For the past 58 years the Cochrane Ecological Institute (CEI) have strived toward its dual goal: to study and implement the effects of ecosystem restoration, and to educate the next generation about the natural world that they inhabit.
The Institute has planned an event to accomplish both. On July 19 the CEI plans to host an Open Mic Night for youth acoustic musicians that the Institute is hoping will attract artistically gifted and ecologically interested teens to show up and perform their art while also learning what the Institute is all about.
CEI hopes the event will mesh both desired goals together seamlessly. Event coordinators say they’ve had youth volunteers in the past who haven’t had a ton of opportunities to perform their music.
“We’re celebrating the arts, nature and wildlife,” said Ali Morrison, the educational coordinator for CEI. “A lot of kids come out [to CEI] and a lot of them play music…so we’re trying to give them a chance to perform.”
Morrison said the idea for an Open Mic Night was born out of the desire to get more people – kids and their families – to come out and learn about the Institute, while also giving them a platform to perform that they couldn’t find otherwise.
The Open Mic will be held from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and will be followed by a barbecue. Morrison said they’re hoping to do a song-writing contest, but that will only be held if there are songwriters willing to enter into the contest.
The event is for acoustic musicians only; acoustic guitars, piano, banjo, violin, flute, cello, mandolin; and classical, folk, and pop singers. Any electric instruments or drums would be disruptive to the animals currently rehabilitating at the Institute.
Ideally, Morrison said the event will be an opportunity for youth musicians to have an outlet to perform their art at a place that can teach them about the wildlife and ecology in their own backyard.
“People who come can learn about the educational programs, but the goal is to get teenagers out and give them a platform,” Morrison said. “We just know there has got to be a ton of kids out there who have a guitar in the basement and there are a lot of incredible singers in this community.”
But at the same time, Morrison is hoping the event will attract people, both youth and their parents, who are potentially interested in learning more about the CEI and the work they do.
As educational coordinator, Morrison said the Institute aspires to teach people to approach the planet with an “ecocentric perspective” and to inspire people to protect wildlife and plant life. To that end, the CEI plans to organize a bi-weekly Youth Ecologist Group made up of local students where Morrison will lead Zoom sessions based on ecology topics that students pick.
“[We want] to get other people interested in the interaction between people and the environment,” said Morrison. “98 per cent of the wild animals that get put down are because we did something stupid. It’s incumbent upon us to change our behaviour.”
The CEI is located 20 minutes northwest of Cochrane. Anyone inserted in signing up for the CEI’s Open Mic Night can do so by contacting Ali Morrison at 403-688-0812.
