Janie Renée et son jazz quartet en practique

CREATING CENTRE PERFORMANCE BY JANIE RENÉE

FEATURED

“UNE FRANCO-ONTARIENNE” EXTRAORDINAIRE

VANKLEEK HILL- The concert by Janie Renée Myner on Saturday evening, October 19,2019, at Creating Centre de créativité was an extraordinary example of a “small town girl” who has become successful world-wide without forgetting her home-town roots.

The performance featured orginal lyrics and jazz music by Janie and her jazz quartet as the debut for her third CD recording entitled “#jesuisUFO” (I am Une Franco Ontarienne).

Through her unique musical style, her robust voice, and her passionate lyrics, Janie proclaims to all who will listen, who she is, without apology: proud to be a female with Franco Ontario roots, In her own maternal language, through her femininity, with a unique blend of soft fragility and intense determination, Janie inspires her audience to ponder the value of their own origins. She evokes feelings of personal loneliness, unabashed pride, sadness for the sorrows and losses of her people, both Francophones and Indigenous peoples of Canada. Courageously she bares her soul and defies anyone to challenge her resolve to be proud of her heritage and her gift for musical expression.

Those who attended the concert are richer for Janie’s gift of music, song, and laughter, through a performance of creative expression in its purest form.

Should a local art gallery have the rights to exclusivity with respect to art shows in the town?

Discussion over who owns the rights to creativity is exactly a topic Creating Centre de créativité wants to stimulate:  What is an art gallery? What is the mandate of a cultural centre? Is there a limited supply of artists to draw from, or a limited market for works of art or listeners of music? What is the best way to display art, engage the community in supporting artists, stimulate the economic benefits to artistic endeavours? Most important, is there a limited demand for creative expression or is there an infinite passion for creativity – to be tapped into, spawned, nurtured, fertilized and stimulated? What languages do we use to communicate this passion? Are we limited to English as the most common means of communication in Canada? French, as a minority language and culture dating back to the settlement of Canada? Indigenous language and creativity of the First Nations? What languages are the speech of painters, musicians, sculptors, philosophers, poets?

True, we live in a small village of 1800 residents. Are local businesses limited to exploiting only this population? Really? Especially in this era of technology and world-wide access through the Internet? In this worldly web of intricate and infinite minds, creative expression is available, literally, at our fingertips. Is there really only room for one Art Gallery in town? Why would this approach be beneficial to anyone?

The dialogue is important and must continue. All humans owe themselves the right to express their experiences. This is the gift of life on this planet; of humans, procreating, thinking, seeking to breech the gaps between atoms, molecules and the universe.

However, in our human struggle to validate our existence, we also tend to assume the right to control our environment. We simplify vision to the limits of our near-sight, in an attempt to defy mortality. …and, when we feel insecure and we sense our efforts are in vain, we tend to hold on to our limitations more tightly, attempt to control the behaviour of others, seek to rationalize how the world should revolve around ourselves and our efforts to find meaning.

The human search for Truth has the nature of an insatiable monster. To purchase one reality, we pay the expense of freedom of expression for those who may present themselves differently.

Creating Centre de créativité is a place, a space, that defies barriers and assumptions. The Centre nurtures freedom of creative expression,  in harmony, for all who come here. The Centre will not compromise these ideals to accommodate myopia.