Resumé

G. Scott MacLeod

G.S. MacLeod's training is in both music and Visual Arts. He has a bachelors of Fine Arts from Concordia University and has studied the accordion, guitar and Bodrhan, he has over 100 exhibitions and 100 performances to his name and is a well-known Montreal interdisciplinary artist who works as a painter, photographer, filmmaker and musician. His work has addressed social-political issues and historical themes. He has traveled, studied, performed and exhibited across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe and Scandinavia. He has been involved in the Canadian music scene since 1985 as a songwriter and performer in folk, Celtic and rock bands—most notably as a member of This New Land, Trinity, Craic and MacLeod 9.

G.S MacLeod has performed his Brief Canadian History show in Berlin, the Side-sounds Music Festival in Oslo and Bergen, The Harbourfront Theatre in Toronto, Concordia and McGill Univeristies in Montreal for University of the Streets Café, The Hudson Village Theatre, Heritage Hall in Vancouver with members of the Squamish Nation, and at many primary and secondary schools in the Montreal area. Also benefits concerts for Amnesty International Art for love and Freedom, the Lubicon Cree Nation in Northern Alberta, the Mohawks of Khanesetake, food banks, AIDS hospices, orphanages, and hospitals.

Photo credit: Allen McInnis.

Christina Sciascia

Christina Sciascia is a Montréal born and trained musician.  She studied classical piano from childhood into her adolescence, but then became more focused on singing and guitar accompaniment as a young adult.  She played in the bars and pubs of montreal for many years, sometimes solo, and often in a duo named the Sha Sha Kats.  In 2004 she completed a double major Bachelors degree at Concordia University (a BA in Sociology and a BFA  of Music). Christina has worked extensively in educational settings, creating and giving music classes to preschoolers and elementary school children.  Currently she is completing courses required in order to pursue a degree in Music Therapy.

Photo credit: Shoshana Ruttner Photography

Jonathan Owen Moorman

Jonathan moved to Canada at the age of 11 from Essex, England. After graduating from McGill with a degree in English Literature, Jonathan began performing in Irish pubs across Montreal. Since then he has recorded with artists including John McDermott, ''Beat'', Brendan Nolan, Tuna, Solstice and Scott MacLeod. He has toured extensively with John McDermott, The Mahones, and Solstice. He is the musical director of a traditional Quebecois step-dancing troupe, ''Reel et Macadam'', with whom he produced an album and toured Holland, Belgium, Romania and Quebec. Jonathan has also played Folk Festivals throughout Canada and the U.S. including ones in Yellowknife, Drummondville, Victoria, Boston and the Montreal Celtic Festival. His current project is the Jonathan Moorman Band, which performs a variety of world and traditional music. Jonathan plays the violin, Irish bouzouki, and whistle.

Mike Burns

Mike Burns, captivating, humourous, a rare presence in an age of noisy sound bites, short attention spans and mass media. He is a storyteller who learned the rare art of the Seanachie (pronounced sha na ki). Coming from a family of storytellers from Co. Kerry, Ireland he has given the world 35 years of stories.

Living in Montreal for over 20 years, he has performed his Irish stories for audiences in North America and Europe in festivals, community centres and pubs. Notably The Toronto Story Telling Festival, Festival d’arts créatifs du Labrador and Festival du conte du Québec. Sometimes accompanied by Toby Kinsella, musician and founder of the Celtic Group Bard with who he recorded the piece The King of Birds. Mike’s work is in Ghostwise, an anthology of Canadian Storytellers, published by Dan Yashinsky in Toronto in 2002 and most recently he has work in Les jours sont contée Portrait de conteurs published by Planète rebelle/Littorale.

Mike’s story telling is a rare and unique experience, a must see for those who have not experienced this art form. Mike will be doing the story telling segment of .

Bevan Skerratt

Bevan was born and raised in Saskatchewan and is of Cree and Celtic ancestry. He has come to appreciate the growth-potential that the diversity of human experience offers. With 27 years in holistic personal growth work, Bevan has pursued both academic and experiential learning traditions.

He has a Bachelors of Arts in Applied Social Sciences from Concordia University and a Masters of Education in Educational Psychology from McGill University. In the course of his career Bevan has done training and intervention work in many Aboriginal communities and has worked very closely with Native and Inut men in the Canadian Correctional System, also with female victims of violence and sexual abuse.

Beavan was asked to participate in as a Native cultural worker to promote the education of First Nation culture. It is our belief that we must open our perrformances with the burning of sage and a song to give thanks to the creator and to acknowledge the first people. It is our hope that this will bring awareness to First Nations.