Families of Chanie Wenjack & Gord Downie To Join Celebration Of Chanie Wenjack School For Indigenous Studies

The Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University honours the life and history of Chanie Wenjack, a young Anishinaabe boy who died in his attempt to escape residential school in 1966.

Many high profile and distinguished guests—including the families of Chanie Wenjack and Gord Downie—will be at Trent University on Friday, March 2nd to celebrate the official opening of the Chanie Wenjack School.

The special event will include remarks from Dr. Leo Groarke, president and vice-chancellor of Trent University; Professor David Newhouse, director of the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies; Pearl Achneepineskum, Chanie Wenjack’s sister; and more.
 
The launch event will be followed by a panel discussion on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action.

Chanie Wenjack Theatre

Special guests include: Gord Downie’s brothers Mike and Patrick Downie; Chanie Wenjack’s sisters Pearl Achneepineskum, Daisy Munroe and Evelyn Baxter; Curve Lake First Nation Chief Phyllis Williams, and other local dignitaries.

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Peterborough's Epic Street Festival Pulse Takes Place This Saturday

The 3rd Annual community event Peterborough Pulse takes place on Saturday, July 15th. It's an awesome day where the streets are closed to motorized vehicles (between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.) and filled with cyclists, roller-skaters, families pushing strollers, art, music, free activities and great conservations.

Bring your pets, your family and your friends as Peterborough Pulse invites the whole city to walk, bike, dance, play and socialize in spaces typically used by cars.

Peterborough Pulse wants to inspire Peterborough to become the healthiest and happiest city it can be. By opening the streets to people, Pulse promotes healthy communities, active transportation, local business, and neighborhood pride.

This year’s route will run along George Street from McDonnel Street to Sherbrooke and follow along the Trans Canada Trail through Millennium and Del Crary parks and run the length of Crescent Street.

The route will also include the bustling commercial district on Charlotte Street between George and Louis streets, making it the longest Pulse route yet!

"I am looking forward to watching how Pulse, with its car-free streets filled with people walking and biking, transforms the streets of Peterborough again this year," says Susan Sauvé, Transportation Demand Management Planner for the City of Peterborough.

"Pulse is taking the lead as an example of the direction large events should be taking in downtowns,” adds Terry Guiel, DBIA's Executive Director. “It is all-encompassing and all-inclusive to every sector. It successfully brings local community groups and local businesses together while being welcoming and engaging to everyone who attends.”

For more info and a route map, visit their website.

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Visual Artist Katriona Dean Creates Amazing Blue Jay Street Piano In Cobourg, Ontario

Katriona Dean, a self-taught visual artist in Cobourg, Ontario near Peterborough who loves art projects that braid the arts and music together, has hit a home run by creating a Toronto Blue Jay street piano that is now on display in downtown Cobourg.

Katriona Dean creating Blue Jay piano

The nearly 100-year-old piano she used for her creation—called "Arpejayo" (more on that later)—is part of a Key’s to Our Town creative art project put on by the Town of Cobourg.

"This is my 4th year being a part of this initiative for Cobourg," Dean tells PTBOCanada. "They have always sat at the northwest corner of Victoria park in Cobourg, which is why my pianos have a very organic/woodland feel about them [she did a fox, raccoon and owl in previous years]. I wait for inspiration to hit me. 'Arpejayo' came to me in a dream one night after the town issued the call for artists to this project."

COMMUNITY EVENTS: Town of Cobourg unveils pianos for this year’s Key’s to Our Town creative art project. pic.twitter.com/5OZnFNGM8U

— Town of Cobourg (@TownofCobourg) July 7, 2016

Photo by Chris Lotton

Katriona, who tells PTBOCanada she is a huge Jays fan—"I became a Jays fan last September when I attended my first game," she says—conceived of the Blue Jay piano in a dream, woke up and grabbed some markers and rendered her vision to paper. This was the sketch you drew...

Then her drawing began to take shape in real life through a transformation in a chapel in Cobourg. "The piece took about 35 hours to complete, between hand carving with an angle grinder for the beak and top feathers, and then priming and painting," Dean tells PTBOCanada.

Here it is coming together in stages...

The piano was just transported out of the chapel to its home in downtown Cobourg...

Dean loves this community art project: "It brings complete strangers together in a positive way to share a common enjoyment," she tells PTBOCanada. "The creative collision is boundless! I like to say that art unites us."

Katriona reached out on social media for names for her piano and chose "Arpejayo".

"I knew Arpejayo would be it, but it wasn't until I used Wikipedia to search the actual term—Arpeggio—that the real synergy became apparent," she tells PTBOCanada. "It's a 'broken chord' in music—I only work on broken pianos, and I work to make them new again to have a second life, with more potential for enjoyment and creativity. This piano turns 100 this year. It's had many lives before this one. I love that, that they're relics from another time. My wish is that the pianos continue to unite people from all walks of life and to create smiles, laughter, dancing and music for everyone."

Photo by Chris Lotton

Reminiscent of the Hunter Street community piano from last summer in Peterborough, adults and kids are already interacting and experimenting with this unique piano...

It would be great to see this inspirational Blue Jay piano used during a national anthem at a Blue Jays game. That would be a grand slam opportunity to showcase this unique piano.

Katriona with her Blue Jay piano

—post by Neil Morton

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