MUSART'S VIRTUAL TALENT GALA 2021

The Musart Concert Series (formerly known as the Cates Park Concert series) was a free, outdoor concert series that occurred on Saturdays in July and August from 4pm to 7pm on the waterfront stage in front of the food concession in Cates Park.  

Due to Covid-19 we have applied for funding to produce a virtual series named Musart’s Virtual Talent Gala’s. We would like to create a little different recipe to encourage community engagement and a variety of art disciplines. The Gala’s would be on every third Saturday night at 7pm starting in September 2021 to December 2021 for a total of 4 Gala’s to start. Each event would consist of 3 segments. The first would be a local open mic style segment featuring all ages of artists/ bands playing music (preferably original material), poetry readings, acting scenes and monologues, standup comedy, magic, artists showing their paintings, sculptures, etc. The middle section would feature a special guest speaker for a 10 min TED Talk style segment. The third segment would consist of a headliner that would typically be a set of music from a more established (but still emerging) artist or band. This segment would be either a live stream from a studio or prerecorded. The artist/band would attend to introduce the segment and have a small interview by the MC. We will make the online stream free but ask for donations to raise money for Musart’t programming and to pay the artists. In return for a donation the donator will have access to links of songs by our artists/bands and other things we can arrange from participants and sponsors. Other ideas include things like catering partnerships for the events with local restaurants and companies like Skip The Dishes in order to support local business’s while making the event’s experiences fun and engaging. This could include a virtual bartender showing how to make fun and unusual cocktails, scotch & bourbon tastings, wine tastings or chef’s showing how to make quick and easy appetizers or desserts with a list of ingredients or products published in advance for audiences to purchase and participate. North shore participants, artists/ bands would always be given precedence.

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Please submit your interest by clicking HERE. Please include artist/band bio, links to your website and music for featured acts. This is open to Actors doing Monologues, Comedians, Artists showing their paintings or other works of art, Speakers with inspiring presentations,  

HISTORY

The Musart Concert Series (formerly known as the Cates Park Concert Series) was developed in the summer of 1997 by Jeff Maynard and Tyler Pearson. Jeff Maynard was the first coordinator for MUSART to organize Deep Cove Daze. 

He was an enthusiastic student - now a highschool principal - who came to Tyler, the artistic director of MUSART, and said, "Why don't we put on original music concerts to support independent artists and bands on Saturdays in Cates Park leading up to Deep Cove Daze?" Tyler thought this was a great idea and that it fit with the MUSART mandate. 

With no funding that first year, they started the series with a bare-bones PA from the eighties and tiny amps propped up by rocks for monitors. This series grew from there and has featured over hundreds of bands and artists to date. 

THE Musart

COMPILATIONs

The Musart Concert Series Compilations first started in 2001. The original intent was to give all proceeds to charity while raising the profile of the bands and artists.   While the songs were originally sold on a CD, they are now offered as a free download in exchange for a donation of $10 or more to the Musart Cultural Society.

In the past, MUSART raised thousands of dollars for charities such as the BC Cancer Foundation, Parkison's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and many more. With the funding bodies wanting to see the artists and bands being paid, MUSART decided to shift the money raised from the proceeds of the compilations to paying the artists and bands.