Rosebud School of the Arts goes to the big city
Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor
Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) representatives visited Calgary’s Epcor Centre, June 12 to 14, voicing support for fine arts education and reaching out to students affected by recent cuts to fine arts education.
On June 12, in the Epcor Centre’s Max Bell Theatre, RSA faculty attended an evening rally hosted by Save Our Fine Arts Society (SOFA), organized to protest Mount Royal University’s (MRU) cancellation of their fine arts program. Rosebud’s Director of Education, Paul Muir, estimated that 500-600 people attended, and was pleased that the program listed RSA as a “Rally Friend”. Jean-Pierre Fournier, MRU’s coordinator of acting, whose position has been deleted, was the only MRU faculty member to attend, but many MRU students were present. The MRU jazz band, which has also been cut, performed for the crowd.
Three panels made presentations.
A political-business panel, which Muir found particularly “invigorating”, included Heather Klimchuk, Alberta Minister of Culture; Kent Hehr, Calgary-Buffalo MLA; and Ken Hughes, MLA of Calgary West.
Muir said that Hehr expressed a desire for tax reform saying that if Albertans, who have lower taxes than any other Canadians, were taxed only as much as people in Saskatchewan, which has the second-lowest tax rate, the government would gain additional revenue of $ 11 billion, which could be used for underfunded programs such as arts education. Hehr commented it would be preferable for that additional revenue to come from Alberta’s large, rich oil and gas companies.
Peter Burgener, founder of the thriving firm BKDI Architects, was also on the business panel, and spoke about the fact that his firm doesn’t necessarily hire architects who “got the best marks in all of their technical classes”, but looks for people with well-rounded training and experience, including creative skills. Muir was impressed that BKDI is so committed to developing employees’ creativity that they maintain a fund specifically to pay for employees’ creative endeavors.
Dr. Andra McGinn of the Calgary Catholic School Board, and Naomi Johnson of the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), sat on the educators’ panel. McGinn declared her school board’s “intention to designate fine arts education as part of the core curriculum,” Muir said. Johnson of the CBE expressed interest in doing the same. “There was a lot of discussion around the fact that, reading, writing and ‘rithmetic are great,” Muir said, but that, in themselves, they don’t provide a “well-rounded and holistic education.”
“The crowd was very vocal,” Muir said, with “lots of clapping and cheering.” But “when the MC talked about what MRU has done, (there were) big boos coming from the audience.”
Rally attendees received a list of action items, which encourage students to champion arts as an essential part of their education, and suggest parents be involved with decision-making for their children’s schooling. Everyone is urged to contact school trustees and MLAs, emphasizing the value of arts education. For more information about how to support arts education, see saveourfinearts.ca.
Reaching out to Calgary fine arts students
On June 13-14, RSA hosted an Open House in the Epcor Center. Paul Muir and other RSA faculty and alumni represented the school, playing a slide show of scenes from Rosebud productions, and displaying some of their “most incredible costumes” from Rosebud Theatre’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe production. Strathmore Home Hardware had lent RSA their popcorn machine, and the smell of popcorn drew people from all over the building.
Jean-Pierre Fournier had sent Open House invitations to students affected by MRU’s program cuts. RSA had also invited Rosebud Theatre’s Calgary-based seasons ticket subscribers. “We had a pretty steady stream of people,” Muir said, especially on Friday. Many people took brochures and stopped to engage in conversation. At lunchtime, the band of Rosebud Theatre’s Cotton Patch Gospel performed for nearly an hour. “The band for Cotton Patch Gospel is so hot,” Muir said. “That of course drew a lot of people.”
Rosebud’s primary purpose in hosting the Open House was to reach out to MRU fine arts students. Oddly, Muir said, “We did not have a single MRU student come by.” However, many passersby did stop to chat, and Muir said, “We also had quite a number of season ticket subscribers to Rosebud Theatre stop in.”
So, although their stated objective was not met, Muir feels the RSA Open House was a success. Many more Calgarians have learned about Rosebud School of the Arts and Rosebud Theatre, and the value of arts education in Alberta.
Most importantly, “I really think that in these difficult times we have to be so vigilant,” Muir said, “to stand up for arts and arts education. In the big picture, we will lose, as a culture, as a society, as a province, we will lose, if we do not support arts. It’s crucial.”