CANCELLED FOR THIS YEAR
Instructors: Linda McRae & Oh Susanna
Tuesday, July 28 – Friday, July 31, 2020, 9am – 3:30pm each day
Early Bird Fee: $469 + GST (must pay in full by June 1)
Fee: $525 + GST
Deposit: $130 + GST
Scholarships and Bursaries are available for all Island Mountain Arts Programs, Link here for details.
Link here for information about accommodations for students
Workshop Description:
Join these two critically acclaimed songwriters for a four-day intensive workshop. Participants will spend time defining and examining those “fundamental ingredients’ of a song through performance, discussion and hands-on writing. Whether you are writing for yourself, or writing songs for other musicians, this workshop will give you valuable skills to move forward in your songwriting. If you play an instrument, bring it along, but the ability to play a musical instrument is not required. Participants will have the opportunity to perform their newly created songs as part of the ArtsWells Festival, which begins on the final day of the workshop.
Instructor Biographies:
Linda McRae just like her music is about as real as it gets. That's a quality you rarely see in this modern music world. A Canadian-Nashville based multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter she has 37 years’ experience touring and teaching both nationally and internationally. From her days as band member extraordinaire to the iconic Canadian Celtic band, Spirit of the West, to everything she has done since, Linda remains an artist full of integrity. Playing banjo, guitar and accordion in an unflaggingly authentic, deeply satisfying, and refreshingly acoustic style with a big dose of soul and skilled musicality, McRae’s unforgettable melodies and thought-provoking lyrics make her a captivating artist.
She has performed in venues as diverse as the Orpheum Theatre with the Vancouver Symphony to New Folsom Prison with the “in house blues band” where she facilitates writing workshops for the inmates. These experiences lead to the creation of Express Yourself Writing Workshops currently being presented across North America. She is a 2016 BC Entertainment Hall of Fame Pioneer Inductee and 2017 Boston Family Folk Chorale Songwriting Competition winner.
Oh Susanna is the musical name of singer-songwriter Suzie Ungerleider. This American-born, Canadian-raised songwriter possesses a bewitching voice that opens your ribcage and wraps around your heart. Her superbly crafted songs often tell stories of troubled souls who rebel against their circumstances to attain a quiet dignity. These are tales of longing and love, of joys and pains, of our simple feelings and strong passions and of our search for who we are. These are tales that look into our beautifully flawed human hearts.
Performing since 1996, Oh Susanna has released eight critically acclaimed albums. She is the recipient of a Genie Award for Best Original Song and a Canadian Folk Music Award for English Songwriter of the Year. She has also been nominated for two Juno Awards each for Best Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, as well as two Canadian Folk Music Awards for Best Solo Performer and for Best Contemporary Singer of the Year. In 2017, she released A Girl in Teen City, an album of songs set in 1980s Vancouver starring a teenage punk girl named Suzie. The album has been met with high critical acclaim and has earned three Canadian Folk Music Award nominations: English Songwriter of the Year, Contemporary Singer of the Year, and Producer of the Year. In 2019 Oh Susanna re-issued The 20th Anniversary Edition of her folk-noir full-length debut Johnstown including five acoustic versions of the songs previously only released on her 1998 cassette A Shot of Oh Susanna.
Oh Susanna is currently working on a script based on her A Girl in Teen City album as well as writing and recording for a new album scheduled for late 2020. Oh Susanna lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Special Events included with Tuition:
Monday, July 27, 7pm: Student Welcome Reception, IMA Gallery (2323 Pooley Street) – Meet your instructor and pick up your student information packages.
Tuesday, July 28, 5:30pm: Student BBQ, School, free for students
Wednesday, July 29, 8pm: Instructor Concert – Sunset Theatre, $20, free for students
Saturday, August 1: student songwriter performances at ArtsWells, venue and time TBA.
IMA students also receive free admission to Barkerville Historic Town and many discounts to local businesses.
The ArtsWells Festival Of All Things Art runs from Friday, July 31 – Monday, August 3, 2020 and features over 100 musical acts on 10 stages throughout Wells and Barkerville. See www.artswells.com for details. Consider sticking around after your workshop!