsbergen Artists Centre in Svalbard, Norway (2023). Show less

  • Creative Director, "A Blue Moment"

    Apr 2025 - now

  • Writer & Producer, "Terra Poetica"

    Sept 2024 - now

  • Creative Director, "Lungs of the Earth"

    Jan 2024 - Dec 2024

  • Writer & Researcher, "Black Winter"

    Jan 2023 - Dec 2023
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  Bertha Earth

  Jan 2025 - now

  Curriculum Curator

  • Leading the redesign of a 'nature connection' curriculum through a co-design process• Embedding storytelling practice and creative learning into the curriculum• Leading a curriculum working group and working with subject specialists to create an experiential, interdisciplinary, and place-based learning journey for young people