Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021

Feature
Shelter from the storm
The IMAGINE project offers a safe space for artists to develop bold new works
CATHY RICHES
When it became apparent that the pandemic was not going
to be a two-month event and was in fact going to be with
us for many months, Tricia Baldwin asked herself, “What
can we do to amplify the voices and creativity of artists, students,
creators and educators?” As the director of the Isabel Bader Centre for
Performing Arts in Kingston, Ontario (known simply as “The Isabel”),
Baldwin, and her colleagues, recognized not just a need, but an
opportunity. The result is the IMAGINE project.
“This COVID-19 period is an excellent time for artists to immerse
themselves in artistic ‘R&D’ to explore new collaborations, styles,
concepts and performance practices and come out of the pandemic
with enriched artistic voices,” Baldwin told me. With performance
demands severely curtailed, many artists have time now to dig into
projects and ideas that they might not normally have the energy and
brain space to pursue. As well, performing has taken on new dimensions,
hastened by the pandemic, with online presentations and
streaming increasingly becoming the norm.
Baldwin and her colleagues wanted to offer The Isabel, with its stateof-the-art
lighting, video and audio equipment – along with the
acoustical beauty the hall is renowned for – to artists so they could
learn new skills and ways of presenting their works. “We see this as an
incubator, not only for new works but for new performance practices
and processes,” said Baldwin. “We want to give people a safe space to
work in so they can take artistic risks and try out different media.”
When the call for applications went out via getacceptd.com,
The Isabel was initially planning to offer five or six spots in the
program. However, they got such an enthusiastic response from the
artistic community, receiving applications from a range of musicians,
performers and educators with interesting ideas, that Baldwin
approached the Kingston-based Ballytobin Foundation to increase the
funding. Ballytobin willingly stepped up, and the result was that The
Isabel was able to offer spots to 20 different groups/artists.
“The entire arts world is undertaking a giant metamorphosis
during the pandemic, and we are very pleased to support initiatives
that prepare artists for the multi-platform world while growing their
connections with audiences and presenters with such interesting
work,” stated Joan Tobin, founder of the Ballytobin Foundation.
IMAGINE attracted an eclectic range of projects and applicants. We
chatted briefly to two of them to get a better sense of things.
Sadaf Amini is an Iranian-Canadian musician, specializing in the
santur, an instrument typically played in traditional Iranian music.
She will be participating in two projects as part of the IMAGINE
project; the one dearest to her heart is an elegy to Flight 752 that
was shot down by the Iranian government in January 2020, killing
everyone on board.
“I was deeply saddened
by the news,” said Amini.
“And I wanted to do something
to commemorate the
innocent people who were
lost.” The work, being
written by renowned
composer John Burge for
santur and choir, although
still in the writing process,
is planned to be a sevenmovement
piece using
poetry by the great Iranian
poet, Rumi. It will also
Sadaf Amini
IMAGINE Project: successful applications
! The Palenai Duo (Joy Innis and Adrienne Shannon, piano):
audio recording of two works, by Saint-Saëns and Dvořák as part
of new multi-media project.
! Alex Mundy (singer, songwriter, storyteller): audio recording of
debut album.
! DUOver (Jennifer Routhier, mezzo-soprano, Natasha Fransblow,
piano): audio recording of “full length collaborative audio/visual
experience album.”
! Movement Market Collective (Kay Kenney Johnson, dancer/
choreographer, Rachel Shaen, creator/lighting designer, Josh Lyon,
videographer): performance video of a new work.
! Isabel String Quartet (Laura Andriani, Julia McFarlane, Caitlin
Boyle and Wolf Tormann): residency/research: conversations
and performance streaming of works by Black and Indigenous
composers.
! Julia Wedman, Baroque violin; Brian Solomon, choreographer;
Mariana Medellin, Mestizo dancer: residency and performance
video.
! Sadaf Amini, santur; John Burge, composer; Darrel Christie/
Kingston Chamber Choir: video streaming for virtual performance
of new work.
! Emilie Steele & The Deal (guitar trio): audio/video recording
of new song.
! Chantal Thompson, vocal artist (with Rich Bannard, Michael
Occhipinti,George Koller, Chris Alfano, Katie Legere): audio
recording of new album.
AMIN POURBARGHI
64 | December 2020 / January 2021 thewholenote.com