David Vertesi has been keeping real busy these last few months. In addition to supporting last year’s solo release Cardiography, and touring and recording with his band Hey Ocean, Vertesi has directed much of his spare time back into building his own community. The Saint James Music Academy is situated in Vancouver’s downtown Eastside and is dedicated to providing accessible music education to children from low-income families. For the last two weeks, VancouverIsAwesome has been releasing, and will continue to release, videos of local musicians in a special performance with children from the Academy. It is being called Sing It Forward, a partnership between Vancouver’s current and future musicians and artists. All videos were shot at St. James Anglican Church (the teaching space for the Academy) and filmed by BC filmmakers Amazing Factory, Innovate Imageworks, Sky Yeller, Hit The Streets and Green Couch Sessions. On December 21 at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, an all-star lineup consisting of the bands featured, plus a few more guests, will become the culmination of this collaborative effort between Vertesi and his very dedicated team of supporters. Tickets for the all-ages show are $20. If the event sells out, that means $20 000 in funding will be put back into the Academy’s music program. From my conversation with David Vertesi, here is what he had to say about the project.
How did Sing It Forward come to be?
I just really wanted to spend some time on something meaningful. I think everyone has that desire deep down, and I’ve just been so busy with Hey Ocean and the other work I’ve been doing, I just wanted to have a project that had some meaning. It’s really nice.
How did you become involved with the Saint James Music Academy?
I think it’s really important that kids do music and art. It’s just something that I am passionate about. I have some friends that have been working with Saint James and so I knew about some of the work they had been doing. We just contacted them and it seemed to be a natural fit.
What is the ultimate goal or objective for Sing It Forward?
To support Saint James and to help in the process of changing it from just an organization to more of a movement. That’s definitely something we’ve been hoping that we could do. By getting so many different people involved from so many different groups, not just the bands but all the companies that have been taking part. There are so many ways in which this process, this show, has been awesome for the kids there. We’ve been doing the videos obviously, and having those people come in to hang out with the kids, I mean it’s just really great. They’re positive role models. Everyone is really encouraging. Everyone is really excited. It seems to be a bit of a dream come true for a lot of the kids there.
I’ve been at almost every single shoot. It’s been amazing to see the process of the kids coming out of their shells and some of the ones who were so shy in the first couple are now just really getting it & really into it. And that’s kind of what it’s all about. You talk to the people at that organization and that’s what it is about for them. They’re not there because they think the kids need to learn music, they are there because they think the music helps the kids. And those kids end up helping their community and that’s one of the real core values for that organization.
The people involved.
I think that’s been the most amazing part about the whole thing for me. I’m a fairly cynical person, and to see all of these people just jump at the opportunity to do something like this has been really amazing & really encouraging. The bands, the filmmakers, the Peak, the Vogue Theatre, everybody, have been donating all their time, have been donating everything; we haven’t paid for anything, including the room, including the staff for the room. Nimbus School of Recording Arts is now going to come in and record the evening. Everyone who hears about it is just like ‘what can I do?’ That’s what’s cool, is that everyone makes it easy. I don’t have to convince anyone. It’s like everybody is ready to just do it all.
Green Couch Sessions will be giving away two tickets to the December 21st Sing It Forward performance at the Vogue Theatre. To enter, post your favourite Green Couch Session with the text ”GreenCouchSessions I want to win tickets to Sing it Forward.” A winner will be randomly chosen by 7pm on Monday, December 19th.
