LFTR Artistic Director Shares Her Journal
By Shannon Legacy, 2010 LFTR Festival. Courtesy LFTR A.D.
By Shannon Legacy, 2010 LFTR Festival. Courtesy LFTR A.D.
Notes from an Artisitic Director’s Journal…
It’s a mystery to me how ten years have passed since I started out on my first ever road trip to the great northwest. My “Brothers” and I were so Southern Ontario Green we thought we could drive to Ear Falls in one day… with a ‘drop in’ for coffee at some crazy stranger’s house in Red Rock. When Liz Harvey-Foulds was finally able to stop laughing and manage to catch her breath, she recommended that we check the scale on the OTHER side of the map – and offered to put us up overnight! Thus began a decade of building wonderful friendships, sharing magical moments, watching incredible performances, experiencing remarkable weather events, playing, laughing, dancing, singing, crying…if we haven’t had a baby born at the Festival we must have come close!
Together we’ve watched a generation of children grow into fine young adults, mourned never to be forgotten friends, howled at many moons and never forgotten the smell of woodsmoke and oranges. (although occasionally the lyrics). Many festival friends come back year after year, filling us in on what we’ve missed, joining us around nightly campfires, bringing us coffee at dawn, listening to music from morning to midnight, admiring the works of artisans, and eating…oh my the food!
Together we celebrate MUSIC: Live…Original…Traditional… instrumental…a capella…(with hats)… home-grown, international, roots, country, blues, songwriters…if you love it…we have it ! Together we will savour and celebrate Artists, the North and our Community!
It has been my privilege and pleasure to have played a role in every Live From The Rock Festival; I’ve worn a Volunteer t-shirt, flashed my Performer tags with pride, and even managed to spread a blanket in the mint-scented grass of centre field to just listen. (Willie P. Bennett’s duet with the train is one of the moments I will never forget!) Just last summer my brand new grandbaby (Jack) and his parents shared the Live From the Rock experience with me; but not even that holds a candle to the honour of acting as Artistic Director for the 2011 edition of what, in my opinion, is the most brilliant star in the Festival sky!
The responsibility of stepping into the shoes of a giant is daunting to say the least, but I promise the performers who will be sharing their music with you are eclectic, talented, approachable, and eager to become part of the Live From the Rock family. Add to the three days with four stages of live music (11:00am– midnight) some interactive, instructional workshops, Science North’s Cool Caravan, yoga, craft sessions, our hands-on and friendly Family Space, Open Stage opportunities, the Voyageur canoe, artisans, delicious food and sooooo much more, and you have the makings of a gathering without parallel…a truly enchanted weekend!
I’m so glad you are joining us, and are adding your heart to the beat that permeates to a place as solid as the rock that holds fast our roots.
Jennifer Ives Interim Artistic Director
Live From the Rock August 5-7, 2011
By Shannon Legacy, 2010 LFTR Festival. Courtesy LFTR A.D.
