We Made Progress: A Look Back
This past weekend, Bridge Songs: ?rogress took place on Alberta Avenue, and took over many of our lives. Mine included.
Wednesday and Thursday last week were given to our feature exhibition at the Stollery Gallery, as Edward Van Vliet and the artists installed work. Thursday was also a day for renting (a lot of) equipment for the performances, setting it all up in our venue, sound checking and trying to squeeze in some practice time. Our Event Space Gallery was set up that night, and it was absolutely chock-full of art.
Friday, Jennifer worked like a mad woman to complete the ambiance for the space, working right up to performance time while weaving in and out of practicing performers. When 7 o’clock rolled around and people trickled in through the doors, the space looked great, but we sure didn’t feel ready. It’s too soon! Too soon!
With not one full dress rehearsal to our credit, we had to begin. The show must go on. This is the kind of unpreparedness yielded by the fusion of a dozen busy lives creating an event like this in their “free” time. But begin we did, and that night, for about 50 guests, we performed Bridge Songs: ?rogress for the first time. It went alright, but I knew it could have gone better. We all knew. I went home wishing I’d had more time to prepare, wishing more people had come out (we’d hoped for 100 that night), wishing I hadn’t made so many mistakes, wishing myself into an uneasy sleep (or lack thereof).
Saturday was a different story entirely.
We were still tight for practice time, but had at least had a full “practice” the night before. The exhibition at the Stollery was together and people were enjoying it. We knew our stuff now. Joe Gurba was reading poetry. A burgeoning crowd grew outside the sanctuary doors, wanting in. More time, more time! Ok, open the doors!
As we waited backstage for the first film (John Osborne’s Genesis) to end, we could hear the energy of the crowd. We could feel the electricity that precedes a great show. We all knew this final performance would be our best. And in that confidence we began.
Song after song, we nailed it. Mistakes were smoothed over or made to sound intentional. Even my cracking voice mid-scream miraculously landed on a note that fit just right. Our final song was supposed to be sung by Jeanne Williams, but she lost her voice. Daniel Mantai took over and I doubt anyone but us knew. Joe’s poetry glued our narrative together, playing right off of Jordan Majeau’s “Soul City” story arc. It was a beautiful night, enjoyed by near 150 people, many from outside of the Urban Bridge and City Centre communities. As we closed with Jaimie Clements preview from The Avenue Movie, then the song Hope there was a tangible sense of that “hope” in the room. Many from the Alberta Ave community were there, with hopes of their own. I’m sure they’ve asked many times, “is this progress?” I hope they got a sense that, through the steps forwards and back, it is.
By the Numbers
Our hope was to have 200 people enjoy Bridge Songs. When you add it all up, we likely exceeded that by a bit. About 50 on Friday, about 150 on Saturday and over 20 for Sunday’s workshop takes us right about where we wanted to be. It’s nice to see the event growing little by little. It’s nice to know it’s being enjoyed far beyond the little group of us creating it.
Of course, the numbers will continue to grow as our “?rogress” exhibit at the Stollery Gallery continues through to the official closing reception on July 5th, as part of The Works Festival.
Those people not only supported the project with their presence, but financially. Everything we took in those two nights is to be donated to the Nina Haggerty Centre for The Arts and a home for abandoned seniors in Mexico. In total, just over $1500 was raised. I’m pretty proud of that, and offer up a big thank you to every who bought a CD, bought some food or just donated to our causes. Because of you, Nina Haggerty Centre will be able to buy a touchscreen drawing tablet that will enable some of their clients to create digital art works previously impossible because of their physical limitations. Because of you the project in Mexico will continue to grow into a reality. It’s nice to know we have reached beyond ourselves and our communities, both across the street and across the world.
Where Do We Grow From Here?
From here, we’ll be doing a lot of soul searching and evaluating. Were the two nights worth the sacrifice required? Was the album a rewarding undertaking? Was the workshop what we had hoped? Without stretching ourselves too far, how do we continue to challenge ourselves, and move beyond ourselves involving the local community to a greater extent. How many people would we like to see attending? And how many participating? What theme should we build Bridge Songs 2012 around? With prayer and discussion and discernment and the wisdom of many, we’re moving forward.
We’d love to hear your feedback about Bridge Songs: ?rogress. We’re more than open to your suggestions. Got a crazy idea you’d like to try next year? That’s how most of this event was born! Leave a comment below, or send us an email at info@iloveartists.ca.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 8:57 am and is filed under Bridge Songs: Progress, Essays and Reflections, Event Reviews, Events, Is this progress?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.