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PLACE DIALOGUES  

Fogo Island

October 24-26, 2024  

News

PLACE DIALOGUES 2024: Building Economic Momentum for Resilient Communities  

A flourishing society is built upon prosperous communities, and prosperous communities are only possible when they are supported by strong and resilient community economies. So, how do we strengthen community economies?  How do we build economic momentum for resilient communities?  

 
This was the focus of the 2024 PLACE Dialogues, co-hosted by Shorefast and Memorial University’s Centre for Social Enterprise on Fogo Island, October 24-26, 2024. Taking place at the Orange Lodge, Shorefast’s Commmunity + Business Hub, the program for the seventh PLACE Dialogues was inspired by Shorefast’s 18-month Community Economies Pilot that brought together five Canadian communities to explore opportunities to better align the pillars of government, business, and community around local economic development.  

The PDF program for the 2024 PLACE Dialogues, including participant list and bios, can be found here.

The PLACE Framework: co-created by Shorefast and academic researchers 

PLACE stands for: Promoting community leaders; Linking divergent perspectives; Amplifying local capacities; Conveying compelling stories, and Engaging ‘both/and’ thinking. These signify five key principles important to conducting community development work. The framework emerged from a SSHRC-funded research project led by Dr. Natalie Slawinski on Shorefast’s place-based approach to social enterprise on Fogo Island.  

 
The first PLACE Dialogues was held on Fogo Island in November 2018. Conceived as a knowledge-sharing component of the SSHRC-funded research project, the Dialogues convening model sought to gather community champions and leaders from across Newfoundland and Labrador.  

 
The initial 2018 workshop successfully generated new connections between community development professionals working in business, government, and philanthropy. Before the 2018 gathering ended, one of the participants offered to host a second workshop the following year in a different rural community. Since then, the Dialogues have been hosted in Petty Harbour, online during the pandemic, in Norris Point, and in St. Anthony. 

 
This year, the Dialogues returned to their place of origin for the first time under the theme Building Economic Momentum for Resilient Communities. Entrepreneurs co-mingled with community development peers working in the government and non-profit sectors as invited participants joined the workshop from diverse regions and backgrounds. The majority of participants live and work in Newfoundland and Labrador, and three participants with complimentary experience and skillsets joined from Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The PLACE Dialogues intentionally gather diversity and interdisciplinarity, because the challenges local places face in strengthening local economies take a multi-pronged, multi-sectoral approach. 

 
When coordinated action across each critical pillar of community, government, and business work together to build businesses, spark innovation, and solve for social change, this accumulates into the action and influence needed to generate economic momentum that builds resilient communities.  In coming together to discuss common challenges from the perspective of their fellow actors, community practitioners are able to uncover gaps in understanding and resources and work towards more effective solutions.  

 
The 2024 Dialogues program was organized around three main topical areas that were identified in Shorefast’s Community Economies Pilot as key leverage points for strengthening community economies. 

Key Idea 1: Attracting and Retaining Financial Capital 

The first panel of the 2024 Dialogues focused on Attracting and Retaining Financial Capital. The panel explored challenges such as the availability of funding resources, how to connect with and understand local needs to encourage uptake and engagement, and how to sustain a healthy system of local purchasing and re-investment. The panel also discussed the importance of local ownership and succession planning to ensure capital is retained in the community for future generations.  

One panellist spoke at length about the challenge they faced in attracting initial start-up capital for their social enterprise. For this entrepreneur, choosing direction meant both opening and closing doors – including initial launch decisions like the choice of operating structure. They sought advice from those in the room, asking, “how can entrepreneurs put themselves in a position to succeed in our province?” 

The question period revealed many robust suggestions and expressions of support. With regards to financial capital, participants in the room advised ensuring entrepreneurs leverage multiple types of funding that can work for their project, and patchworking opportunities (loans, financing, partnerships, and/or government funding) to get started.  

Key Idea 2: Building Local Entrepreneurial Capacity 

The second panel explored entrepreneurial energy in Newfoundland and Labrador. All panellists were current or former entrepreneurs who have built businesses and social enterprises based on place-specific assets and industries. All the ventures represented demonstrate a knack for identifying emerging trends and building businesses or projects that tap into key markets and opportunities while retaining community-centred values.  

The stories shared by the panellists were heartening and inspirational; the energizing effect of sharing successes is a key outcome of the Dialogues. But equally important is the identification of challenges and gaps in resources. One panellist shared that their business had benefitted from mentorship opportunities that arose due to serendipitous referrals, but there was agreement in the room that resources and mentorship opportunities must be strategically marketed/communicated to reach the entrepreneurs they intend to serve. Several panellists noted that their businesses could benefit from their communities developing assets or policies that are outside of their entrepreneurial scope but relevant (even essential) to their businesses. Again, the benefits of cross-sectoral collaboration were reinforced.  

The supportive exchange, knowledge transfer, and peer-to-peer conversation and problem-solving demonstrated on both panels are key to the Dialogues convening model. With few similar convening opportunities for community development practitioners in the province, and fewer still focused on rural regions, PLACE Dialogues participants often note that the networking and conversational platform provided by the Dialogues are invaluable.  

Key idea 3: Architectures for Collaboration 

Wrapping up the discussion and exchange portion of the Dialogues, panellists and participants moved into practice mode for breakout sessions that offered the opportunity to learn more about Shorefast and the Fogo Island Co-operative Society. Formed in 1967, the Fogo Island Co-operative Society is the Island’s largest employer and operates three processing plants. Participants were able to get an insiders’ tour of the Co-op’s Fogo plant and meet some of the team. Other groups visited Shorefast’s Punt Premises to learn more about the charity’s programming and community businesses, including Fogo Island Inn. Dialogues practitioners could also choose their own adventure and visit a variety of local shops and businesses, including artisan makers and Living Water Hydroponic Farm.  

Ending the day with more inspiration, participants visited two exhibitions at Fogo Island Inn and JK Contemporary and considered the role contemporary art can play in community economic development. Through art, artists and communities can tie into global networks and carve out new and exciting opportunities for belonging.  

Inspiring More Places: The Shorefast Network for Place-Based Economies 

To learn more about the PLACE Dialogues and the PLACE Framework, visit the Memorial University Centre for Social Enterprise website here. In 2023, a new book titled Revitalizing PLACE through Social Enterprise was released, co-written by academics and community practitioners. It is available via Memorial University Press as a hard copy and as an open-source PDF. 

The PLACE Dialogues and Framework are part of the emerging curriculum for the Shorefast Network for Place-Based Economies: a national initiative to catalyse the holistic development of local economies, big and small. 

Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed. Together, we can reimagine the future of economies—where place, people, and prosperity are interconnected for lasting impact.  

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Community Business Hub 

News
June 26, 2024
Shorefast is establishing a Community Business Hub – a dedicated space to host and activate the economic potential of Fogo Island. 

Over the past five years, Fogo Island has hosted a series of innovative community events exploring how to strengthen our economic future, including the first PLACE Dialogues (returning to Fogo Island this fall); discussions led by Glenn Blackwood and Chief Mi’sel Joe, and more recently events with NLOWE and the newly formed Fogo Island Chapter of the Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce. Fogo Island has become recognized as a place that welcomes creative thinking, new opportunities, and locally grown solutions. 

Building on this momentum, Shorefast is establishing a Community Business Hub – a dedicated space to host and activate the economic potential of Fogo Island. 

The Community Business Hub will be a space to connect, learn and share, deepening relationships on Fogo Island and beyond, enabling community businesses and organizations working in partnership to discover meaningful business development opportunities specific to Fogo Island’s local context.   

As this project is in the early stages of development, we are sharing our ideas for potential activations as a starting point of discussion.  We look forward to exploring ways we can work with Fogo Islanders to bring this space to life, building the vision together to make this space a vibrant community asset for change. 

The Community Business Hub will be located in the Orange Lodge, JBA.  Built in December 1908, Orange Lodge No. 143 created an essential space for cultural gatherings and events that contributed greatly to the community. In 2021, Shorefast restored the building with the vision of creating a space in support of community as it once was. We have secured funding to transform the Orange Lodge into a Community Business Hub to support local economic development activity and give space that enables innovative ideas to emerge and take shape.  

Use of the Space  

We envision the Community Business Hub as a dynamic space for activating business and local economic growth. This center will not only nurture and amplify Fogo Island’s entrepreneurial spirit but also position our community as a leader in locally-driven economic strategies. By sharing our history and experience with visitors and collaborators, we hope to inspire and empower other communities working on their own community revitalization projects. 

Ideas for activating the Community Business Hub: 

Events:

  • • Host speakers from multiple disciplines and information sessions on impacting community economy activation 
  • • Host on-island networking events (e.g. Fogo Island Chamber of Commerce, NLOWE, etc.)  
  • • Meeting space with technical equipment (e.g. projector, screens, microphones) available to local organizations
  • • Broadcasting equipment to connect people meeting on-site with others from away 
  • • Space for visiting groups to become oriented on Fogo Island Economic Planning initiatives (e.g. art and cultural groups, visiting youth tours, other community leaders interested in place-based economic practice) 

Programming:

  • • Co-working space with strong internet for local entrepreneurs to work independently or collaboratively   
  • • Economic development programs to support decision-making:  
    • • Visual displays of key economic indicators and history of trade on Fogo Island 
    • • Community-focused facilitation sessions that use the community development approach to identify key local assets and development opportunities 
  • • Opportunity to integrate with entrepreneurship programs at schools and off-island networks through co-hosted learning sessions on business planning, local economy mapping 
  • • Integration with Shorefast Entrepreneur in Residency program; place for individuals to work from, learn alongside and contribute to programming 

Resource Centre:

  • • Resource library for books on place-based economic development practices; considering a book club to connect ideas learned from these books 
  • • Showcase various frameworks/models/case studies that have been created to highlight innovative work on Fogo Island in place-based economic development: 
    • • NFB / Memorial Challenge for Change (film history) 
    • • PLACE Model – Shorefast / Memorial (publication, Dialogue series) 
    • • Harvard Case Study 
    • • Pam Hall’s, Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge 
    • • Economic Nutrition CM 
  • • Home for resources related to community lending and information and guidance on how to secure funds and what funding sources are available   
    • • Have access to our team to connect local entrepreneurs looking for funds and off-island investors/lenders (e.g. CBDC, NLOWE, banks, government lending programs, etc.) 
  • • Home for resources related to business planning (e.g. templates for business startup, cash flow, etc.) to support entrepreneurs 

To explore ways we can collaborate, share feedback, or learn more, please visit the Orange Lodge at the following times to chat with the Shorefast team working on this project: Alicia, Colleen, Kyle, and Susan. 

Orange Lodge, 236 Main Road, Joe Batt’s Arm 

Wednesday, July 3rd: 3pm-4pm 

Wednesday, July 10th: 10am-11am 

Thursday, July 11th: 6:30pm-7:30pm 

Unable to visit us in person? Send us an email: hello@shorefast.org 

Or give us a call: 709.658.7830 

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Leadership in Place

News
December 13, 2023
Shorefast’s CEO & Founder, Zita Cobb, on the importance of local leadership in the places we live. 
5-minute video excerpt of Zita Cobb’s Thomas d’Aquino Leadership Lecture, November, 2023

“Leaders are the deepest believers”  

In November 2023, Zita Cobb, CEO & Founder of Shorefast and Innkeeper of Fogo Island Inn, took centre stage to deliver the prestigious Thomas d’Aquino Lecture on Leadership. This two-part lecture series was hosted at the iconic National Art Gallery of Canada and the Ivey Business School in London, Ontario. 

The following is an excerpt of her speech with a focus on growing the capacity of place leadership. 

“Canadian Businesswoman and social entrepreneur Zita Cobb talks leadership” – Ottawa Business Journal 

Read the article

The Thomas d’Aquino Lecture on Leadership 

Read the article
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Andria Hickey joins Shorefast and Fogo Island Arts as Head of Programs

News
December 13, 2023
International curator Andria Hickey has been appointed Head of Programs at Shorefast. Hickey will oversee the holistic direction of Shorefast’s interdisciplinary programs, including Fogo Island Arts.

Born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, Hickey is a long-standing friend of Shorefast. Alongside her work with Fogo Island Arts, Hickey’s new role will encompass oversight of Shorefast’s robust arts program and environmental stewardship initiatives, as well as heritage sites and programs designed to center place, culture, and community.

Fogo Island Arts was established in 2008 with the belief that art and artists are visionaries that continue to bring new perspectives to the urgent issues of our time. The prestigious exhibition and residency program has welcomed a wide range of international artists, curators, and thinkers including Abbas Akhavan, Liam Gillick, Candice Hopkins, Brian Jungen, Kablusiak, Janice Kerbel, Sharon Lockhart, Ken Lum, Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa, Silke Otto-Knapp, and Jeremy Shaw, among many others.

Hickey joins Shorefast from The Shed in New York, the multidisciplinary arts centre where she led the visual arts program. Previously, she was a global Senior Director and Curator at Pace Gallery, where she established a new curatorial team and initiated the live arts program, Pace Live. During her tenure she curated numerous exhibitions such as monographic surveys of Jo Baer, Wifredo Lam, and Agnes Martin, alongside major thematic exhibitions.

Hickey says, “Fogo Island is an incredibly special place, geographically, culturally, and artistically. I am inspired by Shorefast and Fogo Island as an example of community resilience that is both holding on and reaching out to center new forms of cultural exchange, environmental sustainability, and economic development. The possibility of a shared dialogue across cultures, generations, and places is a vital part of forging a new vision for the future of our planet. The ability to offer time and space for artists, curators, writers, scientists, and other practitioners to create and connect is needed now more than ever. It is a great privilege to return to eastern Canada to begin this unique position, and I look forward to meaningful collaboration with artists, communities and colleagues on Fogo Island, and beyond.”

Zita Cobb, Co-founder of Shorefast, said: “Andria brings broad experience in program leadership and strategic planning to Fogo Island, as well as an esteemed curatorial career focused on global contemporary art. Her commitment to moving culture in new directions is deeply valuable to Shorefast’s work in community economic development.”

Read the Press Release
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Zita Cobb delivers the Keynote at the Evergreen Conference

News
November 7, 2023
Shorefast’s CEO joined thought leaders, community members, private and public sector innovators, and city builders from across the country to talk about place as key to a resilient and connected future.

“Place holds all the answers.”

– Zita Cobb, Shorefast CEO & Founder   

In mid-October Zita Cobb, Shorefast’s CEO & Founder, delivered the keynote address at the annual Evergreen Conference. Held at the Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto, the conference brings together thought leaders, community members, private and public sector innovators, and city builders from across the country who value place as key to a resilient and connected future. 

At Shorefast, we believe that place holds all our relationships. When we practice economic development that takes into consideration the context of where we live – the geographic and human assets in each place – we set ourselves up for a stronger economic foundation that can successfully modulate the ecological, economic, and social needs of a community. 

During her keynote, Zita reminded the crowd that “the opportunity for Canada is to figure out how we work at many scales.” Taking the local as our starting point, Shorefast’s work is to demonstrate how the proper tools and resources can enable other entrepreneurial communities to drive economic momentum and build toward the future they want.

Our national economy is strongest when it works toward the whole. Finding ways to stitch local economies into the national framework is central to what we do.

Read the Press Release
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Cultural Innovation: A Community Talk with Architect Todd Saunders

News
August 24, 2023

Design and architecture can be used to stimulate innovation and give centuries-old knowledge, traditions, and culture an economic foundation.

In early June, Todd Saunders, the Newfoundland-born, Norway-based architect behind Fogo Island Inn and the four artist studios on Fogo Island, hosted a talk for community members and visitors at Shorefast’s historic Orange Lodge building.  

Tracing the trajectory of his career, Todd provided context and advice for people at the beginning of their careers and offered his thoughts on the future of architecture – citing his belief in a hybrid approach that mixes different elements together, with the caveat that “You make great architecture when you know a place.”   

Originally tasked with a mandate to build Fogo Island Inn as demonstrative of “what has been learned from 400 years of clinging to this rock,” Todd shared insights alongside Shorefast CEO & Founder and Fogo Island Inn Innkeeper, Zita Cobb, about how leaning into the specificity of a place can be the very way that we connect the local economy to the global market.  

“Culture is a living thing. If it doesn’t innovate it dies,” Zita remarked. Through cultural innovation we can find ways to illuminate the specificity of our place and carry it forward in ways that support dignified and meaningful employment, and a greater sense of belonging.  

The following is an excerpt from a conversation between Zita Cobb and Todd Saunders on the 10th anniversary of Fogo Island Inn, shortly after the on-island community event.  

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Food for Thought: Reinforcing our local economy through an appreciation of our foodways

News
May 17, 2023

“Eating is an agricultural act.”

— Wendell Berry, American Farmer, Writer, Philosopher. 

Photo credit: Paddy Barry

Food is so much more than sustenance. What we eat, grow, forage, and fish tells us about the culture, environment, and history of a place. Understanding and celebrating our local foodways is another avenue to build stronger relationships between people and place and reinforce the importance of local growing and sourcing to our economy.

Our newly launched Foodways Program on Fogo Island is designed to unite and build on the many food-related initiatives that have animated our work over the years with the goal of creating a more sustainable food system on Fogo Island that can be a contagious example for other rural and remote communities.

The following is a sampling of some of the past, current, and ongoing initiatives that Shorefast has pursued to support a deeper connection to place through food:

Shorefast and Foodways 

Fogo Island Inn 

Ten years ago, Shorefast opened Fogo Island Inn with the intention to activate the cultural heritage and natural assets of the place, including our local foodways. From the Inn’s kitchen, we brought forward contemporary ways of using local ingredients, broadened what can be grown on the island, and increased the focus on local sourcing to support the creation of a widening food entrepreneur landscape on Fogo Island. 

One such example of a new-to-the-island vegetable is fennel. Having asked local growers to cultivate fennel, initially for use in dishes at the Inn, we see its use within our new restaurant–The Storehouse—as an important gateway to sharing ways to cook with this vegetable, as well as other nutrient-rich ingredients that can be found on Fogo Island.  

Photo credit: Andrea O’Brian 

Fogo Island Fish

After opening the Inn, we also turned our thinking to our primary industry, the fishery, and partnered with the Fogo Island Co-operative Society, which operates three seafood processing plants on the island, to start a micro-enterprise called Fogo Island Fish, designed to develop markets for high quality hand-lined Cod. The practice of handlining involves no by-catch, and while it is labour intensive, we pay fishers double the market rate for cod caught by gill-nets. Fogo Island Fish currently sells wholesale to several fine-dining restaurants across Canada.  

Seaweed Cultivation 


In 2021, Shorefast launched an R&D pilot in collaboration with the Fogo Island Co-Operative Society to explore the commercial viability of seaweed farming. As a sustainable, plant based nutritional food that has significant environmental benefits and economic potential, seaweed cultivation could help diversify our island’s economy, with implications for replicability throughout Atlantic Canada. 

Foraging 


Historically, foraging for wild berries allowed Fogo Islanders to survive in this sub-arctic landscape. People foraged and ate partridgeberries, blueberries, marshberries, and bakeapples. The two dozen or so other berries were, not so long ago, collectively called ‘poison berries’ as a precaution from parents to children. Of course, we now understand a lot more about the berry species we share our landscape with, and that knowledge is often enriched by visiting experts invited by Shorefast who share even more. One such expert was able to expand our understanding not only of the other (not poison but very edible!) berries but also some of the mushrooms and herbs that were never previously understood as food. 

Photo credit: Joe Ip

Medicinal Benefits 


The arrival of Dr. John Weber, a Shorefast academic in-residence and a professor at Memorial University, fondly known as the “Berry Man,” helped us understand that blueberry leaves contain even more antioxidants than the noble berry itself. As we spend more time understanding the rich bounty in front of us, we are re-discovering valuable knowledge.  

Wildflowers 


In 2010, Shorefast commissioned Todd Boland of the Botanical Gardens in St. Johns, NL, to produce a Fogo Island wildflower guide book. The goal was to highlight the wide range of plant life on the island with a particular focus on edibles and traditional uses. This important work laid the foundation to better understand the land under our feet – land that Captain Wadham famously said Newfoundlanders, with their over-focus on the sea, had for too long regarded as a “conveniently-anchored ship.” 

Food Circles 


Adapted from the notion of sharing built into our traditional song circles, Shorefast has been bringing people together to share place-specific growing and cooking learnings and stories. Past panelists include Mitchell Davis, James Beard Foundation, and Lori McCarthy, a long-time Shorefast partner and Newfoundland & Labrador foodways expert.  

Food Circle at Big Space
Mitchell Davis, James Beard Foundation, hosts a food circle on Fogo Island

Learn More about our Foodways Program. 

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Know your neighbours, know yourself,” a conversation between Zita Cobb & Michael Bungay Stanier.

News
May 12, 2023

Recently, Shorefast’s founder & CEO, Zita Cobb, joined Michael Bungay Stanier on his podcast MBS Works to read two pages from one of her favourite books—The Third Pillar —and talk about the importance of community, economic dignity, and finding the right people to help create real change.

Recently, Shorefast’s founder & CEO, Zita Cobb, joined Michael Bungay Stanier on his podcast MBS Works to read two pages from one of her favourite books—The Third Pillar —and talk about the importance of community, economic dignity, and finding the right people to help create real change.  


Written by Raghuram Rajan, The Third Pillar, was foundational to the creation of Shorefast’s first national initiative – a Community Economies Pilot that focused on discovering the key levers and interventions to strengthen local economies.  

“If we can put community at the centre of the economy, there’s a seat for everyone to be there.” -Zita Cobb 

Listen to the full conversation here: 

Know Your Neighbours, Know Yourself: Zita Cobb [reads] ‘The Third Pillar’ » Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS)

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Fogo Island’s Annual Scholarship Program

News
October 14, 2022

Initiated in 2004 as one of Shorefast’s inaugural programs, the Fogo Island Annual Scholarship provides financial support for all eligible Fogo Island Central Academy graduates who are pursuing any form of post-secondary education or training (a portion of funds raised are sent to A.R Scammell school on Change Islands proportional to student population). The Scholarship program is funded through the generosity of local community members, local businesses, and donors who span Canada more broadly. All funds raised are divided evenly among applicants.

There is no formal application process for the scholarship. Instead, to receive their scholarship grant funds, we simply ask the students to provide us their thoughts on issues relevant to our community by composing a short, opinion-based essay, recording a video response, or creating an art piece. It’s a key way we receive feedback from our youth, and it’s a yearly highlight for us to read and experience their thoughts and ideas.

This year graduates were asked to respond to any one of these four questions:

What can we learn from the resiliency Fogo Islanders have shown in the past (such as facing the cod moratorium and resisting resettlement) and how can that help us during times of uncertainty in the present (such as the pandemic and climate change)?

What actions can Fogo Islanders take to create an inclusive community where everyone can be their authentic selves?

Reflect on what it means to be a Fogo Islander. How can we preserve who we are as we continue to open up to the world?

Envision the main street of your community on Fogo Island in the year 2050. What does it look like? How is it different than it is in 2022, and why are those changes important?

With input from the graduates, we mounted an exhibition of their essays and art pieces at the Punt Premises, and we invited the students, their families, and their friends to an opening celebration. It was a great way to share the students’ ideas with the wider community and applaud their accomplishments. 

Quotations from essays are displayed alongside art pieces throughout the outbuildings of the Premises, and the community was invited to come down and read what our young people have to say.

Congratulations to all our graduates. We can’t wait to see where your studies and life experiences take you!

We’re very grateful to the many other businesses and individuals that contribute funds and prizes to the scholarship which allow us to grow the pool of grant money available to our students. The scholarship is a true community effort. To learn more about how you can contribute to the Fogo Island Annual Scholarship program please contact donations@shorefast.org

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Liam Gillick unveils a Weather Station on Fogo Island

News
July 21, 2022

In October 2022, renowned contemporary artist Liam Gillick launched a weather station on Fogo Island in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada and Fogo Island Arts.

Titled, A Variability Quantifier, 2022, and known colloquially as The Fogo Island Red Weather Station, Gillick’s artwork forms part of a larger collaborative project that unites 28 art organizations around the world through the World Weather Network (WWN). The constellation of geographically-diverse ‘weather stations’ are responding to the climate crisis through the eyes of artists, writers, and communities by sharing observations, stories, reflections and images about their local weather, creating an archipelago of voices and viewpoints. Spanning Nigeria to Iceland to New York, the coalition is bringing increased attention to the importance of artists and writers to the dialogue around climate change. 

Listen to Liam Gillick on CBC’s the Q talking about art, Fogo Island, and a weather station to the global climate crisis

Listen Here

Designed with advice from the Fogo Island community, Gillick’s weather station takes its structural cues from traditional outport fishing stages found throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. The structure is a framework for scientists and local community members to add meteorological instruments to  measure and track local weather and monitor changes connected to an increasing experience of the climate crisis, including changes to the annual passage of icebergs in ‘Iceberg Alley.’ The station will serve as a location for community gathering, creative place-making, education and discussion, as well as a functional weather station.

For Gillick, The Fogo Island Red Weather Station is a continuation of his interest in understanding the origins of climate science and his long-standing appreciation of Fogo Island as a compelling geographic location. For Fogo Islanders, who have a distinct and embodied relationship with weather, this artwork is a reminder of the significant imprint weather has made on the cultural and physical landscape of Fogo Island and the influence it will continue to exert on our evolving modern outport. 

The artwork is being acquired by  the National Gallery of Canada as part of its National Outreach Initiative in which artworks from the collection are sited and maintained at localities across the country. It will be displayed on the island through to October 2026.

Continue scrolling to read more about weather’s influence on Fogo Island and art’s role in a healthy economy. 

Understanding Life in the Pathway of the Labrador Current

By selecting Fogo Island as one of the 28 locations that will host a weather station, the World Weather Network is considering the variety of climates and topographies that dynamically make up our world and each region’s insights into how weather changes will play a determining role in our shared futures. In many of these singular locations, weather is understood acutely by the communities that live there. This contrasts with more densely populated regions where people generally live in more stable climates and interact with the weather in a much more static sense: by checking the internet for updates.

On Fogo Island our relationship to our distinct environment can be viewed as both a challenge and a joy—the Labrador current is the bearer of moody weather shifts and a prolonged winter, and also the provider of the single greatest asset that continues to define our lives: the sea and its prolific marine life.  

In contrast to the traditional four seasons, we count Seven Seasons that tie into the foundational basis of our fishing economy (it should be noted many Fogo Islanders make the case for even more seasons). A close understanding of the natural environment is necessary when your livelihood is dependent on it. Before the advances of larger fishing boats and weather data, fishers had to learn to read the weather like the back of their hand (and still do) as any trip out into the ocean posed significant risk. 

Spring is when Icebergs arrive on the horizon

One of the most poignant examples of our first-hand knowledge as it relates to the human-caused changes we are seeing on Fogo Island is illustrated in ‘Iceberg Alley.’ Watching the glacial ice flow that passes by Fogo Island, carried by the swift Labrador Current, is a local pastime and an unofficial marker of the transition to summer. In recent years however, those majestic Icebergs have substantially increased in concentration and flow—a change that Fogo Islanders have experienced in real-time simply by bearing witness to the same stretch of ocean year over year. This kind of qualitative, knowledge-based data is crucial for understanding what is changing in our oceans. It is knowledge that reflects a lived experience of the weather. 

Berry season on Fogo Island

What does art have to do with the weather?

Fogo Island Arts (FIA), Shorefast’s foundational program on Fogo Island, is underpinned by the conviction that individuals are shaped by place—that our knowledge, culture, and capacity to relate to one another depends on the specificity of our surroundings. Creating a healthy, vibrant community economy relies on integrating art and artists into dialogue and partnerships with diverse sectors of the community to broaden our understanding of what is possible.

The Fogo Island Red Weather Station is a reminder of our shared and embodied experience of weather that ties directly to our culture. This open-air exhibit will be a public space to facilitate community gathering and connection through conversations about the weather. For Gillick, this artwork is built around the relevance of intuitive knowledge to our conversations—big and small—that are necessary to address climate change in a meaningful way. A central theme throughout many of his climate-related projects is an interest in understanding “the history of the maths behind climate research, how and why things are measured as they are, and how different cultural traditions of tracking weather can add to our understanding of it.” 

In the local context, the Weather Station represents a new era of weather data collection on Fogo Island. Owing to our remote location, Fogo Island currently relies on triangulated data from nearby weather stations to provide a ‘best guess’ on the day’s weather events. Quantitative data collection on Fogo Island will increase our capacity to participate in scientific research as commissioned by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Marine Institute at Memorial University, as well as complementing our community science initiatives, such as ice-tracking, lobster-monitoring, and capelin spawning that are being rolled out under Shorefast’s Environmental Stewardship program.

Knowing that coastal cities and communities are at the forefront of the climate crisis, we are a bellwether for changes being felt globally. Our local knowledge and intimate relationship with the natural environment is a key asset in our adaptive and responsive future. 

By looking at the changes to our global weather through the lens of art we are invited to consider what is at stake for all of us.   

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