This regional project for the arts entitled “Projet d’arts communautaires de Caraquet” (Caraquet Community Arts Project) will allow for the increase of funding resources for professional artists and for artistic groups in the Greater Caraquet area. Its focus is to encourage artistic projects that will reinforce links between partners and with the public, and will allow professional artists of all levels to show their talent.

The creation of this understanding was made possible with the contribution of annual funding in the amount of $40,000 from the New Brunswick Arts Board, the Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport, the Town of Caraquet and the Caraquet Cultural Centre. The fund will allow grants to be given with values of $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000.

“The government of New Brunswick is proud to increase the help to professional artists by funding this program which allows artists to engage their community in their creative process and to offer a unique contribution in their life,” said the minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport, Hédard Albert. “Projects like this one exist in other areas of the province and I am proud that Caraquet wants, with this new initiative, to diversify their contribution, which is already great, towards arts and culture.”

The president of the New Brunswick Arts Board, Benoît Duguay, is proud that Caraquet is interested in this kind of initiative which allows the program to be extended to yet another area in the province. “This project has added to the agreements already in place between the New Brunswick Arts Board and the municipalities of Edmundston, Saint John and Fredericton, and it is my wish that we continue to develop it in other municipalities,” said Mr. Duguay. The mayor of Caraquet, Antoine Landry, believes that talent and creative ideas are not lacking in Caraquet. “These grants will allow for new artistic projects to be developed and will reinforce the cultural engagement in the Caraquet area,” said Mr. Landry.

This  agreement is expected to last three years, but will be revised after one year of operation.

The director of the Caraquet Cultural Centre, Robert G. Landry, notes that the contribution from the Centre was made possible due to the interest revenue generated by the financing campaign of 2006 done in collaboration with the Fondation culturelle acadienne (Acadian Cultural Foundation).  “This is one of a number of spin-offs that result from a public investment in the arts.”

Tweet This Share on Facebook

“The show matches captivating sound design and songs, incredible lighting and special effects, interactive and innovative projections, but it’s primarily a touching story filled with love, corruption and sacrifice,” explains the artistic and theatre director, Jac Gautreau.

Nicolas Basque will play the horseman and Elisabeth Milo will play the blacksmith’s daughter. Gaétan Robichaud completes the team of comedian-singers. He will play the blacksmith.

Le Violon fantastique is produced by Les Productions Tintamarre and the Comité de promotion de la Place du Vieux couvent. Normand Thériault is the executive producer. Other members of the production team include Jean-François Mallet (music and sound design), Marjolaine Albert (production management), Philippe Cormier (technical direction), Steban Sanfaçon (scenography), Normand Chassé and Vincent Fournier (lighting design), Cyr Sonorisation (sound) and Bernard Frigault of Feux d’artifices Boréal (fireworks). Jac Gautreau, Stéban Sanfaçon and the Corbo Conseil team will do the video design. Altogether, with electricians, carpenters, costume makers, wigmakers, machinists and graphic designers, the Violon fantastique team is 30 people strong.

The show will take place, free of charge, every night at 10 pm (or shortly after 10 pm, depending on the darkness), August 8th-19th (except for the 15th of August). The opening show is scheduled for Wednesday, August 5th, or the next day in case of rain. Caraquet’s Old Convent ruins will host the show. A fire destroyed the Convent in 1992, and the stone walls of that magnificent building, located near the church, have been preserved ever since.

If the show can be presented free of charge to the public, it’s because the Caraquet Co-op and the Caisse populaire Acadie committed to contribute financially by providing $100,000 to the project. “This contribution is set within our approach which consists in contributing to the development of our community. We believe that this show, with the new technology used to produce it, will give the population of the Acadian Peninsula and visitors the chance to appreciate the numerous talents of the comedians, singers, designers, technicians and specialists that work in that field in the region,” say the president of the administrative council of the Caraquet Cooperative, Gabriel Léger, and the president of the Caisse populaire Acadie, Jean-Yves Thériault.

The 2009 World Acadian Congress, the Province of New Brunswick and the City of Caraquet, with its Cultural Capital program, financially back the project.

Members of the “Comité de promotion de la Place du Vieux couvent” represent the “Maison de la culture chrétienne”, Downtown Caraquet, the Greater Caraquet Chamber of Commerce, Heritage Caraquet and the “Festival des arts visuels en atlantique”. The Committee’s goal is to make sure that the Old Convent is animated. “Les Productions Tintamarre” is an organisation affiliated to Caraquet’s Festival acadien. Its mission is to design, direct and produce cultural and artistic products and events in order to complement the ones produced by the Festival.

Tweet This Share on Facebook