October 22, 2025 š“ 6:00PM š¦ Bailey Theatre š² Free
Presented by the Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life and the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities in partnership with the Sustainable Food Endowment and the Food Artisans of Camrose County.
This evening invites guests to consider āthe land and those who sustain itā through film and conversation. After viewing the 2016 documentary film "Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry" and enjoying sample fare from the Food Artisans of Camrose County, we host a conversation between Ben Aguilar of the Berry Center (Kentucky, USA) and Joseph Wiebe, PhD. of the Ronning Centre (Camrose). The film and conversation will share themes that connect to the heart of our community. Attendees will be invited to ask questions and share brief thoughts around the connections within the film to their experiences of land, farming and life.
This event is free to attend though does require you register in advance.
This event is part of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities āFood Sustainability Lecture & Film Seriesā, a series of events focused on issues relating to food sustainability, especially as they relate to broader issues relevant to rural sustainability. More info about the ACSRC can be found at uab.ca/ACSRC
The Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life is a gathering point within a public university in Canada focusing on a broad range of themes where religion and public life intersect. The Centre seeks to bring to the university and to the general public original contributions that embody the highest standards of academic scholarship.
This event is made possible through a partnership with the Food Artisans of Camrose County and a generous contribution from the Sustainable Food Endowment.
Speakers
Ben Aguilar
The Berry Centre (Newcastle, Kentucky, USA)
Director of Operations
https://berrycenter.org/Ben Aguilar joined The Berry Centerās work advocating for farmers, land-conserving communities and healthy regional economies as Director of Operations in 2018 after many years of teaching and multimedia production, as well as food systems and agricultural work in rural Kentucky. He was raised in Lexington, Kentucky and holds a BA and MS from Bellarmine University, and is glad to be working on the ground for people who work with the ground.
He is glad to live with his wife, Virginia Berry Aguilar, near to her familyās home place in Port Royal, Kentucky, where they are raising their daughter Lucinda, a 10th-generation Henry Countian. Ben is the editor of For The Hog Killing, 1979: Photographs by Tanya Amyx Berry (University Press of Kentucky, 2019), and his own photographs have appeared in Rural Heritage, Garden & Gun Magazine, and many other publications.
Joseph Wiebe
University of Alberta
Associate professor of Religion and Ecology in the Ethics and Global Studies at the University of Alberta
https://www.ualberta.ca/en/chester-ronning-centre/people/index.htmlJoe Wiebe, PhD. is an associate professor of Religion and Ecology in the Ethics and Global Studies at the University of Alberta, Augustana. His Book, The Place of Imagination: Wendell Berry and the Poetics of Community, Affection, and Identity, has received academic praise in Reading Religion, ISLE, Anglican Theological Review, Christianity and Literature, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and Christian Century. It is a critical reading of Berry's fiction that emphasizes the role of imagination in community and environmental ethics. His current project is researching the influence of settler colonialism on Mennonite environmental imagination and eco-theology.
When Joe isnāt building Lego or playing Switch with his family, heās having a pint, rolling d20s, breaking down the Winnipeg Jets' myriad problems, or talking about books he hasnāt read with his kindred spirits.
Location details
Address: Bailey Theatre, 50 Street, Camrose, AB, Canada
Partners & Sponsors
About the Sustainable Food Endowment
The Sustainable Food Endowment is a donor-funded initiative that provides support to Augustana for practical research and educational programming around food choices and food sources. The objective is to foster constructive dialogue, promote interdisciplinary and collaborative research and develop partnerships between Augustana and the surrounding communities.
For more information on how you can support learning for current and future students by creating something similar please reach out to the Augustana Advancement Office.