More music for the Brain - Music lives here.
April 1st 2008 21:41
Signature Tune
Nancy Tousley, Calgary Herald
The theme of the Juno Awards 2008 has been chosen to show some scope, make a legacy and put Calgary on the map as a music destination long after the annual celebration of the Canadian music industry pulls out of town.
In Halifax in 2006, the Juno theme was Play Hard. Last year in Saskatoon, it was Get in Tune.
"I just challenged everyone: why can't this be about our city?" says Rock, who is co-chair of the Juno host city committee and president and CEO of Calgary Arts Development.
"The people we were working with at Tourism (Calgary) picked it up as well. I was a little hesitant to do that actually, and they said 'No, no, that's very encouraging. Let's go down that road.' So that's how we ended up with Music Lives Here.
"It's exactly what we wanted to say: Let's make the Juno Awards part of something as opposed to having everything we're doing be part of the Juno Awards."
Looked at this way, the Junos fit into the larger context of the very active Calgary music scene, says Rock. "The easiest way to say this is just look at the summer festival lineup in Calgary and the area, and I won't get them all."
Virgin Fest, Jazz Fest, Sled Island Festival and Francophone Festival, and moving on to Canada Day, the Calgary Stampede, Carifest, Afrikadey, the Calgary Folk Music Festival and the Blues Festival are all upcoming. The Junos and the attending national press give Calgary a chance to throw a spotlight on these events, showcase more than 100 local musicians at the many pre-Juno events and show off her musical assets.
Support for local artists is also intended to go forward. Rock has formed a legacy subcommittee, co-chaired by Andrew Mosker of the Cantos Music Foundation and Kerry Clarke of the Calgary Folk Music Festival. Its purpose is to develop something that might be called the Calgary Music Resource Centre, when all the details have been worked out.
The centre, for which fundraising is underway, will provide access to professional development, mentoring and networking and grants to artists. The grants might help an artist make a demo, cut a record or go on tour.
Calgary Arts Development, the municipal government's designated arts development authority, will support the project, says Rock, but leadership will have to come from within the community.
The Cantos Music Foundation also has its own separate legacy program, called Spark, which will be launched on April 2, the day before the Juno events begin, Mosker says.
Spark is a program for 13- to 23-year-olds set up to focus on "how creativity is good for us." Studies in neuroscience have shown that creativity and the arts, in this case music, have beneficial effects on the brain, the body and mental health.
A Juno star will work with the kids in Spark and two speakers who are experts in neuroscience will speak to them. The young participants will then spend six months working in a medium that allows them to tell their stories in ways that can be made accessible to viewers and listeners. Students will also be involved in Juno programs, which include amassing the biggest ever band of 2,500 students for a concert at the Roundup Centre on April 3.
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These are the fascinating things that are going on in music and the Neuroscientists are picking up and demonstrating the beneficial effects of music on the brain.
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