The New Black is... the new black.

The New Black was right under my nose the whole time – all I had to do was stop and take a look. Funny how that happens sometimes with the things in your community that really, truly matter.

I first heard about the New Black: Center for Music and Art, an all age music venue/recording studio, at the Alberta Recreation and Park Association’s (ARPA) youth symposium in January. The City of Calgary, Community & Neighbourhood Services, was there giving a presentation on their ‘Toast ‘n’ Jam’ program – an arts engagement initiative with a focus on teaching youth how to become professional musicians.

This symposium session caught my eye because of my role at as the Creative Cultural Liaison with ARPA’s ACE Communities. With my latest baby – the ACE ARTS Tour – soon to be on the road, it was increasingly apparent that music and youth was kinda becoming my thing. It was time, I thought to myself, to get some insight on the topic.

The focus of the City of Calgary’s talk was their transition to a more grassroots, community driven approach to the ‘Toast ‘n’ Jam’ program. Part of this transition was the city’s partnership with the New Black, a youth-friendly music venue in Inglewood. As I just happened to live in Inglewood and was now snuggly wearing my youth & music hat, I quickly put the New Black on my list of places to visit.

Flash forward four months and there I finally was, standing in the uber cool, yet still punk-flavoured New Black. Earlier that week, I had been jogging and stopped to tie my shoelace right in front of the venue’s slightly obscure front entrance. Ah ha, I thought! New Black now located – check one on the list accompli.

“It can be tough to find us,” says Darren Ollinger, one of the venue’s founder, “but that’s all part of the appeal to the kids who come here. It makes it like a destination just for them.”

Hunkered in a cluster of commercial buildings, with the Canadian Pacific Railway right in their back yard, the New Black is the perfect spot for music lovers of all ages to come and see live gigs, create music themselves, or simply hang out with their peers.

“The goal of the New Black,” continues Ollinger, whose day job is as the creative director of the X92.9 FM – Calgary’s alternative radio station, “is to provide a place where kids want to hang out and, just as important, a place where their parent’s feel they are safe to be.”

Oozing professionalism tapered with a grunge edge, the New Black offers its all aged clients a stage to practice their stuff (with a fully equipped music system and acoustic set-up) as well as a recording studio. Bring your own gear and rent the studio for $20/hr. Don’t have your own gear, then the New Black will provide it for a fee of $30/hr. These are rates that would make the average hockey parent turn green with envy.

Parents, of course, are always welcomed at the New Black and Ollinger himself has had chats with parents who have secretly come by to check up their kids.

“We tell parents that this is a place for kids to have a real life educational music experience. They can come here and either perform or just get a feeling for how it really feels to be a working musician,” says Ollinger. “This is what the kids said they wanted so we rose to the challenge and tried to provide it.”

The New Black is currently in the midst of becoming an incorporated non-profit society. Its existence comes from the fact that two guys, who loved music themselves, believed that every kid should have access to music. So fret not – even the non-jock, artsy-punks, wanna-be rockers, and music loving alternative kids can have a place of their own.

For more info on the New Black: http://www.thenewblackcentre.com/

When I hear the drum...

I could feel the drumbeat literally vibrating through my breastbone. A group of men sat around a large format drum, playing in unison, and I was in awe, taken back by the pure visceral sensation. Standing there and feeling the pulse of that drumbeat was easily the most amazing musical experience of my life.

This encounter with the drum took place last Friday at the Indigenous Sport Council Alberta’s (ISCA) conference. It was part of an award ceremony that the ISCA was hosting for young Aboriginal leaders in sport.

The MC had just explained that, in his culture, they recognized accomplishment not only with material items like awards but also with spiritual accolades through the drum. Afterwards, someone explained that the physical experience I had was intentional and that the drum was meant to mimic the heartbeat of the listeners. As I felt the beat in my chest that night, I understood the valuable tie that the arts had to the spirit.

Later that weekend, I attended the funeral of Ethel Wolf. She was the mother of Helen Zenith - my former boss and mentor who is now a much-respected friend. As her friends and family remembered Ethel’s life, they spoke of the strength of a young Jewish girl who survived the Holocaust and went on to brave a new life for her family in Canada.

One fond story of Ethel was how she advocated that we must always pay good fortune forward and celebrate the joy in one’s life. Charity didn’t count, she said, unless you tore the charitable receipt up. Ethel worked hard but always had time for her friends, her family, and the community. When I heard these words it was as if I could feel the drum vibrating again in my chest.

These two experiences gave me comfort this week as I moved through my days. I found comfort in the knowledge that we can still move pass the material world and celebrate our successes with something as powerful as music. And I remember the power of this spirit through the story of a young girl who not only survived the horror of the Holocaust but also travelled across the world to make Alberta her home.

When I was in Susa Creek for the last ARTS Tour recently, I was given a book created by the elementary school and their community, the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation. It was a book of prose and drawings dedicated to the power of drum. Here is my favourite poem:

“When I hear the drum…

My heart beats.

Beats its beat.

It sings along.”

When I personally hear the drum again… I will remember those who have went before me. And I will always remember to always celebrate the strength and the spirit of those who make a difference in my life.

My thanks to Principal Mark McGimpsey and the students at the Susa Creek School for allowing me to reproduce excerpts from their book.

Ties that bind

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the ties that arts, culture, and heritage have to community building. I’ve also been thinking, in fact, about culture’s ties to recreation, capacity building in general, and the economic impact of creativity. Gah! As you can rightly imagine, my brain is quickly filling to the brim.

There has been a lot of interest lately in the connection that the arts have to the quality of life sectors like recreation but also the connection they have to building both community and economic capacity.

I recently attending a talk on this very subject in Calgary called ‘Creativity as an Economic Force’, the Indigenous Sport Council Alberta’s (ISCA) upcoming conference in Red Deer touches on this as well (I know because I am hosting the session!!), and even the Canadian Confederation for the Arts (CAA) has just made a conference call for topics related to artists powering the economy.

Why all the recent interest?

Much of my personal musing on the subject has been sparked by two things: 1) the recent ACE ARTS Tour in Grande Cache and 2) the various ways I hope to report on what I have learnt.

If you haven’t, by some miracle, heard me mention it yet, the ACE Alberta Rural Talent Showcase (ARTS) Music and Dance Tour is a 4-day initiative meant as an opportunity for communities to come together to celebrate and grow local talent. ACE truly believes that fostering arts, culture, and heritage is what make all communities better places to live, work and play.

The ACE ARTS Tour, with musicians John Wort Hannam (Juno-nominated) and John Rutherford as well as dancers Michelle Greenwell and Emma Forman, have just returned from Grande Cache and the first inaugural, dare I say groundbreaking, ARTS Tour. This Tour culminated in dance and music workshops and performances in Grande Cache schools, senior centers, their recreation centre as well as workshops in Susa Creek for the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation.

If I were to use my recent experience in Grande Cache as a test example, I can easily think of many ways that arts, culture, and heritage were used to both build community capacity and drive the economy.

It was during this recent ARTS Tour that I saw a group of complete strangers meet over their love of the guitar and form a brand new peer group. It was there that I also saw a local café donate their space for artistic workshops and then benefit from the business of the attendees.

I visited the Susa Creek School and was gifted a book of drawing and poems made by community members of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation to both celebrate and promote their culture. Myself, along with over 500 participants, benefited from the knowledge and skills of two professional musicians and two professional dancers and they, in turn, made a living wage. I also heard these same artists comment repeatedly on how much they were personally inspired by the enthusiasm of the Grande Cache community.

The list could go on…

Because of history, we know that it has been celebrations involving arts, culture, music and dance that have strengthened families and communities. It is these celebrations that build our confidence and self esteem and express a vision for the kind of community we’re seeking. It is the arts, culture, and heritage that ultimately teach us that joy can be achieved in sustainable ways.

For images from the Grande Cache ACE ARTS Tour see: http://acecommunities.ca/gallery/P12/

Just apply, already!

Let’s talk resources for arts and heritage. How many of you know about the ‘Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Program’? Well, if you don’t, I think it is time that you did.

An initiative of the Canadian Heritage Department, the ‘Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Program’ was created to help Canadians celebrate their communities. The Program is meant to increase opportunities, through festivals or other events and activities, for local artists and artisans to be involved in their community and for local groups to commemorate their local history and heritage.

Studies say that it is the festivals and celebrations that are pivotal to community engagement, identity, and cohesiveness. And it is in the fostering of our communities’ cultural identities that we find social, capital, or civic renewal. Festivals, concerts, and events create opportunities for people to be active and engaged and we know that families who play together, stay together. And you don’t have to take my word for it… the actual studies for these facts can be found in ACE’s online Benefits Catalogue. (Yes, this is a shameless plug for the Benefits Catalogue. Seriously people, this is another resource that kicks butt… use it!... http://benefits.acecommunities.ca)

Because let’s face it…each of Canada’s communities is unique and each is uniquely Canadian. This is, by far, one of our nation’s biggest strengths. Geography, history, their founders and those who came to live there shape our communities. And they continue to grow and change as the people who live there now build on those foundations.

The ‘Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Program’ is one of those resources that can truly be used to celebrate your community. This program has three components:

Local Festivals: Festivals, events and activities that involve your whole community, give opportunities to local artists and artisans and/or celebrate local history and heritage.

Community Anniversaries: One-time commemoration through festivals or other activities that celebrates a major anniversary of a significant local person or event.

Legacy Fund: 
Awards for the creation of tangible, lasting capital projects which commemorate or celebrate a major anniversary of a significant local person or event.

Eligible events and activities must be local – created by and for your community. They must be open and accessible to the public and strongly encourage and promote the participation of everyone in your community.

So the opportunity is there for those entrepreneurial enough to look more into the potential of this grant and then to apply! Imagine what cultural impact this would make in your community.

For more info and the application process see: http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/communities/

Don't be afraid...technology loves you

It’s like looking into an eye of a chicken…. That was an expression that my Ukrainian grandmother used to say. As you can imagine, it’s not the most flattering of comments - implications of pea-sized brains, futzing around with chicken scratch, and instinctual urges to flee were the associations that always popped into my head whenever she would use it.

Something along those lines is what I suspect my Workshop Instructor, Calgary-based filmmaker Michael Welchman, was probably thinking about me last weekend at EMMEDIA’s Final Cut Pro Class for Beginners. I was there to upgrade my almost non-existent editing skills and he was there to teach me about batch capturing, scratch disks, and Digital Betacams.

It was then that my grandmother’s saying popped into my mind as I was most definitely sporting my best chicken eye. New technology can be a scary and a humbling thing.

I had bravely ventured into EMMEDIA that weekend because, as mentioned above, I was looking for some skills. And it so happens that EMMEDIA is a place where many people with film-related endeavours go to find them.

Established in Calgary in1979, EMMEDIA is a non-profit organization managed and directed by practicing artists. It offers the general pubic and artists alike affordable access to media art production tools, to technical and educational support, and to an array of public exhibition programs. The centre provides a focus for media arts activity and a gathering place for people to interact and exchange ideas.

Other innovative EMMEDIA initiatives include, Digital Direct, launched in 1998, which takes portable digital production and editing equipment to remote or isolated communities in southern Alberta and within the City of Calgary. For many in the art world, EMMEDIA is a hidden gem. For the rest of us, it is a one-stop stomping ground for those adventurous enough to take on the world of new media.

My interest in learning editing skills was specifically job related. Looming over my head is a whole library of ACE-on-the-road footage crying to be made into jazzy little promotional snippets. My fellow classmates varied in their interests. One was a freelance actress who did voice work and was now interested in creating her own documentaries. Another was a retired arts administrator who wanted to return to filmmaking, as it was his first love. We were a sassy little bunch, comrade-in-arms in the new media trenches.

The most important realization that I think we all took away with us from our time at EMMEDIA was that the technology and the resources are there for those willing to dive in and use them. Sure, you might look silly and suddenly lose your ability to work the right-click on a mouse. But who cares! New technology doesn’t judge you… it just doesn’t do ANYTHING until you figure it out.

When you are first starting out, it’s not about brains or brawn – it’s about the willingness to learn. It’s about fearlessness, an open mind, and fighting the urge to flee. It’s about quashing that inner chicken eye…

For more info on workshops available at EMMEDIA see: http://www.emmedia.ca/

In a galaxy not so far away...

I love Star Trek. There… I said it. And when I say love, I mean LOVE!! More than I probably love my husband. Love, love, love, love… So when I had a chance to visit Vulcan during the last ACE Communities Ignite tour… well. You can only imagine.

My trip to Vulcan was to present them with their ACE Communities Award and to get a real feel for the community. It was a chance for a true ‘in-the-trenches’ view of what makes Vulcan tick.

What I discovered during my visit was very interesting. Vulcan, it seems, is a place in flux. It’s a community taking a serious look at both its cultural and pop cultural identities. And in Vulcan, that is a tricky exploration. Because, despite the rather impressive statue of the Starship Enterprise on the proverbial doorstep, not everyone in Vulcan necessarily loves Star Trek as much as I do.

Shocking, I know.

As part of their journey to becoming an ACE Community, Vulcan expressed an early interest in expanding arts and culture in their town. To answer this need they have already set up initiatives like a new concert series (starting with Blues Legend Tim Williams on Feb. 12^th) and are working towards other related events. And yet, much of their identity as well as their economy are driven by events like their Spock Days/Galaxyfest. Without a doubt, the number of tourists that visit Vulcan per capita is enough to put the big cities to shame.

Still, Vulcan’s foray into the sticky realm of identity has really made me wonder: is pop culture the same as culture?

My first instinct is to say yes! Of course it is… as a huge addict of pop culture, I would argue that much of our music, film, literature, and art is rooted in the drama of real life. Or, in Star Trek’s case, the drama of fantasy life. The pull between our real lives and escapes from the same are what makes us human. It defines us and thus, defines our community.

In Vulcan’s case, however, the question is do they really want their identity to be driven by a galaxy far, far, away (no wait… that’s Star Wars), on what the town has to intrinsically offer despite its trademark name, or a little bit of both?

This is a question that I’ll ponder as I happily wear my plastic Vulcan ears and sip from the Gothic Spock mug I purchased from the Vulcan Tourist center. In my mind, it makes sense to celebrate one’s community for both what is has and for what it can be – even if what you’ve got is a little …. out of this world.

Validation is just a mouse click away

As someone who has spent most of her career in the arts, I have devoted a lot of energy in convincing people (funders, patrons, art collectors, newspaper editors… the list goes on) that they should invest in the arts. And when I say invest, I don’t necessarily only mean money – not that money is bad. Bring the money on… No purism for me! No, what I really mean is the investment of time, energy, faith, and conviction.

For me, commitment to the arts, culture, and heritage is a huge investment in the quality of life for you, your family, and your community.

Luckily for me, and for anyone who is currently in the position of writing a fundraising proposal, presentation, or brand new policy, ACE Communities has now launched the online version of the Benefits Catalogue. Included in this Catalogue is a database of over 700 studies proving the value of recreation, parks, sport, arts, culture and heritage.

The 2009 Benefits Catalogue, in essence, is an online tool that provides updated evidence for 50 outcomes statements using leading-edge technology. The vision of the Benefits Catalogue is one of sustainability with always-current research and evidence. Users, in fact, are encouraged to upload their own personal research or studies that the Catalogue might be missing.

This living resource summarizes evidence that what we do – as recreation and cultural providers - really does make a difference and has a significant impact as economic, social, and/or political drivers. It provides users with an invaluable resource for policy development, planning, marketing, program/service development and/or evaluation.

Type in ‘arts’, ‘culture’, and ‘heritage’ into the search engine and actual documented studies are found that prove that these three fields:

· are essential to personal health and well-being

· provide the key to balanced human development

· provide a foundation for quality of life

· reduce self-destructive and anti-social behaviour

· build strong families and healthy communities

· reduce health care, social service and police/justice costs

· are a significant economic generator

This same type of search can be done for topics like: active living, aboriginal issues, children and/or adults, cultural diversity, living with disability, seniors, parks, and recreation. And then – voila! - the database formats the results into a handy, dandy pdf ready for print. Your work is fait accompli.

And I ask you, has research ever been easier? So if you are currently in a position where you need or want to prove the benefits of parks, recreation, arts, culture, and heritage, look no further! Validation is just a mouse click away.

So visit: http://benefits.acecommunities.ca