CMC BC held the organization’s first-ever online Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 27, at 7pm, the meeting being delayed into the Fall as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the meeting, composer Jennifer Butler was elected Chair of the BC Advisory Council, replacing composer Keith Hamel, who has stepped down after more than thirty years of continuous service on both the national Board of Directors and the BC Advisory Council, serving as Chair of both at different times. Three new members were elected to the council — composers Rita Ueda and Edward Henderson, and Vancouver businessman and arts patron, Sharman King.
In addition, philanthropist, pianist, teacher, and founder of the Deux Mille Foundation, Marnie Carter, was awarded the Canadian Music Centre’s Barbara Pentland 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award for her extraordinary contribution to Canadian Music .
Other highlights of the meeting included a presentation from renowned Mezzo Soprano Marion Newman (of Kwagiulth and Stó:lo First Nations, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry) who joined us live from Toronto to report on conversations she has been having on our behalf with composers and performers across the country who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (IBPOC).
In addition, Dr. Dylan Robinson, Stó:lo First Nations, Canada Chair of Indigenous Culture at Queens University and composer Mitch Renaud, reported via pre-recorded video on their landmark Decolonial Imaginings project which is co-produced by of-the-now concert series and CMC BC, and which draws on Dylan’s new book Hungry Listening.
And CMC BC Director Sean Bickerton provided updates on the work of the centre during COVID, including our new online concert series Unaccompanied and the new online education program launched this summer — the 2020 Weisgarber Workshop, featuring composer Edward Top, and the amazing PEP Piano and Erhu Project of Nicole Ge Li and Corey Hamm.
And Keith Hamel, outgoing Chair of the BC Advisory Council, reported on activities of CMC Canada, including their new Board Chair, Soprano Heather Pawsey from BC, as well updates on the new enhanced national website and a new Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Committee established by the CMC Canada Board of Directors.