Photo: Ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch new Victoria Creative Hub with Soprano and CMC BC Regional Advisory Council member Catherine Fern Lewis (L); Victoria Deputy Mayor Jeremy Loveday; CMC BC Director Sean Bickerton; and Victoria Engagement Leader and composer Christopher Reiche (R)
New Victoria Creative Hub hosts unique pedagogical library of Canadian music, offering free educational programs and resources
The Canadian Music Centre in British Columbia (CMC BC) launched its first-ever Vancouver Island branch, the Victoria Creative Hub, this summer on August 9, 2016.
The Victoria Creative Hub will host a specially curated library of musical scores & pedagogical materials, and offer workshops showcasing the ever-evolving world of Canadian musical creation. The CMC’s Associate Composer Christopher Reiche will manage the Victoria Creative Hub on site as Outreach Coordinator.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Victoria Conservatory of Music in extending CMC BC’s performance, educational, and promotional services to Victoria.
“British Columbia is currently the only province in which the CMC has expanded its offering to two locations, a testament to BC’s historically strong support for Canadian composition,” enthused Sean Bickerton, BC Director of the CMC.
“From the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Oak Bay New Music Festival, to the internationally-renowned performance series A Place to Listen, Victoria is a lively microcosm of contemporary music, which the CMC is now better able to nurture and serve with the opening of our new home in Victoria,” said Bickerton.
The Victoria Creative Hub now offers free access to a lending library of more than 200 Canadian scores, specializing in pedagogical works and compositions by Vancouver-Island composers. The new branch is also re-launching the CMC’s signature Composer in the Classroom program this fall, an outreach initiative sparking student passion for music composition.
Other offerings of the Victoria Creative Hub will include CD launches of releases by the CMC’s Juno-nominated label CentreDiscs, in addition to score-reading workshops, lectures and related courses. CMC BC’s newest branch will also help serve the community’s score printing and binding needs as a local provider of these highly specialized services.