Wingspan Showcase features Wingspan artists, including internationally renowned Indo-Canadian classical, folk, and rock singer Jugpreet Bajwa and Manitoba musician Connor Derraugh. It highlights Seaquam Secondary and Elsie Roy Elementary students’ performances at Seaquam Secondary School in Delta, B.C., on May 31, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
The Honorable Carla Qualtrough will be in attendance to provide welcoming words.
Wingspan: Dis/ability Arts, Culture and Public Pedagogy, is pleased to announce that the Wingspan Showcase is open to the public on May 31st, 2024, at Seaquam Secondary School in Delta at 3:00 p.m. Jugpreet Bajwa has been working with students at Seaquam Secondary in Delta and Elsie Roy Elementary in Vancouver for the past two months all to culminate in the Wingspan Showcase. An invitation is open to the media and public to experience the fantastic performances by the students. Manitoba Wingspan musician Connor Derraugh and guests join Jugpreet. The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, who has strongly supported Wingspan since its inception, will attend to open the Showcase and offer welcoming words.
Jugpreet has gained recognition worldwide for performing with his motto of “Seeing the world through music.” Jugpreet’s musical journey began at the tender age of five. It evolved into a lifelong passion despite facing the adversity of Eye Cancer, to which he lost both of his eyes. Canadian audiences will know Jugpreet from his celebrity status as a televised performer of our national anthem at the Vancouver Canuck and Whitecap games. A graduate of Seaquam Secondary, he returns as a role model and a barrier-breaker at both schools. His life’s mission is spreading love and peace through music globally. “Jugpreet has been creating magic in the Wingspan classrooms, and we are thrilled to share the enthusiasm from his students in the performances at the Wingspan Showcase,” says Dr. Leslie Roman, Wingspan visionary.
Jugpreet is joined by Manitoba musician and Wingspan artist Connor Derrough at the Wingspan Showcase. Music has always been central to Connor’s life. At 15, he suffered a traumatic brain hemorrhage during routine surgery. Connor has performed at the Winnipeg Jazz Festivals and the Asper Jazz Series and is a regular performer with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra.
Wingspan Dis/Ability Arts, Culture & Public Pedagogy is Canada’s first accessible and inclusive Disability and Deaf Artist Residency Program in Canada’s schools and is a UBC VPRI Excellence Cluster. In 2024, under the leadership of Dr. Leslie G. Roman, UBC Professor of Educational Studies and visionary for the Wingspan program, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary cluster of colleagues, asks: how can the aims of Canada’s Accessibility Act take center stage in the hearts and minds of students, teachers, and staff in partner K-12 schools? Like starlings in a murmuration, Wingspan has flown into schools in three Wing Provinces: British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario. Wingspan, this year, has gone national.
“Creating inclusion begins with educating students, teachers, and educational leaders that disabilities or Deafness are not something to fear or feel shame about. The more we learn, the more we appreciate what artists with disabilities and Deafness bring to the table of our schools (K-12) and our entire educational system”, says Prof. Roman, a leading scholar of disability studies and sociology of education. Artists have been placed in K-12 schools or as touring artists who perform in art galleries, museums, or community centers.
We encourage the media and the public to attend this unique showcase to share the incredible performances the Wingspan artists and students have created in the classroom.
The Wingspan Showcase is free to the public – May 31st at 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. at Seaquam Secondary School 11584 Lyon Road, Delta, BC, V4E 2K4 604-591-6166
https://se.deltasd.bc.ca/our-school/contact-directions
Wingspan artists, teachers, cluster leaders, and educational leaders for both districts are available for interviews, photos, and more information upon request.
For more information, photos, and interviews, please contact:
Lesley Diana | Wingspan Publicist | lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca 604-726-5575
Wingspan Dis/Ability Arts, Culture & Public Pedagogy: https://wingspan.educ.ubc.ca/.
Jugpreet Bajwa – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugpreet_Singh_Bajwa
Seaquam Secondary School – https://se.deltasd.bc.ca/
Elsie Roy Elementary School – https://www.vsb.bc.ca/elsie-roy