National Arts Centre to bring Music Alive to Atlantic region

The expansion of a national arts education program will be music to the ears of people in rural communities in Atlantic Canada.

The National Arts Centrein Ottawa plans to bring Music Aliveto the region,beginning in the next school year.

Genevieve Cimon, the director of music education and community engagement for the NAC, says the program takes different forms, depending on the needs of the community. Itincludesvisits fromlocal artists tothe classroom.

"In some instances, it's been indigenous artists," she said. "There's been classical musicians requested, as well as folk musicians.

"We've also provided distance learning opportunities to various high schools where they have band programs with musicians from our own NAC orchestra to help them prepare for auditions."

The program has been operating in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nunavut since 2006.

Resources lacking

Cimon says the NAC is looking to expand Music Aliveto Atlantic Canada as part of a five-year strategic plan.

"We've met some extraordinary Canadians along the way who are living in these small communities, wearing so many different hats. These are real change agents in their communities," she said.

"They're doing such great work but they're often under-resourced, so we try to support their vision and try as much as we can to advocate for that need."

As part of the program,Cimon says the NAC also sends instruments to more remote communities and there'sa social awareness element to many of the projects.

"We've often paired these visits with a social issue that has been important to the community like suicide prevention or addictions awareness or smoking cessation, and linking it to an important priority for that community has been deemed as being very successful," said Cimon.

Encouraging young talent

She says the program also gives aspiring young musicians the chance to perform and prepare for a career in the arts.

"Whenever an artist will go and visit a school, we always look for opportunities to find those amazing talented high school students who would love to follow and pursue their dreams in music, and we try to arrange a mentorship opportunity," she said.

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Cimonsays the NAC will pilot projects in the Atlantic region this year to get a sense of what works.

She says so far, she's had conversations with people in New Brunswick,Newfoundland and Labrador, and preliminary talks with Symphony Nova Scotia.

She also visited theEskasoniFirst Nation in Cape Breton as part of theRitaJoeSong project where students wrote and produced a video for a song calledGentle Warrior,based on the poemILost My Talk. They performed the song at the NAC in January.

"It's very important that we listen and that we carefully pilot certain partnerships and programs, evaluate their effectiveness," she said.