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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2016-03-10_Council_Public Agenda PackagePage 1 of 1 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