Why is support for the music industry not a priority for this government?

SUSAN LEBLANC « » : NSCC's Music Business Program attracts top talent. Grammy-winning artist Dyson Knight of the Baha Men recently said he was excited to enroll in this program so his "music can step up a bit." That's a quote, and I will table it. We're hearing that this program is being cut because it doesn't fall within any of the government's priority areas. My question to the minister is: Why is support for the music industry not a priority for this government?

HON. BRENDAN MAGUIRE: I am confused, Speaker. You want us to not interfere with academic freedom on one hand, and then the next person gets up and says to interfere with academic freedom on the other. This government has supported the arts more than any other government. There is an announcement today around a sound stage for the arts. The film industry and the arts industry are flourishing in Nova Scotia. The government is not directing the NSCC on what programs to have and what not to have. They make decisions based on enrolment and what they see fit for their own institution.

SUSAN LEBLANC « » : This government is intent on aligning post-secondary institutions with their own agenda. We have heard it over and over again, and we have a bill in front of us saying that very thing. The loss of the Music Business Program shows that this government's agenda is having a really negative consequence on the lives of Nova Scotians. Speaking of film, many of the people who write and compose music for our film industry will have gone through this program that's being cut. Without this program, we will lose talented people, and the continued success of our music industry will be put at risk. Why is the government putting Nova Scotia's vibrant and valuable music industry at risk?

BRENDAN MAGUIRE: I don't know how many times I can repeat it before it sinks in. We are not going to tell schools what they can and cannot teach. What we're saying is that when you have positions that are not being filled - health care positions - we need them filled. We are asking them because they are seeing a shortage in funding because of the temporary student caps to align with the workforce, to work with the workforce. Guess what? NSCAD is just as valuable as Dal. The School of Theology is just as valuable as any school. We appreciate the arts. We will continue to support the arts. NSCC is an institution all to their own.

Sébastien Labelle Bus Stop Theatre

On March 27 I rose in the Nova Scotia Legislature to give the following members statement:

On this World Theatre Day, I rise today to honour Dartmouth North resident and all-around amazing person Sébastien Labelle as he prepares to leave his position as executive director of the Bus Stop Theatre Co-op. Sébastien started as executive director of this vital and vibrant art space in 2016. Under his stewardship, the co-op has purchased the building it is housed within and seen the theatre and lobby space through a major renovation and improvement. The space is now much more physically accessible and has an extra space in the basement which is used for smaller performances, workshops, and community events. He did all of this through a pandemic in which the world saw theatres close for extended periods of time and income from and for the arts dry up. As executive director, Sebastien has helped lead the member-run Bus Stop Theatre to be a truly open and available space - a place where diverse and Indigenous North End artists feel ownership and pride for the space. It’s a place where everyone, artists and audience alike, can feel safe. Sébastien’s legacy is an organization that’s viable and strong and a building that is sound and beautiful. The word on the street is that he’s doing this to spend more time with his family, but we will see about that. I ask all members to join me in thanking Sébastien Labelle for his contribution to the Bus Stop Theatre and in wishing him well in whatever comes next.

Lifespan of A Mattress OutFest

I gave this members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 18, 2024:

Mx. Speaker OutFest is the largest queer arts festival in Atlantic Canada, and it will take place in Halifax from April 23rd to 28th. OutFest Emerging Stage will feature the inaugural production of Lifespan of a Mattress, written and partially performed by Dartmouth North resident Sara Graham. Sara and the play’s director, Rooks Field-Green, are the co-artistic directors of Think of the Worst Theatre. In Lifespan of a Mattress, Aubrey, played by Sara, is a chronically ill person traversing the medical system and queer relationships while trying to keep their room tidy, all from their very own bed. The play has various mask-mandatory shows between April 24th and 28th to make sure that more people can have a chance to take in that show. Think of the Worst Theatre is also hosting the Crafters Resistance Community Quilting Workshop during this year’s Mayworks Kjipuktuk-Halifax Festival. Throughout April, attendees will work on three quilts, which will represent buildings in Halifax that could be housing. I ask all members of the House to join me in congratulating Sara, Rooks and all involved in OutFest, and thank them for their contributions to art and culture in Nova Scotia.

Walter Borden publishes The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 7:

Speaker, New Glasgow-born Walter Borden is a provincial and national icon of stage and screen. He also occupies the centre of my very first memory of seeing theatre when he toured to my elementary school and performed in the gym in Shad Bay. In 2023, Nimbus Publishing released Borden’s semi-autobiographical play, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, which he has been creating over the course of the last 48 years. The play draws upon Borden’s life experiences as a Black gay man and civil rights activist alongside the likes of Rocky and Joan Jones. It is considered one of the first Canadian theatrical productions to delve into male homosexuality from a Black perspective. Excitingly, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time is the first of three books acquired by Nimbus to be penned by Borden, the next two being a poetry collection called Africadian Mi’kmaq Songs in the Key of the Universal Anthem and a memoir entitled A Word or Two Before I Go. I look forward to learning more about Walter Borden’s life or, as he calls it in The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, “some itty bitty madness between twilight and dawn.”

Deepwater world premiere from Villains Theatre

I gave the following member statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 7, 2024:

Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to Villians Theatre’s new theatrical production Deepwater, which was written by Dartmouth North resident, Dan Bray, and directed by another Dartmouth North resident, Burgandy Code. The play will make its world premiere at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax from March 13th to 17th. Deepwater is an original, dark mystery, which takes place in Hants County, Nova Scotia. Audiences accompany a police inspector as she looks into a seemingly inexplicable tragedy involving a reclusive marine biologist and her young daughter. The play explores the unknowable nature of life and relationships, and the ways that humans and deep sea creatures alike must create our own light in the darkness. @brayowulf is the co-founder and artistic director of Villains Theatre. He is a Merritt Award-nominated and -whinning playwright, and interdisciplinary theatre and visual artist. Burgandy Code, a Merritt nominee and winner herself, is a 37-year veteran of the theatre in Nova Scotia - an actor, director, dramaturge, playwright, and teacher. I am thrilled that both of them have chosen Dartmouth North to call home. I wish them lots of good wishes and broken legs on the opening of Deepwater.

Alan Collins Film Retrospective

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia legislature on March 5, 2024:

Speaker, Alan Collins is an established filmmaker living in Dartmouth North whose work explores themes of identify, culture, and art. Alan’s films have recently been the subject of a retrospective held at Christ Church in downtown Dartmouth on the last Friday of every month, followed by a question-and-answer with the director himself. Featured so far in this roundup of Collins’s work is 1989’s One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers; The Beauty of My People; and Drowning in Colour: The Art of Wayne Boucher, about Nova Scotia abstract artist Wayne Boucher. Coming up in the series is My Life So Far, about Alan and his wife Violet’s daughter, Cassandre, whom they adopted in Haiti, followed by a very Dartmouth film, Terminal, which documents a day in the life of the Dartmouth bridge bus terminal in 2014. The retrospective will wrap up with the documentary Searching for God in India, andthen Relative Happiness, based on the novel by best-sellingCape Breton novelist Lesley Crewe. I ask the House to join me in congratulating Alan Collins on this rich retrospective and thanking him for his contribution to Nova Scotia through film.

Jason Skinner baseball mural

I gave the following member statements in the legislature on February 29, 2024:

Speaker, if you walk or roll near the Schultz Memorial Ball Diamond on Howe Street in North Dartmouth -as I often have done with my dog, Gregory Jack -you will see a beautiful new mural, Home Team2023, painted last Summer by Jason Skinner.

The mural is bright and brilliant, and portrays a strong sense of community through the depiction of a children’s local baseball team. It’s really beautiful, and is a wonderful addition to our community.

Jason Skinner lives in Dartmouth North and is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates murals, illustrations, oil paintings, and chalk art. He’s been creating public art for over 20 years. You may have seen his installation called 42 Seagulls at the new entrance to the Alderney Gate Public Library in downtown Dartmouth. Another one of Jason’s raised murals adorns a building on Blowers Street, and features various Haligonians walking, chatting, playing guitar, and more.

Public art like Jason’s simply makes our communities better. Dartmouth North is home to many talented artists, and I’m really glad that Jason is one of them.