MOSAIC
Intergenerational, Creative Community Building
MOSAIC Showcase 2009 Music Festival
Ptarmigan is proud to announce the MOSAIC Showcase Music Festival at Miner’s Bay Park on Mayne Island, Sunday, August 9 @ 11:30 – 5:30. This showcase is free to attend and all are welcome.
MOSAIC is an intergenerational, community arts project for the children of Pender, Mayne, Saturna and Galiano Islands. Mentored by the artists and community elders in these communities, MOSAIC provides our children with a greater sense of their local history, cultural heritage and identity as Gulf Islanders and British Columbians. Our intent with this program is twofold: to alleviate the isolation and alienation that can occur with children from these small, rural communities, as well as to encourage the children to develop friendships with each other through collaboration on artistic projects while still in elementary school. In this way, the Gulf Islands School District and Ptarmigan Society believe the students will establish a better sense of self-esteem and belonging through identification with their historical roots, which in turn will assist in making their experience while attending high school on Salt Spring Island a more positive one.
After a year of networking and preparatory work, MOSAIC ran from February through to December, 2008, and the response to the program has been nothing short of extraordinary! In a flourish of activity throughout the year, 26 Gulf Island artists delivered 562 hours of workshops in Gulf Island schools, out-of-school programs and summer arts camps. The workshops utilized an incredible variety of disciplines, including storytelling, song-writing, animation, music (instrumental & vocal), Kodály music instruction, fiddle group, drumming, dance, pottery, film-making, painting, drawing, paper mâché, murals, music therapy, drama, environmental education, astronomy and local history. It was an inspiring, fun-filled experience, as witnessed by the enthusiastic comments in our Testimonials section and the works in our Participants Art Gallery. And in the process, we also collaborated with four schools, three community centres, two community music societies, one museum, one conservancy society, one First Nations theatre company and Parks Canada, in the true spirit of community building.
Wholeheartedly-received by all of the students, participating artists and island communities themselves, we plan to continue our activities for 2009 through our fundraising efforts and look forward to another action-packed summer of connection, creativity and fun!