This week´s Lunch Lecture, April 11., is given by Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir who will talk about a community project in Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. The project is based on the principles of Geo-Tourism and is intended to put another leg under the dwindling economy of the fishing communities of Fogo Island. The project is initiated by the Shorefast Foundation and generously supported by the Canadian government and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir is an architect and a curator and was the founder and owner of the design firm kol & salt in Ísafjörður in 1988-2003. In recent years she has led projects on both sides of the Atlantic that consis of bringing together artists and designers and local habitants in coastal communities in collaborative processes. She was the director of the Nordic Artist´s Center in Dale Norway from 2003-2008, an art institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers specializing in residencies for international artists, designers and architects. In 2008-2012 she worked for the Shorefast Foundation in Canada as a concept builder and the founding director of the Fogo Island Arts as well as leading several design processes for different parts of the Foundation´s Geo-Toursim project on Fogo Island.

In her lecture on Friday Elísabet will talk about the project on Fogo Island, describe the project´s vision, explain the methodology used to build up the project from scratch and shed some light on what worked well and what didn´t.

The talk will be given in English. UWestfjords lunch lectures are open for the public and start on Fridays at 12.10. Sandwiches for sale.