CTV National News: Country music festival boosting P.E.I's economy
Atlantic Canada's biggest country music festival is providing a boost to P.E.I.'s economy. Maria Sarrouh with a look.
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CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
‘Talk to each other': Edmonton public art installation by Calgary artists up for global award
The "Play it by Ear" art installation is seen in Butler Memorial Park in Edmonton on Friday, July 4, 2025. Each pair of telephones is connected by looping landlines. Park visitors can pick up any telephone, and a matching phone will ring elsewhere in the park. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson Born out of a time when it was almost impossible to reach out and touch someone, an Edmonton art installation appears to be calling out to those on the global stage. 'Play it by Ear,' an interactive art installation by Calgary artists Caitlind Brown and Wayne Garrett, has been nominated as one of the top 100 public art projects by CODAworx, a public art industry group. The installation consists of 13 pastel coloured, vintage-inspired telephones strewn throughout Butler Memorial Park, in a gritty part of Edmonton just west of its downtown. Connected like an intercom, picking up one telephone causes another to ring on the other side of the park. 'It's actually an invitation for strangers to talk to each other,' Brown said in a recent interview. If they answer, people can strike up a conversation. If they don't, they can leave a voice mail. People have left more than 5,000 messages, which Garrett said range from dead air to loving words of encouragement. 'It's just a bit of everything, and it kind of reflects the dynamic of the park,' he said. Missed connections The planning started a few years ago, with a visit to the park. Brown said they noticed the park was next to a bus station, which got them thinking about connections and missed connections. They also saw many people using the space. 'There are literally people who maybe don't have anywhere else to go, who end up using this park as a living room,' she said. 'And so, a telephone seemed like the kind of perfect homey addition.' On top of that, they saw an old Alberta Government Telephones office nearby. 'My grandma was a telephone operator in Edmonton in the 1950s, and she worked at an Alberta Government Telephones building,' Brown added. 'And that's part of why we were like, 'Oh, this might be the right fit for this park.'' Renee Williams, executive director of the Edmonton Arts Council, said the organization was immediately on board when it heard the 'fun and playful' pitch. 'It was the idea of a means to create connection with one another,' she said. 'And so I just thought, 'What a unique and interactive public art element to be added here.'' Working with the arts council, each phone cradle was cast out of steel and modelled after rotary phones of yesteryear, adding to a playful and intergenerational nostalgia. Where the dial usually sits, there's a smaller piece of art based on homey photographs sent in by the public. The exhibit was installed in 2023 and has been well-received by park patrons, Garrett said. 'We were going around just taking a look at the phones to check on how things are doing and make sure everything was functioning,' he said. 'And some residents who use the park a lot went out of their way to tell us how the phones work.' The installation is up against entries from 14 countries in the CODAworx competition. Brown said the recognition is nice, but at the end of the day what matters is the impact the art has on people. 'Play it by Ear' is meant to be intergenerational, she said, so people of different ages can connect. 'We've come to the park at times where there have been those connections with a person who appears to be a senior talking to someone else,' she said. 'Those have been the most gratifying moments.' --Aaron Sousa This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2025.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Paralyzed concert pianist makes triumphant return to the stage thanks to new technology
A concert pianist who became paralyzed and lost the ability to play the piano for many years was thrilled to make his return to the stage with the help of a technology he helped develop. Riccardo Baldini is a pianist who came to Edmonton from Italy in 2017. Six years ago, he woke up paralyzed from the chest down due to a spinal cavernoma burst. In order to play the piano, you need to use the foot pedals to change the sound being produced. 'As you get to a more advanced and professional level, it's your entire body that's (being used) …it's like a self awareness of where your body is to create certain sounds, create certain effects,' Baldini said. He didn't give up hope and dreamed of being able to play the piano again, the instrument he devoted himself to for decades. Working with engineers and the Glenrose Hospital Foundation's research and innovation department, he helped develop Resonate, a tool that lets him control the foot pedals using his mouth. 'It's a huge win for music, and it's a huge win for accessibility music and equality of opportunity,' Baldini said. '(Now), people with disabilities have the potential for performing on stage and on a professional level, which is something that has never been done before. 'The few images that we captured, the videos, are going to be the start of something that maybe could inspire some kids with disabilities to pursue musical careers.' Resonate was actually named after the right of the three piano pedals, known as the sustain, damper or resonance pedal, which is required to play the majority of classical music, according to Baldini. It keeps the notes playing after a musician's fingers are taken off the keys. The stage beckons Last December, Baldini went to the Winspear to see if a performance like this would be possible, if he could wheel onto the stage and if Resonate would work with the piano. A few months later, he was asked if he would be interested in playing in some shows with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO). ESO The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's Anime in Concert show. (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra) The three concert performances for Anime in Concert over two days in June were the largest crowds Baldini had played in front of since Resonate was developed. 'It's been a dream come true for me to be able to perform with a full symphony orchestra on stage after my injury in my wheelchair,' said Baldini. 'I had an incredible feeling, It went really well. 'The audience responded not as at a classical concert where the audience is more composed, which made the energy coming from the audience amazing.' When he wheeled out onto the stage, he started playing, not saying anything until after the first song, once the audience had a chance to question how he could play while in a wheelchair. 'The focus was music, not disability,' Riccardo said. 'The stigma about disability should disappear from the concept. I'm there performing like anyone else.' Baldini performed One Summer's Day from Spirited Away and Kanashikute Yarikirenai from In This Corner of the World. 'Growing up, I watched a lot of anime and I love it. I think there's so much depth into these Japanese productions that I always enjoyed,' Baldini said. 'I was very much pleased to play the music from these movies.' He said the other performers and staff at the Winspear were very accommodating and encouraging, 'like a big family.' Music is what matters Resonate in its current form has been ready since 2024, as the first prototype was 'too loud' according to Baldini and having it be unobtrusive was important to him. 'It's not about you, it's about the music and conveying some emotions, and I think we achieved that throughout the concert, and hopefully also shared a good message with my performance,' he said. He hopes to be able to perform with ESO again and would like the opportunity to play in other venues to showcase what he can do now. Carnegie Hall is on his bucket list, and he also said he would like to be able to perform with the Vancouver and Toronto symphonies. One of the pieces he hopes to be able to perform in front of an audience again is Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 31 Op. 110, a technically challenging 20-minute piece. 'It's a bit of a journey of music that goes through a deep dive into depression … it's almost a lament, like crying,' Baldini said. 'Then from there, when you hit rock bottom, you are coming back out of that with a huge, major conclusion, which is a triumph of the Ode to Joy. 'I really resonate with (the piece) because of my life experience.' Resonating around the world Baldini has received inquiries about Resonate from all over the world from people in a similar situation like him and people with disabilities interested in learning the piano. They did presales for the device and are moving into the manufacturing phase for the first production run. 'The stories that come with each individual are so unique and it really warms my heart every time, because I understand … when I first got injured and looked out there, and there was nothing that would have helped me to go back and play the piano, and nobody was doing it, it really crushed me,' Baldini said. Resonate was designed for pianos, but Bandini said people have asked about potential uses in other instruments in the future, like drums, and for things outside of music like sewing machines and pottery wheels. His advice for people who find themselves suddenly unable to do what they love because of injury or illness is to 'keep moving forward in uncertainty.' 'You will go through a grieving period and some pain and some mental work that needs to be done, but at the same time, you don't want to waste your time and waste your life,' Baldini said. 'There is so much more that can come and you can do despite whatever situation and whatever cards you are dealt by life. Just be creative and don't give up.'
CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
50 years after Jaws, will B.C. ever see more great white sharks?
Fifty years after Steven Spielberg's Jaws set the template for the Hollywood summer blockbuster movie, the spectre of a great white shark attack still looms over anyone who goes swimming in the sea. Jaws was released on June 20, 1975, and the film is set in New England as a vicious great white shark kills summer beachgoers, and a police chief takes on the scary task of tackling it. Scientists say B.C.'s waters are still too cold for the great white shark to proliferate on Canada's West Coast, but that they could become more common as the Pacific Ocean warms due to climate change. Still, they say over a dozen sharks call B.C.'s waters home, and measures to protect them from hunting are resulting in more of them recovering in population. "Sharks are part of what brings natural balance to ecosystems by exerting this top down predation pressure, so species never get out of control," said Andrew Trites, a professor at the University of B.C. Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. "We are seeing a recovery of sharks, I would say probably worldwide, but particularly in North America." Among the most common sharks that call B.C. home is the spiny dogfish, which Trites says many fishermen have accidentally caught in the Salish Sea. Danny Kent, curator of fishes at the Vancouver Aquarium, says another common shark is the sixgill shark, which divers may have encountered in the Howe Sound region. But the curator says many sharks in B.C. waters thrive on the open ocean, and not close to land. "I think most people would be lucky to see [a shark] just cause they're not often seen," he said. "They might be common, but not commonly seen." Other sharks that inhabit B.C. waters, according to Kent, include the salmon shark, the mako shark and the thresher shark. Another is the basking shark, a 12-metre long shark that is one of the largest fish in the world. Kent said basking sharks used to be plentiful in B.C. waters, feeding on plankton. "They were almost completely eradicated and ... almost nobody ever sees them anymore," he said. "And, you know, if we started seeing them coming back, I think that would be a good sign, just like we're seeing other marine mammals coming back that haven't been around for a while." Trites said the great white is very uncommon in B.C. waters, and even though their prey of seals and sea lions are recovering in population, the ocean on Canada's West Coast is simply too cold for them to become a regular feature. "The great white is really, really rare — although maybe it'll become more common in another 50 years when we do another anniversary for the movie Jaws," he said. "Maybe [then], we can talk about great whites, because what is changing is the waters are warming."
