A Thought-Provoking Spring...

This year's Talks Committee presented us with a stellar lineup of Forums with something for everyone:

Backstage at Koerner Hall

Even unploughed sidewalks and extreme cold weather failed to deter enthusiastic Academy members from attending the first Forum of 2019 on January 30th – a fascinating conversation with Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts for the Royal Conservatory. As he chatted with Ernie Fallon, it was easy to see why Mehta has made such a success of his tenure as Programme Chief of Koerner Hall.

He reminisced about his early life as a hockey- playing teenager in Edmonton and Montreal, whose summers were often spent exploring the great cities of the world while his father, Zubin, was busy conducting their orchestras. Before being headhunted (three times!) for the position in Toronto, he had a career in acting in the USA and Canada, followed by another incarnation as Director of Programming at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and a similar position in Philadelphia. All these experiences, combined with a natural easy manner and an impressive rolodex of connections with the musical world, made him the perfect choice for Toronto. He was deeply involved with fine tuning the superb new concert hall, which opened in 2009.

Clearly a jazz afficionado himself, Mehta is just as enthusiastic about all types of music. He firmly believes that no genre is better than another; there is no high or low – if it is good, it belongs. As well as the big names in music, he likes to showcase newer, but highly talented young musicians, and to tap different markets so that relatively unknown artists can sell out the house. Ernie was particularly interested in how Mehta built the jazz tribute to Oscar Peterson in 2015, with members of Peterson’s family and big name jazz pianists in attendance.

In answer to questions from the audience, we learned that Koerner Hall, despite having minimal government funding, is a $50 million company, much bigger than the AGO or ROM which have substantial funding. Koerner Hall has attracted much more talented faculty and students to the Conservatory. Its unique rush seat policy is very popular.

After sharing a variety of his experiences with different musicians in the past, he revealed some highlights of the upcoming new season. These will include the posthumous world premiere of Oscar Peterson’s African Suite, musicians as different as Dakka Brakka, a unique and crazily colourful band from Ukraine, and the peerless baritone Matthias Goerne in a double bill with Canadian pianist wunderkind, Jan Lisiecki.

In conclusion, Kennedy Marshall eloquently thanked Mervon Mehta and Ernie Fallon for their illuminating conversation. Once again the Talks Committee is to be congratulated for arranging such an interesting afternoon.

Jeanette Clark and Gillian Long

The Rap: Reading African Canadian  Experiences Via Poetry

Janet Tyrell, a member of the Academy, introduced our guest speaker, Professor George Elliott Clarke, Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-2017).

Attendance at this forum to mark Black History Month was small due to the weather; however, the guest speaker, Professor Clarke, kept the crowd enthralled for the complete two hours with his engaging style.

An Africadian (Afro-Acadian)  poet, author, playwright, and academic, Professor Clarke, who holds numerous degrees and honourary degrees, is currently a Professor of English at the University of Toronto. He came from Windsor, Nova Scotia, born in 1960.

Professor Clarke held our attention for two hours reading from his books, ‘Canticles 1 and 2’. His final poem referred to a visit by Duke Ellington to Africville, which was a small community located in the southern shore of Bedford Basin, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from the early 1800s to the 1960s. Duke Ellington visited his in-laws there, the parents of his second wife, Mildred Dixon. Professor Clarke read his poem as if he was playing a musical instrument.

Also, he read from 2 of his anthologies, ‘Fire on the Water’, an anthology of black Nova Scotian writing and ‘Eyeing the North Star’, an anthology mixing prose, poetry and drama, and including the works of established writers and new voices, writing in English as well as French. Professor Clarke gave us background to the poems and the poets. One poem from the Anthology related to the arrest of a young black girl for jaywalking.
He expressed his feelings particularly about the treatment of the black community by the police.

Kennedy Marshall, from the Talks Committee, thanked our speaker.

Janet Broadley

Preparing For 2 Degrees Celsius: Science, Planning and Action in the Region of Peel

The wonderful March 13 Academy Forum was presented by Linda Tu’s daughter, Christine Tu. Christine is the Director of the Office of Climate Change and Energy Management for the Region of Peel and her presentation was thoughtful, fact-filled with excellent graphics, and challenging.

Christine showed us a real-time climate clock which monitors the time we have left before the earth’s temperature increases by 1.5° C, a point after which we will have little control of climate change. The clock gives us 15 years. After telling us that science continues to find conclusive evidence of man-made climate change, Christine talked of the effects of global warming: ocean acidification, sea level rise, desertification, Arctic sea ice loss, and increases in hurricanes, flooding and forest fires. She stated that “abnormal is the new normal” and warned that the world needs a reduction of 45% in the burning of fossil fuels by the year 2030 if we are to have any control over the changes in climate.

There are possible scientific solutions to the problem of climate change such as fertilizing the oceans with nutrients to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or reflecting the sun’s light back into space, but we don’t know what the unintended consequences of these and other such techniques would be. A much better solution is to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

The acceleration in climate change is disturbing, but Christine left us with some optimism by describing the leadership of the 16 year-old Swedish student, Greta Sundburg, who is mobilizing young people around the world to get active in the fight for action against climate change.

Christine urges all of us to go on the website of the new Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) where the government will post notices for policies, acts and regulations relating to the environment in Ontario. It provides a portal for public input into these issues and the website suggests that our comments are welcome. The new PC government is moving very fast with changes and we need to remember that as residents of Ontario we have the right to express our opinions.

                                                                                      submitted by Mary Doucette

Laughter is the Best Medicine

The last forum in the current series – Laughter is the Best Medicine- was held on Wednesday, March 27 at Knox College. The lecture room was packed to the rafters; it was standing room only on a sunny, spring-like day.

Thea Herman, chair of the Talks Committee, gave an update on the Academy’s Spring Talks starting on April 10 at Innis College. She then introduced Michael Cole, the facilitator of the Academy’s comedy workshop for 2018-19.

Michael spoke of his long career in media and comedy; time spent teaching at Ryerson University; his involvement in the Muskoka art and theatre scene; his experience and friendship with two Canadian comedians – Ron James and the late Dave Broadfoot; and his admiration for the satirical group The Royal Canadian Air Farce.

Michael has also been involved in using comedy as a positive tool at the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario and has won an award for his work in this field.  He noted that many comedians suffer from depression, and comedy is often their coping mechanism.

He talked about Canadian writer, economics professor and humorist Stephen Leacock, who used his humour to expose hypocrisy. Professor Leacock hated pretension and social climbing and the way the Canadian upper classes tried to emulate the British class system. He felt that humour can be a strong tool to bring attention to matters that have to be addressed. Leacock loved the eccentrics in our society and commented, “at least we know they are alive.”

Michael observed that comedians are often loners, observers on the outside looking in. He suggested we practice a humorous approach to get through life’s difficult issues, to assist with the obstacles that come with the aging process. Why not add humour to our list of senses? Good humour using exaggeration and puns brings us together; bad humour, such as using certain groups as the butt of the joke, makes people feel persecuted.

The highlight of today’s session was a series of engaging performances by the following members of the Comedy workshop, who took the stage to amuse and entertain:

Michael Cole, Pete Broadley, Melanie Reeve, Susan Klein, Randal Holloway, April Wall, Nancy Sewards, Laura Tyson, Priscilla Platt, and Ian Darragh.

The budding comedians all did a fabulous job; their own unique voices coming through in their writing and delivery.

Ian Darragh thanked Michael Cole for his inspiration and leadership, and the workshop participants gave short comments on why they took the comedy workshop and what they learned.

A Forum that has us chuckling well after it is over is the perfect way to end an afternoon. Thanks Comedy workshop and Talks Committee!!

Click here to view a video of the enjoyable performance.

Janet Broadley and Ian Darragh