THE BRUISERS - FREE Monday Singing Sessions on CAMH Campus for folks with lived experience.
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EASING IN TO THE YEAR'S SINGING SESSIONS: I will be heading to the piano in the public space outside Workman Arts offices for 2pm every Monday. Anyone creative types with lived experience, please join me -- much like when the Bruised Years Choir started in 2015, I am looking forward to building things from the ground-up again, now that the disruption, in all its forms, of the pandemic sits comfortably in the rear-view mirror. All Welcome, no singing experience required. Reach out if you've any questions: jim via email [email protected]
More Info: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/181Lqk4PFx/
Here's the Full Scoop:
THE BRUISERS SING AGAIN!! Creative types with lived experience are invited to join in Monday afternoon singing sessions on the CAMH Campus. It’s a reboot of seminal start-your-week right initiative, led by founder Jim LeFrancois. Sessions take place Monday afternoons (2-4pm) at the public piano outside the Workman Arts HQ* at Queen & Oz. No singing experience required.
A REBELLIOUS HARMONY: Coming together to sing is our radical response to the world’s noise. Founded in 2015, The Bruised Years Choir began as a small group of artists with lived experience coming together to sing — and quickly grew into something special. In the intervening years, the Choir performed throughout Toronto including appearances at consecutive Luminato Festival Toronto lineups (Liza Balkan’s Out The Window, Maado’oke Songlines), in Toronto City Hall Chambers at the Mayor’s invitation, Invictus Games, Manitoba Music premiere at Rendezvous With Madness and was profiled nationally on CBC TV just before the pandemic hit. The self-described ‘’Bad News Bears of Choirs’ earned fans city-wide for their heartfelt performances.
Now, putting disruptive pandemic years in the rear-view mirror, with a new chapter beginning, we are renaming the choir:
‘THE BRUISERS’ reflects the fighting spirit that emerges when people with lived experience raise their voices together. More than any other group activity, when compared to other ensemble endeavours, singing in a Choir has proven to have the greatest overall positive impact on one’s mental health. And in that lies the impetus for our Monday sessions.
Says founder Jim LeFrancois: “The act of individuals with lived experience coming together is a defiant act, an act of rebellion. It’s us giving a collective middle finger to all that potentially ails us. After the long disruption of the pandemic, I look forward to building things up again. There were just five or six of us in the room when I launched the thing in 2015. We’ll start simply. I’ll be at the piano Monday afternoons, it’s open to all comers, we’ll see where it takes us.” All are welcome. No experience whatsoever is required — just a desire to sing with the group.
This is a peer-led, artist-led, independent initiative, facilitated by award-winning artist/producer Jim LeFrancois, created for people with lived experience. No auditions. No pressure. Just voices in a room, building something together.
MISSING CONNECTION, CREATIVITY OR THE SIMPLE ACT OF SINGING ALONGSIDE OTHERS? This is your invitation.
Mondays, 2-4 PM
Outreach Sessions now happening every Monday, official start is Monday Match 16, 2-4pm.
Public piano, Workman Arts lobby*
Queen & Ossington, Toronto
*If the Piano is unavailable, we will still meet outside the Workman Arts HQ, and Jim will have a Plan B up his sleeve IF ANY BENEFACTORS WOULD LIKE TO STEP-UP IN SUPPORT OF OUR EFFORTS, WE WOULD MAKE GOOD USE OF DEDICATED SPACE IN WHICH TO REHEARSE, CREATE AND, WHEN READY, SING FOR AN AUDIENCE. That is our most pressing need. Donations are warmly received via Interac E-transfers sent to [email protected]
Contact:
Jim, via [email protected]
www.facebook.com/goodmedz
I've pulled together a bunch of pics from the first leg of our journey. Have a look!
Here's a link to our nationally televised profile:
The BYC's Soul Series Ep 1:
Singing REM's Everybody Hurts, Rehearsal shot with Barbara Mann:
More Info: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/181Lqk4PFx/
Here's the Full Scoop:
THE BRUISERS SING AGAIN!! Creative types with lived experience are invited to join in Monday afternoon singing sessions on the CAMH Campus. It’s a reboot of seminal start-your-week right initiative, led by founder Jim LeFrancois. Sessions take place Monday afternoons (2-4pm) at the public piano outside the Workman Arts HQ* at Queen & Oz. No singing experience required.
A REBELLIOUS HARMONY: Coming together to sing is our radical response to the world’s noise. Founded in 2015, The Bruised Years Choir began as a small group of artists with lived experience coming together to sing — and quickly grew into something special. In the intervening years, the Choir performed throughout Toronto including appearances at consecutive Luminato Festival Toronto lineups (Liza Balkan’s Out The Window, Maado’oke Songlines), in Toronto City Hall Chambers at the Mayor’s invitation, Invictus Games, Manitoba Music premiere at Rendezvous With Madness and was profiled nationally on CBC TV just before the pandemic hit. The self-described ‘’Bad News Bears of Choirs’ earned fans city-wide for their heartfelt performances.
Now, putting disruptive pandemic years in the rear-view mirror, with a new chapter beginning, we are renaming the choir:
‘THE BRUISERS’ reflects the fighting spirit that emerges when people with lived experience raise their voices together. More than any other group activity, when compared to other ensemble endeavours, singing in a Choir has proven to have the greatest overall positive impact on one’s mental health. And in that lies the impetus for our Monday sessions.
Says founder Jim LeFrancois: “The act of individuals with lived experience coming together is a defiant act, an act of rebellion. It’s us giving a collective middle finger to all that potentially ails us. After the long disruption of the pandemic, I look forward to building things up again. There were just five or six of us in the room when I launched the thing in 2015. We’ll start simply. I’ll be at the piano Monday afternoons, it’s open to all comers, we’ll see where it takes us.” All are welcome. No experience whatsoever is required — just a desire to sing with the group.
This is a peer-led, artist-led, independent initiative, facilitated by award-winning artist/producer Jim LeFrancois, created for people with lived experience. No auditions. No pressure. Just voices in a room, building something together.
MISSING CONNECTION, CREATIVITY OR THE SIMPLE ACT OF SINGING ALONGSIDE OTHERS? This is your invitation.
Mondays, 2-4 PM
Outreach Sessions now happening every Monday, official start is Monday Match 16, 2-4pm.
Public piano, Workman Arts lobby*
Queen & Ossington, Toronto
*If the Piano is unavailable, we will still meet outside the Workman Arts HQ, and Jim will have a Plan B up his sleeve IF ANY BENEFACTORS WOULD LIKE TO STEP-UP IN SUPPORT OF OUR EFFORTS, WE WOULD MAKE GOOD USE OF DEDICATED SPACE IN WHICH TO REHEARSE, CREATE AND, WHEN READY, SING FOR AN AUDIENCE. That is our most pressing need. Donations are warmly received via Interac E-transfers sent to [email protected]
Contact:
Jim, via [email protected]
www.facebook.com/goodmedz
I've pulled together a bunch of pics from the first leg of our journey. Have a look!
Here's a link to our nationally televised profile:
The BYC's Soul Series Ep 1:
Singing REM's Everybody Hurts, Rehearsal shot with Barbara Mann:
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Where is it happening?
Toronto, ON, Canada, Ontario M6P 2X7
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherGOOD Medicine
