Archive 1997-2016
There is a lot of pressure being an arts editor.
Fielding calls about art galleries, student plays and local bands while facing deadlines and limited space, arts editors must try to give their sections a balanced feel. The stories must appeal to readers. Out of, say, a dozen great stories, you can only do a few.
Mary Tanguay’s pale blue eyes widen as she brushes back a lock of hair that still holds traces of vivid reddish-gold color. With animated gestures she begins to paint her picture of Nicholas Sparks, the namesake of Ottawa’s Sparks Street:
“Nicholas Sparks was an entrepreneur from Wexford. When he had saved 92 pounds, he bought the whole city of Ottawa, the whole centre of Ottawa for 92 pounds sterling, can you imagine? And he cried the day he bought it because it was a dreadful place full of swamp and trees, a savage country.”
The organizers of the Ottawa International Jazz Festival are holding a fund-raiser April 2 to raise money for this summer’s festival, which they say could be hurt by local government’s funding cuts.
“There is not a big local outlet for jazz ensembles to perform,” says local musician Bill Jupp, leader of Bill Jupp Big Band. “Without the Jazz Festival there wouldn’t be much.”
When Mark Johnston sits in his chair on a Saturday morning at the Ottawa Music Academy, it seems to swallow him up — even though it’s a kid-sized chair.
On this particular Saturday, his string ensemble is preparing for Discover the Arts, a free open house being held at the National Arts Centre from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 5. The Ottawa Music Academy is one of the hosts, along with the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, the Ottawa School of Dance and the Ottawa School of Art.