THE BAIRLY NEWS
The Mountain School Bookhouse was set up at the 2013 Fall Fair in Port Hope, Ontario as a pop-up newspaper printshop. Working with a group of grades 7-9 students over 3 days, we conceptualized an artist-led newspaper, took on various roles as reporters, photographers, editors and printers, and then created and delivered the paper around the fairgrounds. On Friday night we dreamed up the paper and made swag to identify ourselves. On Saturday, students interviewed fairgoers with paper microphones, reported on their “beats,” and wrote up articles on several analog typewriters. On Sunday we composited the paper with DIY materials like scissors, tape and lettraset, then copied it (without permission!) at the local elementary school. Students decked out their bikes as delivery vehicles, made satchels out of old t-shirts, and rode around the fairgrounds distributing their paper, The Bairly News. This project gave the students real political agency within the public space of the Fair. The Bairly News was co-facilitated by myself, Mary Tremonte, JP King, Charlie Young, Graham Nicholas, and Fiona Roy and was sponsored by Critical Mass Centre for Contemporary Art.
