The Wallaceburg & District Council For The Arts is proud to announce their fall/winter line-up, consisting of a Singer-Songwriter Workshop and Performance Series.
The series kicks off on Saturday, September 24 at the Jeanne Gordon Theatre in Wallaceburg with a Songwriting Workshop and Performance with Jamie Warren.
Warren is the most awarded independent male artist in Canadian country music, with three Top 10 hits to his credit and 16 Top 40 hits. The Hanover native is also the professor or Songwriting 101 at Conestoga College in Kitchener. Warren is very highly regarded throughout the industry as a songwriter, mentor and teacher.
Joining Warren on stage for the evening performance on September 24 is Chatham-Kent’s rising star, Brooklyn Roebuck.
Roebuck continues to gain momentum following her win on YTV Next Star as a youngster. She’s added songwriting to her skill-set and will be of special benefit to other young aspiring songwriters and performers attending the workshop and evening performance. Brooklyn was recently named a finalist for the Country Music Association of Ontario Rising Star Award and is performing at the CCMA’s Diamonds In The Rough showcase.
Following the September 24 workshop, the Arts Council will present two additional workshops and performances in the series, including: ‘Surviving As An Independent Artist’ workshop and performance alongside Sarah Smith and Jay Allan on November 26 as well as a Guitar and Songwriting Workshop on January 28 with Tom Lockwood and Michael Schatte.
Both Schatte and Lockwood are from Chatham-Kent and have history together, as Lockwood served as a teacher and mentor to Schatte during his early years. Schatte is back by popular demand after selling out the Jeanne Gordon Theatre in early 2015 to absolute maximum capacity.
“One of the aims of the Arts Council is sponsoring, organizing, and promoting clinics and workshops for the benefit and betterment of local artists,” said Dave Elliott, President of the local council. The first one is a song writing workshop to help local musicians create their own music. We will have another for guitar players to help them better their playing and learn new techniques. And we want to help all of our local artists take the next step with a workshop aimed at surviving as an independent artist, helping our local musicians make a living doing what they love.”
The Arts Council strives to help embrace, create and promote a vibrant arts community.
“We want to hear more live, local and original music,” Elliott added. “We want to encourage artists in any way we can. These workshops are the Arts Council’s way of supporting local musicians. The benefit to local citizens is that there is a really high quality concert associated with each, where the mentors perform for the people of Chatham-Kent. By attending our adult concert series we are then able to provide these workshops at a low cost to local musicians, and will continue to be able to assist and give back to our community and culture.”
Proceeds from tickets sales are re-invested in the local arts community, Elliott said.
The Arts Council recently began instruction with a local community-wide concert band and have now established the Wallaceburg Community Music Program. This series of workshops for musicians are part of that community music program.
“The community buys the tickets and enjoys the shows – then we re-invest the proceeds in helping the artists locally,” said Elliott.
Tickets are now on sale for the opening night of the Singer-Songwriter Workshop & Performance Series. Tickets are also available for the entire series, at a special discount price.
Tickets are $25 and available from 99.1 CKXS and the Wallaceburg Museum.
If you wish to purchase tickets for the entire series, you can do so for $60 (save $15). Two tickets to the three show series are $120 (regularly $150 – save $30).
For information on the workshops, e-mail jsmith@ckxsfm.com or call 519-627- 0007 extension 227.
Special discounts apply towards registration until September 7.
– Submitted photos: Brooklyn Roebuck and Jamie Warren.
