Indigenous concert series launches
Nearly a year after it pulled the plug, Niagara Concerts has flickered back to life.
The volunteer-run series which brought shows to Niagara Falls for 43 years appeared to stage its final event last May with a concert by Divine Brown and Jully Black at Scotiabank Convention Centre. After the show, treasurer John Anstruther announced the organization couldn’t continue because of rising costs.
But this Friday, Niagara Concerts will re-emerge to partner with Niagara Falls Public Library for a free Indigenous Concert Series, starting with soulful ensemble Ol’ Child.
Laura Martin, the library’s manager of community development and programming, says Niagara Concerts was still looking to be “sustainable” in the community, and the library offered an opportunity.
“They’ve committed to partner with us for a series of four concerts,” she says. After Friday, shows are planned for June, September and December.
The Indigenous series is an ideal way to both educate and entertain, she adds.
“The Indigenous community is
quite large in Niagara Falls, and we in the past have not served that culture in a way that we would like to.
“There’s a lot coming to light that a lot of us don’t know. It’s a very rich culture and very rich history, and sometimes very painful. There’s just so much there that we can all benefit from. So it’s an Indigenous concert series but it’s for the entire community.” For decades under the leadership of the late Anne Speedie, Niagara Concerts operated out of the former NFCVI high school on Epworth Circle in Niagara Falls, offering four or five major shows for a yearly subscription of $40 or $50. Many of the shows, like the National Ballet or Toronto Symphony, would cost that much for a single ticket in larger cities.
After Speedie died in 2004, a group of volunteers led by Anstruther and new president Liz Detlor kept the organization alive, despite rising costs. Disaster struck in 2013 when the 1,000seat theatre inside NFCVI (now known as Kingston College) was drenched by a flood. The damage was huge and the theatre has not re-opened since.
Organizers moved the series to the Scotiabank Convention Centre, offering more contemporary concerts, but the subscriber base continued to dwindle.
After the final season, which featured shows by Jim Cuddy and Chantal Kreviazuk, Anstruther said it was time for other arts groups to continue the tradition: “We outlived our purpose…we really did what we could do, and now it’s time to pass the torch onto these other organizations.”
The first show of the Indigenous series takes place Friday at 7 p.m. in the library’s LaMarsh Room. Because seating is limited to 100 people, seats must be reserved at the library or online at my.nflibrary.ca.