We all Meet at Food

With Zonghua Ai, Presented by Nocturne
Sunday, July 27, 2025

On Sunday, July 27 Zonghua Ai led an urban foraging tour at Point Pleasant Park in Kjipuktuk. During the tour, participants were invited to observe, touch, and smell the plants that were encountered along the way. Through storytelling and sharing their knowledge as a biologist and food scientist, Ai facilitated a lively conversation between attendees and the local flora, including what plants to forage, and how to harvest them.

With Florence Blackett, presented by the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre (MNFC): Mijipjewey Kepmite’timu’k Food Security Program
Saturday, July 12, 2025

Florence Blackett, MNFC’s Sustainability Program Coordinator, hosted this hands-on “soup-in-a-bottle” workshop. Sharing Indigenous land-based food knowledge grounded in respect and awareness, participants contributed to the program through collectively preparing and canning soups for the community.

With Sophie Pilipczuk, presented by Alliance Française Halifax
Saturday, August 9, 2025

Artist Sophie Pilipczuk hosted a French-language workshop and engagement centred around Alliance Francaise's pollinator garden in the Hydrostone, exploring movement, mindfulness, and creative exploration. Participants had an opportunity to harvest and taste herbs from the garden and learned to make olive oil sun catchers.

With Kim Smerek, presented by Visual Arts Nova Scotia
Saturday, August 23, 2025

VANS hosted Nova-Scotia based artist Kim Smerek for a workshop centred on seeds as the beginning and the end of a plant's life cycle. By exploring the physical shapes and forms of seeds through mixed-media art-making, the workshop garnered conversation on native species, heritage and heirloom varieties, seed diversity and the connection between seeds and the plants that they grow to be.

Presented by Every One Every Day & Feed Nova Scotia
Saturday, September 6, 2025

Every One Every Day and Feed Nova Scotia joined together for this hands-on Food Zine Workshop: Food for Thought, blending creativity, dialogue, and action. Guided by Feed Nova Scotia staff and artist facilitators, participants were invited into a welcoming circle to explore the root causes of food insecurity, from barriers to food access to questions of sovereignty and equity. Participants reflected on what food justice means in their own lives and in Kjipuktuk, and shared ideas on how we can work towards a more equitable future.

Presented by Land Connects Us
Saturday, September 20, 2025

Participants gathered with facilitators from Land Connects Us at the site of Sydney Wreaks' medicine garden, Gathering in a Good Way, on the Halifax waterfront to tend, harvest, and reflect on what it means to care for the land and grow community through gardening. Participants were invited to respond creatively—through writing, drawing, or conversation—while enjoying a refreshing Agua Fresca inspired by ingredients picked from the garden.

Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre (MNFC): Mijipjewey Kepmite’timu’k Food Security Program. Through various food-based programming, such as community gardens, feasts, and nutritional classes, we will engage in learning and sharing Indigenous land-based food knowledge, grounding our practices in respect and awareness. Our approach prioritizes a trauma-informed, person-centered, and decolonized framework, emphasizing harm-reduction principles so that everyone feels valued, included, and empowered in their relationship with food and one another. Examples of ways MNFC will be involved include garden planting, Potential use of canning machines and/or dehydrators as required, hosting a summer workshop, and participating in the dinner.

Hope Blooms engages youth in the high-needs community of North End Halifax to become change agents. They create innovative environments for long-term impact in food security, education, social inclusion and disrupting the cycle of poverty. Hope Blooms initiatives are inclusive and diverse. Working together, the community builds urban organic food systems for everyone’s benefit. Programs are based on experiential learning. This social entrepreneurship creates an impact that is inspiring and supportive. More importantly, it mobilizes positive change. Examples of how Hope Blooms will be involved includes garden planning, hosting and maintaining garden boxes, workshop host and hosting the harvest and dinner taking place in October in their greenhouse.

Alliance Française Halifaxis a Canadian not-for-profit association dedicated to the promotion of the French language and French-speaking cultures. This association is part of the Alliance Française Foundation, the world’s largest network of French language schools and cultural centers. Examples of how Alliance Française will be involved include hosting a French-language workshop and engagement with their bee pollinator garden.

Every One Every Day Day Kjipuktuk is working with local residents in the North End of Kjipuktuk (Halifax) to build a new system of neighbourhood participation that has the potential to transform how we live and learn together every day. Central to their approach is resident engagement, and they will build this into their process of developing how they engage with the project.

Land Connects Us is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded project led by Dr. Joshua Schwab-Cartas. Assistant Professor, Art Education, Division of Art History & Contemporary Culture, NSCAD University. There is a broad range of engagement opportunities, including hosting a workshop.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) supports artists through education, connection and advocacy. We operate across Mi’kma’ki, the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the L’nu people, also known as Nova Scotia. We prioritize artist-to-artist learning through workshops, mentorship, and sharing information about meaningful opportunities. Visual Arts Nova Scotia advocates for artists by listening to their concerns, speaking up for their needs, and creating platforms to share their work. Recognizing that equity-deserving artists face additional barriers to a career in the arts, Visual Arts Nova Scotia works to make resources accessible to artists across the province, while prioritizing support for those who are impacted by systemic oppression.

Through a provincial network of food banks, meal programs, and shelters, Feed NS distribute millions of kilograms of food to those in need every year. But their efforts go beyond immediate relief- Feed Nova Scotia partners with communities and organizations to develop and scale innovative solutions. They also advocate for sustainable, policy-driven changes that ensure everyone in our province can live with dignity. They believe that the best solutions begin with those who have experienced food insecurity themselves, which is why they put Nova Scotians with lived experience at the center of their work.

Feed Nova Scotia is partnering with Every One Every Day to present a workshop title Food for Thought.

Zonghua Ai (any/all) is a Chinese crafter, phytochemist (that means they study plant chemistry!) and food scientist. They like to walk in the woods, identify plants and mushrooms, and take photos of them. Zonghua's work of craft includes stories, bone jewelry, and maps. Zonghua is an alumni of Nocturne’s NOISEmakers Program (2023) and has hosted Kjipuktuk foraging tours as part of programming for Nocturne's We All Meet at Food project and Eyelevel Gallery.

Sydney Wreaks (they/them) is an Interdisciplinary artist & educator. They are of Kanien'kehá:ka & euro-settler descent growing as an uninvited guest in Mikma'ki. They just finished the Masters in Art Education program at NSCAD University. Their work looks at challenging colonial narratives and using the practice of counter-memorization as a way to confront cultural amnesia. Sydney also has a visual arts practice that includes Beadwork, that can expand into painting and textiles.

Sophie Pilipczuk is an artist, writer, mother, and magic maker. Sophie will be hosting a French-language workshop presented by Alliance Française.

Kim Smerek is a multi-disciplinary artist and herbalist. Kim was schooled in editorial illustration at OCAD. Her career has spanned many genres, including sign painting, scenic art for theatre and interior design, and as an illustrator, gardener and educator. Having lived all across this beautiful country she has finally planted herself in southwest Nova Scotia where she owns Studio 181 Herb Farm, growing native and medicinal plants using regenerative farming techniques. A seed saver for many years, she is rooted in the natural world and her art reflects her love and connection with nature.

Ceramicist

Ceramicist

Ceramicist

Ceramicist

Ceramicist

Installation art

Musical performance

Photography

Photography

Videography