At the St. John’s Farmers Market in St. John’s Newfoundland, the Newfound Attachments project aimed to “create a safe, inclusive space where people with different backgrounds could connect professionally and socially over various art forms” – like music.
For this project to succeed, they needed to find a way to connect to newcomer musicians. Luckily, MusicNL had recently launched the “Instrumental Connections” program, which works with newcomer musicians, helping them grow their networks in Newfoundland. Throughout the Winter of 2022, Newfound Attachments created a space for newcomer musicians to share their craft – which lead to a host of success stories for the musicians and the community itself.
The project sees music as a community endeavor – it is universal, but it is also culturally specific. Introducing the community of St. John’s to music from different cultures helps to underpin Newfoundland, and Canada, as a cultural mosaic, a place where everyone can come together, where people can learn from one another and create together. “The project broke down the barrier of “performance”- musicians were not just performing their craft, they were sitting with the public and connecting with them on a deeper level” says Gareth Lloyd, project coordinator. Locals and newcomers found a space to connect with one another, to reach a different audience, and learn about one another, and the community as a whole.
This project was all about connection – the community connected to music, musicians connected to one another, and people connected to different cultures, and their world’s opened up because of it. This project has wrapped up, but the St. John’s Farmers Market has great events on all the time – so look at their calendar to find out when to drop by. If you are a musician and in Newfoundland, Instrumental Connections is the program for you – have a look at the website to sign up as Connector or Connectee!
