Jarrett Martineau on Chan Presents 25th Anniversary Season

tansi niwahkomakantik ekwa nitotemtik, greetings friends,

My name is Jarrett Martineau and I’m thrilled to be joining you as Curator-in-Residence for this 25th anniversary season at the Chan Centre. I’m nêhiyaw and Dene Suline from Frog Lake Cree Nation and I currently make my home here in Vancouver on the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

We’ve been working hard over the past many months to bring you an expansive and beautiful program of music, literature, film, and performances this season, and we’ve invited some of the most preeminent and dynamic voices of our time to join us in sharing their inspiring work with you.

Since the pandemic began to reshape our world in early 2020, we entered a time of profound uncertainty and upheaval — and the pandemic’s ongoing impacts are something that we will continue to navigate together. For my part, I’ve realized that turning to art and, especially, to music, have been both a saving grace and a source of creative revitalization during this time. While I’ve missed the experience of gathering to share in the wonder and catharsis that live music offers, I’m excited to return to that with you this season. It is my hope that the extraordinary lineup of artists, icons, and emerging voices we have programmed for you will inspire, uplift, and offer you moments of grace and healing too.

As we take these early steps toward re-emergence, this feels like a much-needed time of transformation. That spirit has guided many of my curatorial choices for the 2022/23 season. Our Chan Presents series celebrates some of the most dynamic artists of our time and lifts up the voices of women, Black and Indigenous artists, and space-shifting storytellers that reimagine where music can go, what it can do, and who it can reach. I’m proud that we will be interweaving luminous voices from the past, present and future. From music icons and living legends like Oscar-winning Cree singer and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie and the Grammy-winning ‘Songbird of Wassoulou’ Oumou Sangaré, one of Africa’s most venerated international stars, to creative visionaries that are shaping the future of jazz like Makaya McCraven, and the joyful, exuberant and political music of Afropop superstar Fatoumata Diawara – these artists draw on ancient traditions and reimagine into new futures: the music of a world to come.

I’m grateful to be one of several guest curatorial voices this season, including renowned conductor, composer, and pianist Dinuk Wijeratne who has programmed two concerts: the lauded tabla player Sandeep Das, and The Journeyed Compass featuring Dinuk performing with friends next spring. Acclaimed pianist and newly appointed Professor of Piano at the UBC School of Music David Fung has also curated the enthralling Anderson & Roe piano duo to perform on the Chan Centre’s newly acquired Steinway Spirio piano. Finally, we have Grammy-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov’s new song cycle Falling Out of Time, rooted in the profound depths of grief found in David Grossman’s novel of the same name.

In September, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s concert will be presented as part of larger, two-day, Indigenous-led festival. The gathering will celebrate Indigenous culture and community and it will be presented ahead of this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The festival will feature performances by artists from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, as well as Indigenous musicians and dance groups from across Turtle Island. We will be announcing more details about the event and the performing artists for this collaborative and joyous, Indigenous-centred festival soon.

In addition to deepening our relationships with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and the wider Indigenous community, I’m also working to expand our collaborations and partnerships across UBC and with the Vancouver arts and music communities. Following concerts like the Vancouver debut of Arooj Aftab, which will be presented in partnership with the Indian Summer Festival, the 2022/23 season will also feature collaborations and co-presentations with community partners and local presenters. The season will highlight interdisciplinary work that will include a range of activities such as artist talks, literary events, film screenings, and curated programs presented in collaboration with partners including the UBC Centre for Climate Justice, the Museum of Anthropology, the Belkin Art Gallery, the UBC School of Music, Timbre Concerts, and Vancouver New Music.

I hope you will join us this season for these special evenings of songs and storytelling to celebrate the magic of live performance and the joyful, healing power of art and music.

kinanâskomitinawaw,

Jarrett Martineau