COHDS

Capturing Voices: Recording Audio for History
2027-02-12 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Concordia University, LB-1042 (COHDS), 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd O, Montreal
With Frankie Ray

This workshop provides a hands-on introduction to the principles and practices of recording high-quality audio in a range of real-world contexts. Participants will gain practical experience setting up and working with multiple microphone types, including lavaliers, shotgun microphones, podcasting microphones, and built-in camera audio systems. Through guided demonstrations and exercises, the workshop examines how microphone selection, placement, and recording environment shape the clarity, texture, and intelligibility of recorded sound.
Participants will practice recording in both indoor and outdoor settings, rotating between the roles of recorder and speaker while capturing short audio samples across varied acoustic conditions. Emphasis is placed on critical listening as a methodological skill. The workshop also introduces basic audio workflows, including offloading recordings, performing foundational edits using Audacity, and organizing audio files for long-term storage and archival preservation.
Framed around the documentation of oral histories, this session equips participants with practical and transferable skills for recording clear, durable, and ethically sound audio materials. No prior technical experience is required.

Frankie Ray (they/them) is a Montreal-based videographer and DJ, with professional experience across music festivals, music videos, and film productions, including Netflix, HBO, the NFB and Crave. Trained as a certified 2nd Assistant Camera in ICG669/IATSE, Frankie brings both technical expertise and creative insight to their work. Outside of their personal work, Frankie has always put a focus on accessible, hands-on training. At COHDS, Frankie combines their professional background with a commitment to supporting researchers, artists, and storytellers in capturing and preserving stories with care and technical confidence.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Beyond the Label
2027-04-02 17:00 - 19:00 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With Gracia Dyer Jalea
What stories do your clothes tell? Inspired by Projet Friperie, this interactive workshop invites participants to explore fashion as a form of storytelling through the clothes we wear, keep, inherit, and choose. Together, we’ll reflect on identity, culture, community, and sustainability while discovering Montreal’s vibrant second-hand scene and circular fashion economy. The workshop concludes with a community clothing swap, where participants can exchange garments and the stories that come with them.

Bring one or two clean, gently used garments to swap, and be ready to share the story behind them.

Gracia Dyer Jalea is an award-winning change leader, aspiring artist and author, and a PhD candidate in Concordia University’s INDI program. Her research focuses on autoethnography, storytelling, and research-creation. A mother of twins, her work is shaped by her experiences as a Filipina-Canadian mother. She holds a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and has long been affiliated with Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

Autobiography After Trauma: Survivors Writing Their Own Stories
2027-05-06 13:00 - 15:00 | LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., Montreal, Québec, Canada
With Hamed Farmand

When survivors write their own stories, they gain greater control over what to tell, how to tell it, and what to leave untold. Self-writing can become an act of reclaiming voice, agency, and authorship after trauma. In this workshop, I will reflect on my own experiences, both as the author of a childhood memoir and as someone who accompanied my grandmother as she wrote her own life story. Survivors, like my grandmother, may have strong and understandable reasons for finding it difficult to trust the process of being interviewed for their oral history. During more than 90 years of life, she lived through the Second World War, the 1953 coup and the 1979 Revolution in Iran, the extrajudicial killings of her daughter and son-in-law, the executions of two sons and her pregnant daughter-in-law, the imprisonment of her eldest daughter, and her own arrest and torture. Audio recorders, pens, and written interviews caused her particular discomfort because these same tools had been used during her interrogations. Yet, through writing her own story, she was able to take control of the process and tell her experiences in her own words.

Hamed Farmand is a children’s rights activist, educator, author, and storyteller. He is the founder of Children of Imprisoned Parents International (COIPI) and a co-chair of the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents (INCCIP). Born and raised in Iran, he moved to the United States in 2010 and has lived in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal since 2022. His childhood was marked by profound loss: his mother was imprisoned for five years, his grandmother for three, and several members of his extended family were executed. For more than a decade, Hamed has dedicated his work to advocacy, public awareness, and supporting families affected by parental incarceration in the Iranian community and globally. He is the author of Missing Mum, a memoir about his childhood experiences of separation, loss, grief, and resilience.

REGISTRATION
Register now with this link
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory.
For any questions, please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca

LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS), Concordia University, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, J.W. McConnell Building (Library Building).
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.
