Branscombe House Artist Residency

Keely O’Brien is the 2018 Branscombe House Artist in Residence. 

Keely is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice incorporates intricately handmade objects with innovative theatre productions. She is Co-Artistic Director of Popcorn Galaxies, a Vancouver based experimental theatre company. She is also a community engaged arts educator for children and youth in both theatre and visual arts and holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from SFU. 

Her artistic practice includes the creation of handmade puppetry, immersive installations, extravagant costume creation and imaginative ephemera. During her residency, Keely plans to explore the universal and topical experiences of finding, making and then ultimately losing a home and community. Keely hopes to spark conversations about how we inhabit new communities and how we can work together to make them our own.

Visit Keely’s Artist-in-Residence blog.

Upcoming Events
Dream Home
Friday, November 16 and Saturday, November 17
Branscombe House
4900 Steveston Highway
Free. Registration required.
Suitable for adults aged 18+

Duration 60 minutes. Starts every half-hour between 11:00am and 4:30pm. 

Dream Home is a unique immersive performance in which the audience is invited to put on headphones and move through Branscombe house and yard listening to a pre-recorded stories.

This site-specific audiowalk explores the loss, longing and hope of leaving behind a home. Audience members will be given MP3 players and be guided through the Branscombe House and yard, one-at-a-time, pausing to listen to memories unfold in each space. The audiowalk includes by Richmond community members who share personal stories of their experiences leaving behind their own homes. Themes of immigration and travel to homelessness and housing instability are interwoven throughout the piece. 

This intimate and haunting experience endeavours to honour the memories left behind in every vacated home. It also invites audience members to join in witnessing Artist-in-Residence Keely O'Brien's personal goodbye gesture to Branscombe House after her year-long residency.

This free audio-walk is performed for one audience member at a time. When you book your ticket, you will select the time slot that you would like to individually attend the performance.

If you have questions about accessibility, please email Keely O'Brien for details about the experience, and find out how she can make this performance work for you.

Available timeslots:

Saturday November 17, 2018, 2018: 11:00 am; 11:30 am; 12:00 pm; 12:30 pm; 1:00 pm; 1:30 pm, 2:00 pm, 2:30 pm, 3:00 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:00 pm, 4:30 pm

Exhibitions
Pop-Up Exhibition at the Richmond Cultural Centre
August 1 to December 4, 2018
Richmond Cultural Centre Hallway, 7700 Minoru Gate
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Branscombe House is located at 4900 Steveston Highway and is one of the earliest homes built in the area; as such it is significant for its historical association to Steveston and for reflecting the pattern of commercial and related residential development that occurred in Steveston’s early history.