'Stay close to people who feel like sunlight.'

Dean Bareham

'Stay close to people who feel like sunlight.' Xan Oku

When I was a student fresh out of graduate school my Mom got me a job counting dead bark beetles in a lab at the University of Calgary working for Dr. Bill Laidlaw. She told me I only had to work for a week and if I didn't like it after a week I could quit. I remember thinking if this is what a Master's Degree in Trumpet performance leads to, then I must have really taken a wrong turn somewhere in life. The first couple of days were terrible. The smell of decaying beetles kept whole in formaldehyde was awful and the beetles I had to count were endless. I was miserable, but on my third day something wonderful happened. I met one of the other lab technicians who was working on her PHD in bark beetle research and she started to tell me why the research was so important. Suddenly the days went faster and, while I was doing the mindless work of counting, I made a friend and began to learn something about forest ecology. One week turned into two, two to three and before I knew it I was fully immersed and summer was upon us. I began training science graduate students in the lab and being asked to go out into the field to set the traps which would help further the research. Hiking in the forests of Alberta and British Columbia was a dream job for me and that summer was incredible. Who would have thought a job counting dead bark beetles would lead to such a wonderful experience?

Another part of my job was sitting for a few hours a week with Dr. Laidlaw and helping him brainstorm the results we were finding. I remember asking why he would want to brainstorm the research with me when I had very little background in what he was doing. His reply has always stuck with me. He said "My measure of success in this world is getting to choose the people I work with. I am looking for people who will not come to the same conclusions as me but who will challenge the way I think." I loved that answer for so many reasons. The first being that he thought choosing me to work with was a measure of success and he valued the way my brain thought even if it didn't think the same way his did.

One day, after a long brainstorming session, Dr. Laidlaw asked me what my next step was for my career in music. I had been practicing my trumpet every day while also working in the lab, I was part of a fabulous brass quintet and I had taken some orchestral trumpet auditions but I hadn't won a job and I was pretty frustrated. I told him I had always wanted to attend the Banff Centre but I had missed the deadline for the fall. He picked up his office phone right then and there and called the registrar’s office at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and asked if the deadline for applications was a fixed one or if students could still apply. When he got off the phone he turned to me and said, “You have until the end of next week to get your application in, I would suggest you start working on it right away.” So, I did and I was accepted into the fall residency for Music and Sound which changed my life path forever. It probably needs to be mentioned that Dr. Laidlaw's sister is Alice Munroe and he had a bit of a soft spot for the artists in his life and an understanding of what it takes to be an artist in Canada.

I have thought often about Dr. Laidlaw's measure of success being the ability to choose the people you work with. It is now one of the measures I use to define success in my life. I feel very fortunate to be at a stage in my career where I am sometimes able to choose the people I work with. This new project 'Wandering with Wonder' has given me the opportunity to partner with an organization, the Calgary Stampede, that supported me as a member of the Calgary Stampede Showband during my formative years as a young musician. It has also allowed me to partner with the Leighton Arts Centre, another organization that is near and dear to my heart. As an undergraduate, I worked my way through school as one of their teaching artists in the spring and summer months.

I am really excited to announce we have a director for 'Wandering with Wonder! Dean Bareham has agreed to bring 'Wandering with Wonder' to life. He is the artistic director of Green Fools Theatre and will be bringing his wealth of knowledge about spectacle theatre and puppeteering to this production. Dean is someone whose work I admire and who I have a great working relationship with. We have also found our technical director, Tobias Kalden. He and I have worked together on many different projects throughout the years and he is currently Colin James' front of house sound person. His schedule just happens to be free for the dates we need him. I am also thrilled to announce that Paul Johnston will be joining our team as our recording engineer. He is an Assistant Professor and Head of Recording at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton and one terrific bass player. I have only just started working with him and I admire many of the recordings he has produced. Anni Kuhn will be back as our costume designer. She designed my costumes for the 'rocky mountain fairy tales' and worked on 'The Queen, the Bear and the Bumble Bee,' when Erin Thrall turned it into a full stage production which is how I met Anni.

All these people and organizations feel like sunlight to me. It will be wonderful to be close to them all in 2020 as we create 'Wandering with Wonder' for you next September 19th and 20th at the Leighton Arts Centre.

What are some of the ways you measure success? I would love to hear about them in the comments below.

We acknowledge the support of the Province of Alberta through Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts. Thank you for your generous support. We appreciate it so much.

Samantha Whelan KotkasDecember 18, 2019Comment