News

The Jane LeBlanc Legacy Fund is thrilled to announce our four music celebrity jurors for the inaugural Arnold LeBlanc Songwriter Award. We have confirmed Lennie Gallant, Joel Plaskett, Jenn Grant, and Rose Cousins for the music jury, and we are excited!

Along with that exciting news, we would like to announce that Moncton’s BRAINWORKS has come on board as a new sponsor, and thanks to them, the Arnold LeBlanc Songwriter award value has increased from $1000 to $2000!

BRAINWORKS is an international award-winning bilingual full-service marketing and creative agency. They are a team of passionate professionals specializing in helping clients get from where they are to where they want to be. From startups and local campaigns to national activations and collaborations with major brands – They are here to help their clients push the limits of what’s possible.

The Arnold LeBlanc Songwriter Award seeks to spotlight talented New Brunswick songwriters at all levels in honour of Miramichi-born Arnold LeBlanc. Arnold was gifted with a golden singing voice. As a young child, he sang in the church choir and continued to sing well into his golden years. Arnold could whistle entire songs with perfect pitch and sang every day of his life.

Arnold LeBlanc Songwriter Award

Eligible Music Category: roots, folk, and country music

Deadline: May 20, 2022

Cash Award: $2000

Two-year membership with Music·Musique NB

One-year membership with Writers’ Federation of NB

Submission Guidelines

Submit one vocal recording with music (mp3, aif, or m4a format) of your best song with written lyrics and a letter explaining who you are and your background in music (half-page). Also, tell us, why do you feel this is your best song? Nominations of music artists by individuals and organizations in the music and songwriting community are welcome.

Email submissions to: catmaryleblanc@gmail.com.

Visit the website here!

Sponsored by Maureen LeBlanc, Cat LeBlanc, BRAINWORKS, Lennie Gallant, Music·Musique NB, and The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick

As is the case with human cells, each interpersonal interaction is unique, but those separate events are what allows for individual growth in society. That perspective seems to create a parallel between cellular and human interactions, and underlines their importance and necessity for symbiosis.

 
Nicole Haché’s installation, Autobiographie collective/Collective autobiography (2019), is imprinted with her reflection and sensibility towards those interpersonal relations and the meaning of a collective symbiosis.
 
Her work celebrates diversity and brings one to reflect on the important role each of us plays in society.

Autobiographie collective is on display at the Center des arts d’Edmundston N.-B. (Canada) from March 31 to June 9, 2022. The opening will take place on March 31 at 17 o’clock. On June 9 from 10 to 11 a.m. the artist will present a talk about his creative process.

The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) and The Fiddlehead have announced the shortlisted titles for the 7th annual New Brunswick Book Awards. The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony on Saturday, June 4, as part of WFNB’s annual WordSpring writing festival in Fredericton.

The program will celebrate books published in the 2021 calendar year in the poetry, fiction, nonfiction and children’s picture books categories.

The finalists are as follows:

Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction
Judge: Richard Cumyn is the author of nine books of fiction, most recently The Sign for Migrant Soul, and a past fiction editor of The Antigonish Review.

Amber McMillan, The Running Tree (Goose Lane Editions), Fredericton

Beth Powning, The Sister’s Tale (Knopf Canada), Markhamville

Valerie Sherrard, Birdspell (DCB/Cormorant Books), Miramichi

Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Children’s Writing
Judge: Author of over 27 books, Dr. Kari-Lynn Winters is a children’s author, playwright, performer, and scholar.

Jodie Callaghan,Ga’s The Train (Second Story Press), Campbellton; translated by Joe Wilmot, and illustrated Georgia Lesley

Leo LaFleur, The Errand: The Queen (Simply Read Books), Saint John; illustrated by Adam Oehlers

Riel Nason, Disaster at the Highland Games (Chocolate River Publishing), Quispamsis; illustrated by Nathasha Pilotte

The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize
Judge: An editor atRoommagazine, Isabella Wang is the author of the chapbook, On Forgetting a Language and her full-length debut, Pebble Swing.

Triny Finlay, Myself a Paperclip (Goose Lane Editions), Fredericton

Rebecca Salazar,sulphurtongue (McClelland & Stewart), Fredericton

Jane Tims,a glimpse of waterfall (Indie published), Rusagonis

Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Nonfiction Award
Judge: Julie Sedivy is a language scientist, editor, and award-winning writer of nonfiction whose work crosses and recombines scientific and literary genres.

Michael Boudreau and Bonnie Huskins, Just the Usual Work: The Social Worlds of Ida Martin, Working-Class Diarist (McGill-Queen’s University Press), Fredericton

Janet Coulter Sanford, Memories on the Bounty: A Story of Friendship, Love, and Adventure (Nimbus), Moncton

Martha Vowles, Senior Management: Parenting My Parents (Nevermore Press), Grand-Bay Westfield

The New Brunswick Book Awards are open to traditionally published and self-published authors who have lived in the province for three of the last five years, including the award year.

The book awards program represents a partnership between the Writers’ Federation, which for more than 30 years has passionately supported the development of home-grown writers at all stages of development, and The Fiddlehead, Canada’s oldest literary magazine, which has nurtured New Brunswick’s literary culture for more than 75 years.

RE: FREDERICTON’S PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE 

As members of the arts community in the Greater Fredericton Area, we write to express our enthusiastic support for the new Performing Arts Centre (PAC) that is proposed to replace the much-loved but failing Playhouse. Many of us are practicing artists who have performed at the Playhouse, including Juno and ECMA Award-winning musicians and actors on international stages; some of us lead local or provincial organizations that help the creative arts thrive, including those that rely on the Playhouse as a venue to present performances and events. All of us recognize that a professional facility such as the Playhouse is an indispensable component of this vibrant city’s cultural life. Fredericton would be a much lesser place without it. 

As a community, we count on the Playhouse to present the best available performing artists in music, theatre, dance, comedy, and more; we also count on it to provide space where our own, home-grown artists, musicians, dancers, theatre companies – whether youthful or seasoned, amateur or professional – can create and present their work. It is a place where we gather to celebrate creativity, to connect with each other, and to enjoy an enhanced quality of life.  

However, while it has served us well for several decades, the Playhouse is now beyond its useful life; its design and condition make refurbishing it unfeasible. We cannot lose this valuable community asset. It must be replaced.  

The leaders at the Fredericton Playhouse and the City of Fredericton have a bold plan to build a new PAC to replace the current facility. Like the dozens of downtown businesses that signed a similar joint letter last Spring, we fully support this plan to invest in cultural infrastructure in our region – a plan that will build on the Playhouse’s record of success and take it to a new level by providing greater capacity, increased versatility, better functionality, and an improved audience experience. 

The City of Fredericton has identified this project as its top priority for new infrastructure, committing $14 million to its construction and commissioning a design for the new facility. We encourage other levels of government to do their part to make the PAC a reality by providing the necessary funding to build it.  

As we embark on our collective recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on the performing arts, the PAC will be a most welcome investment. We urge all levels of government to work in partnership with each other and the community to address this urgent priority for our cultural sector.  

Yours sincerely,  

In parallel to the fait main | handmade exhibition, public activities (free and festive!) will be presented:

On Wednesday, March 2 at noon, artist Jacinthe Loranger will present her work and her artistic process during an artist’s talk presented at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre in collaboration with the Atelier d’estampe Imago. Jacinthe Loranger lives and works in Montreal. Her practice revolves around screen printing and is deployed in various forms such as installation, object making and collage. This conference will also be broadcasted by Teams. To receive the link, interested parties can contact alisa.arsenault@umoncton.ca

On the evening of Wednesday, March 2, from 5 to 7 p.m., the opening of the exhibition will be held at the Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen. Artists Amy Ash, Andrea-Jane Cornell and Jacinthe Loranger will be in attendance, along with curator Alisa Arsenault.

On Friday, March 4, starting at 7:30 p.m., artist Andrea-Jane Cornell will present a sound performance, preceded by a performance by Allumette, on the 2^nd floor of the Aberdeen Cultural Centre. Andrea-Jane Cornell is a sound artist based in Portland, Maine, who transforms and transmits sound material over radio frequencies. Space is limited, so register for a free ticket. This PRE:FLUX event is presented in partnership with Galerie Sans Nom. Visit the website for more information on the RE:FLUX festival.

The artists in the exhibition have also been invited to share their influences on the web in a series of videos, The Greatest Hits of the Internet, Vol. 2, which will be published throughout the duration of the exhibition and can be viewed on GALRC’s YouTube channel.

The exhibition fait main | handmade runs through March 27, 2022, at the Galerie d’art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen. Curated by Alisa Arsenault and exploring practices where the handmade is intrinsic to the work of contemporary artists, the exhibition features the work of Amy Ash, Marjolaine Bourgeois, Andrea-Jane Cornell, Zoé Fortier, Allie Gattor and Jacinthe Loranger. Hours of operation are from 1 to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, and admission is free.

Double-vaccination and masks are mandatory for all events.

These initiatives are supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Re-opening Fund. Thanks also to : Imago Print Studio, Galerie Sans Nom / RE:FLUX, Aberdeen Cultural Centre.

Hello please join us in our upcoming digital conference & speaker series Digital Dusk – March 2022. Brought to by *AANFA (Atlantic Art at Night Festival Alliance)

Digital Dusk is a month-long conference and digital speaker series that invites Canadian arts festivals, institutions, workers and artists to come observe the strategies, conversations, and art being created within Atlantic Canada, as we collectively shifted from physical to digital space in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital Dusk welcomes everyone throughout Turtle Island to come share in the experiences we had while being able to showcase the temporary arts festivals and artists who make up the Atlantic’s vibrant art scene.SCHEDULEMarch 2, 2022 – 4:00pm ATL / 3:00pm ET / 2:00pm CST / 1:00pm MT / 12:00pm PST / 4:30pm NSTSHIFTING SPACESIn conversation with galleries, festivals, and arts organizations about how their institutions navigate presenting art to their audiences within changing conditions.

March 9, 2022 – 4:00pm ATL / 3:00pm ET / 2:00pm CST / 1:00pm MT / 12:00pm PST / 4:30pm NST TRANSITIONAL PRACTICE Artists examine how their practices have continued, shifted, changed, re-oriented throughout COVID-19. Discussing the complexities of creating within these times.

March 16, 2022 – 4:00pm ATL / 3:00pm ET / 2:00pm CST / 1:00pm MT / 12:00pm PST / 4:30pm NSTBLURRED LAND(SCAPES) A roundtable asking curators about their experiences, and how the process of curation manifests within the current artistic landscape, politically and practically.

March 23, 2022 – 4:00pm ATL / 3:00pm ET / 2:00pm CST / 1:00pm MT / 12:00pm PST / 4:30pm NSTCOLLECTIVE CONNECT Keynote discussion asking how community/collective based artists, researchers, leaders, organizers continued their practices, engaging and mobilizing during COVID-19.*Each roundtable will last an hour with time for audience Q+A *
REGISTRATIONTo register for a panel discussion follow the links provided within the schedule above or visit us at *AANFA (Atlantic Art at Night Festival Alliance)
Schedules for the panels and list of conversationalists and panelists available on our website.