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MUNICIPALITY OF THE DISTRICT OF CHESTER
CHESTER MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 8:45 a.m.
AGENDA
1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER.
2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING:
2.1 Council – Thursday, February 25, 2016.
3. MATTERS ARISING.
4. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
4.1 Committee of the Whole Meeting – March 3, 2016 – Warden Webber (to be circulated separately)
4.2 Audit & Budget Committee – February 25, 2016 – Warden Webber
5. CORRESPONDENCE:
5.1 Presentation/Video/Grant request – Dawn Harwood-Jones, Musical Friends.
6. NEW BUSINESS:
6.1 Request for Decision from Heather Archibald, Development Officer dated February 25, 2016
APPOINTMENTS ARRANGED
9:00 a.m. Dawn Harwood-Jones, Musical Friends – Presentation/Video and grant request.
9:45 a.m. Heather Archibald regarding Our Health Centre Variance Appeal Hearing.
In Camera following regular session under Section 22 of the MGA if necessary
7. ADJOURNMENT.
regarding Our Health Centre Variance Appeal – 3773 Highway 3, Chester (PID 60692639).
(Email submissions (3) - In support of application for a higher centre cupola for
OHC.
Musical Friends, Using Music to Make a Difference
There are countless scientific papers on the positive effects music has on
the brain – all brains from babies, youth and adults to the very old.
Effects of Music Training on the Child's Brain and Cognitive
Development”
(Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)
“Research has also demonstrated that music training in children results in
long-term enhancement of visual-spatial, verbal, and mathematical
performance.“
Music listening enhances cognitive recovery and mood after middle
cerebral artery stroke
(Oxford University Press)
“Results showed that recovery in the domains of verbal memory and focused
attention improved significantly more in the music group than in the language and
control groups.”
Music Making as a Tool for Promoting Brain Plasticity across the Life Span
(The Neuro Scientist)
“These enhancements suggest the potential for music making as an interactive
treatment or intervention for neurological and developmental disorders, as well as
those associated with normal aging.”
Musical Friends started as an after school music program for Elementary School
youth. It is for all youth but is specifically designed to remove barriers to
participation such as cost (it is free) transportation, and hunger (there is free
food). This means that at-risk youth can participate as equals with those more
privileged or grounded.
It is funded by several grants and private donations to two charities, The Chester
Municipal Heritage Society and St. Stephen’s Anglican Church. In December
they learned that one of the Society’s grant applications was not successful
leaving a shortfall of $5,150. This application is asking for $4,000 to cover the
greater part of this shortfall.
2
What Musical Friends Offers:
Mondays at 2PM, youth are walked from the
elementary school to the hall thereby providing
needed exercise. They are provided a snack of
healthy food. After the program transportation is
arranged to home or daycare if needed. They
learn music and theatre games that teach focus,
co-operation, and self-control.
The first hour is for choir. After snacks, the
youth are taught popular songs old and new.
They love the 1930’s Duke Ellington song “It
Don’t Mean a Thing” as much as they love the
contemporary song “Fishin’ for Pickles” written
by local musician Jamie Junger. They also
learn exquisite classical music such as “Donna
Nobis Pachem” (Give Us Peace) taken from an
ancient church intonation and made secular.
One of the assets of the program is that it is flexible as well as free. Recently
some students wanted to take basketball which was also at 2PM Mondays. Not
only did we allow those students to come to Musical Friends right after
basketball, but we take them on the days basketball is cancelled. It has been
cancelled two out of the four Mondays since it started in January and the parents
are very grateful that they don’t have to arrange for afterschool care at the last
minute.
The second hour (3PM) welcomes
Middle School youth and says
goodbye to the youngest (those
who are under 8 years old). Older
Elementary and the Middle School
youth are given instruments (free,
donated) and are taught guitar,
piano, and bass. Drums were
added last Spring. There is an aim
to add classical drumming, ukulele
and violin ‘one-off’ sampling so that
youth can be exposed to many
instruments.
3
Musical Friends is not just about music, however, it is about community and a
safe place to act out. The volunteers who feed the youth get to know them. (“It
takes a village”). The three professional leaders are alert to problems.
Sometimes the youth disclose issues that need addressing by professionals and
the ‘Schools Plus’ worker is notified. Her full time job is dealing with students and
their families in crises. All volunteers and hired musicians are background
checked and are made sensitive to evidence of home problems. Last year, one
nine-year-old changed from a delightful happy child into a very angry one. This
coincided with changes in her home life situation. Her anger led her to refuse to
take part in any activities. The instructors introduced drums to the program and
she took to this immediately. Members of the community singing group ‘The
Studio Singers’ donated the funds to buy a drum kit. The young girl stayed with
the program and is now an active and willing participant – most of the time. She
continues to show real talent in rhythm and is now instructing a younger child.
He is enjoying her teaching and she feels empowered. Everyone wins.
Tuneful Tots
New last Spring at 4PM is ‘Tuneful Tots’, a program for babies, toddlers and their
parents or guardians. The IWK’s ‘Read to Me’ program is clear about the need to
sing to babies and tots early in their development – even in-utero. The rhythmic
patterns actually help grow the connectors between the synapses of the brain. In
addition to stimulating brain growth, Tuneful Tots offers parents – many isolated
– a chance to meet other adults. One parent said she enjoyed actually being
able to talk to someone who spoke in sentences. It is also a safe place where a
child can run wild in the open hall with no one disapproving. This was
particularly popular last Spring when the snow was higher than the toddlers.
They’d had nowhere to run for months - “Other than the hardware store” as one
mom said.
4
Vintage Voices
Professional musicians lead these youth programs and because they are already
there, Musical Friends added a new program last Fall called ‘Vintage Voices’. It
is a forty-five minute sing-along at 1PM for people who like music from the 1930s
to the 1960s. Both able minded and those with dementia enjoy this program. It
has even afforded three old pals who used to be in a choir together, the
opportunity to sing together again. They all loved their old choir but two had to
quit due to physical or mental challenges.
Music is known to stimulate the memory in those with cognitive issues. Once,
when the Studio Singers had just finished a Remembrance Day program at
Shoreham Village, one of the singers (Janet Freda) was saying hello to the
residents in the audience. As a volunteer, she knew them all well. Janet stopped
at a man whom she knew had not spoken in a year, and when she said ‘hello’,
the gentleman said ‘I was in the war, you know.” She asked him what he did and
they talked for twenty minutes. The war-time music had stimulated his brain.
One Monday last Fall for Vintage Voices, Shoreham Village arranged
transportation for some of its residents. One woman exhibited signs of robust
dementia – smiling vacantly as she arrived. The helpers said she probably
couldn’t participate but might enjoy listening. Because this program is designed
to include older seniors, some of whom have difficulty with books, paper or sheet
music, the lyrics are projected on a large screen. When this woman sat down,
the first song was already on the screen. Immediately she started to sing “You
Are My Sunshine” and sang it through to the end in a pure soprano voice. In her
daily life, she could not put a sentence together or read, but the song triggered a
different part of her brain and she awoke.
5
In addition to the weekly professional instructors for the youth, guest teachers
have been brought in and if the budget allows, it will be done again. One week it
was Old Man Luedecke with his banjo. Another week, world-class young opera
singers from the Lunenburg Academy led a beautiful ‘romp through operas’
ending in a piece from La Traviata. St. Stephen’s opened its church so that the
musicians could access the better piano. 12 youth plus parents or guardians
and some of the Vintage Voices participants were treated to an exclusive and
memorable performance and talk. Most had never heard quality opera before.
(That’s the trouble with opera: If the first taste of opera you hear is not quality, it
can be very off-putting.)
Dr. Whitman Giffin sat in on the performance because his grandson is in the
Musical Friends band. “What an absolute pleasure it was to be able to enjoy the
musical talents of those young performers from L.A.M.P.!! I am so glad you told
me (invited me) about it. They were fantastic and so very talented. I am sure
that not all of your young folks may have fully understood or appreciated what
was taking place but the biggest part of this was their exposure to another
dimension of music which is so important to learning how to express themselves
musically. This form of education is essential.”
Ability:
David Findlay is a musician, composer, music producer and educator. He has
more than 60 film and television credits as a composer as well as dozens of other
compositions for audio-visual productions and critically-acclaimed CD's. Most of
his film clients are in Los Angeles.
David holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from McGill
University in Montreal. He was, in fact, one of the earliest graduates of that
university's prestigious Sound Recording program. His production style is
creative and intuitive with a tremendous background knowledge and experience
world-wide.
He is equally adept at creating and delivering a film score of the highest musical
and technical standards. As a producer and music director, he is known to bring
out the best work in singers and instrumentalists of all levels of experience —
from neophytes to seasoned professionals.
In July 2015, David Findlay was the arranger and band leader for Death, the
Musical (Karaoke at the Afterlife Bar and Grill) at the Chester Playhouse.
Having been a teacher, Findlay understands the issues facing youth. He has a
deep understanding of popular, jazz, country and classical music and is very
committed to this program.
6
Dawn Harwood-Jones, who developed this program, has decades of
experience running programs for youth, especially youth-at-risk, both in Chester
and in the Halifax Region. With her company, Pink Dog Productions, she has
worked in East Preston, Mulgrave Park, North Preston as well as at the Mi’kmaq
Friendship Centre. For six years, she ran a multi-arts school in Chester whose
students are now adults. One parent said that Harwood-Jones’ singing program
saved her son – possibly even his life. Many of the Alumni credit the arts
programs with giving them life skills they still use. For last year’s provincial grant
application, one parent offered a letter of support which is included in this
package.
Before joining CBC, Harwood-Jones was the founding director of Début Atlantic –
now considered Canada’s most prized touring program for world-class classical
musicians. She started her career as the original producer of “Hank Williams:
The Show He Never Gave”. It was a resounding success in both Canada and
the US, where she partnered with greats such as Roy Acuff and Mike Nichols.
While at CBC, Dawn produced the video “Read to Me’ (“Lis-moi une histoire”) for
the IWK which placed in the finals at the New York Film and Television Festival.
“We were extraordinarily lucky to have the tremendous talents of producer Dawn
Harwood-Jones guiding this project. From the beginning Dawn understood
implicitly the impact such a video could have in changing reading behaviours in
families and ultimately improving literacy for the children of Nova Scotia.”
- Carol McDougall, Director of Read to Me! Nova Scotia Literacy program at
the IWK Hospital
Also while at CBC, Harwood-Jones began to produce the fund-raising videos for
the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia that played every year at the gala
dinner “Festival of Trees”. In collaboration with the Foundation, she developed a
groundbreaking style that changed the way the Foundation used videos from
then on.
"It was the vision, talent and skill of Dawn Harwood-Jones that took what some
still seem to believe is a taboo subject - mental illness - and turned it into a video
that not only raises our consciousness and awareness but debunks the many
myths surrounding mental illness. Dawn’s work in this video has probably done
more to help eradicate the stigma of mental illness, particularly with our youth,
than any other production or promotion I have seen. .”
- Executive Director, Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia
7
In addition to these two leads, a young highly trained musician, Morgan
Cruikshank helps. Cruikshank was born in Chester and took music at the NSCC.
Coincidentally, his primary teacher was Bill Stevenson, a world-class jazz
musician who lived in Chester back in the 1980s. Children are drawn to younger
adults and he is a favourite with the kids. Cruikshank’s band “The Blue Lane”
was the show-stopping hit at this year’s Coldest Day benefit.
There are volunteer ‘kid wranglers’ as well as volunteers who help walk the
children up from the school to the hall and a roster of four to six volunteers,
trained food handlers, who make the snacks. When affordable, guest teachers
are brought in to broaden the youths’ musical experiences. In the past, they
have learned from an African Nova Scotian Hip Hop poet, a world-class organist,
local singer-songwriters, as well as the opera singers mentioned earlier.
8
Musical Friends, Vintage Voices and Tuneful Tots
Budget 2015/16:
Fall Term: September 21 to December 14 (Minus Thanksgiving Monday) = 12 Mondays
Winter Term: January 11 to March 7 (Heritage Day and March Break) = 7 Mondays
Spring Term: April 4 to May 30 (Victoria Day) = 8 Mondays
Projected Expenses:
Item Details Total
Lead teacher $200 X 27 days (includes pre-day preparation) 5,400
Producer/organizer 40 days flat fee 5,800
Musical Assistant $100 X 27 2,700
Production Assistant Flat fee for promotion 1,000
Guest Teachers 10 X 200 2,000
Food purchases 27 Mondays X $40 1,080
Hall Rental 5 hours X 27 X $25/hr 3,375
Emergency help When volunteer support is all away 4 X $50 200
Small Honorarium for
Tuneful Tots
27 X 75 (25 for Morgan, 50 for David) for the extra
time
2,025
Small Honorarium for
Vintage Voices
Seniors additional hour 27 X 125
(Morgan 25, David 50, Dawn 25 for 2 hours’ prep
and lyrics projection weekly)
3,375
Musical Repairs Est $300 (to fix broken donated equipment) 250
Sing Choirs David $100 and Morgan $50 concert honoraria 150
Contingency 450
TOTAL 27,805
Projected Revenues
Item Details Total
Anglican Foundation Second Year funding, received 8,000
Diocese of NS Received 3,000
Private Contributions Small efforts such as passing the hat, direct ‘asks’,
some of the cooks buy their own food
1,680
St. Stephen’s cash
contribution
Donation towards cost of the food 1,000
Hall Rental Contributed by St. Stephen’s Parish 3,375
Fund Raiser Concert 2015 Summer Concert with community choir 1,400
Sing! Choirs Dec 16th free will offering 1,200
Other Grants Pattillo Foundation 1,000
Benefit Spring 2016 estimate 2,000
TOTAL 22,655
Shortfall* 5,150
Request* From the Municipality 4,000
* the remaining $1,150 can be covered by reducing the number of guest teachers
or through storm day cancellations should we not raise it elsewhere.
1
Cindy Hannaford
Subject:FW: Contact Form Submission
From: <laserfiche@chester.ca>
Date: March 8, 2016 at 6:00:50 PM AST
To: <cgall@chester.ca>
Subject: Contact Form Submission
Hi,
Frances Jamieson has submitted a message from the website.
Please forward as necessary.
details as follows:
Name: Frances Jamieson
Subject: Cupola on the OHC building
Email Address:francesjamieson4@hotmail.com
Description:
Dear Warden Webber,
I am unable to attend this Thursday's meeting when Mr Syd Dumaresq will present a request for
the Cupola to be placed on the higher roof of the main building.
I support this as it will complete the attractiveness of the outward design. As there will be no
people or things inside it could not be a fire hazard, and 250 meters away there are no height
restrictions. it would be a pity to compromise the Architectural design. I hope there is good
debate and everyone agrees with Mr Dumaresqe!
Thank you for your hard work for Chester,
Sincerely,
Frances Jamieson
159 Marriott's Cove West