Gillian Snider began her Joni Mitchell tribute show with a tribute to Arts Jasper, the small but stalwart cultural group that has been programming live music in town for longer than most people can remember.
This was the last show for Arts Jasper.
“It's not the last show till September. It's the last show, but it was a good 50-year run,” she said.
Angie Lemire was involved with the organization for most of that time. The former high school English teacher said that she started the group because it programmed various types of arts performers into Jasper, something that was practically unheard of back in those days. Only the Chaba Theatre was there for movies.
“We were the only organization that actually brought in musicians and art forms of all kinds. We tried various things because it's hard raising enough money. If we hadn't had scholarships and grants from the government, it would have been very difficult to operate because you have to pay musicians,” she began.
“Then the bars started having entertainment, and restaurants started having entertainment, and then there was the chamber, they started a group, and they brought in entertainment of various kinds, and it just became difficult to compete with all of that.”
Still, there is much to proud of for those who have been involved in key positions over the years:
“It’s an amazing run. They brought in everything from mini Bolshoi theatres to the Kelowna Ballet’s Swan Lake… It brought in a lot of stuff in the last 50 years,” said Marianne Garrah, who came on board to run the program only six years ago.
The Edmonton Symphony, Alberta Ballet, Japanese Taiko drummers, Barney Bentall, Matt Anderson and many others performed here in this small mountain town thanks to Arts Jasper.
What started with oodles of popular support faced the attrition of time and competition all down to where Sunday’s big sendoff had perhaps two dozen attendees in the pews.
“I think the difficulty for us is we dwindled away to a few people, and people can't afford to pay for this kind of entertainment,” Lemire said.
“Some of the groups we brought in would be playing in Edmonton and charging $50. But you can't charge $50. So, we dwindled. We tried to stay no more than $20 but it wasn't cost effective.”
The legacy remains strong. The local arts scene is definitely more vibrant and active than it was in 1974. Live music now often comes to the bars or the Stand Easy at the Legion. The Jasper Folk Music Festival has been revived since 2012. On Sunday evening, the stage at Commemoration Park held the first of its free summer concerts with Travis Matthews playing to a field of 60 locals who braced themselves against a sometimes very cool breeze.
Lemire said it was phenomenal, adding that the operative word there was “free.”
In Jasper, there were five decades of culture provided by a hearty few who saw the need and filled it.
“The arts are alive and flourishing and doing well in Jasper. Maybe Arts Jasper did have a hand in it,” Lemire said.
“Years ago, I mean, it was a group of women and some of them had children… They saw the need for music, for art. Now, we've got the Habitat. We've got a cultural centre. We've got people doing all kinds of art. It’s lovely.”
