Rural venue lets artists shine on more intimate stage

With cooler temperatures on their way, Jocelyne Baribeau wants to break the linguistic ice between musicians with a new concert series at her home near St. Geneviève, about 30 minutes east of the Perimeter.

A onetime Western Canadian Music Award winner as best francophone artist, the St. Vital-raised Baribeau intends the Icebreakers series — which has its first concert this Sunday — to provide musicians with an intimate, rural setting to experiment and collaborate with peers with whom they might not otherwise share a bill.

“A goal for me to sort of erase a bit of that invisible line that we put. ‘It’s a French event,’ or ‘It’s an English event,’” says Baribeau, the vice-president of the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

“The more we can do that, the more opportunity there is for everyone. Music is music, and I don’t think it’s a language thing. You can feel a lot of things even when someone is singing in a language you don’t understand.”

Sunday’s concert will feature Baribeau, St. Boniface singer Sala, folk duo Burnstick and songwriter Jacob Brodovsky — the newly minted executive director of the West End Cultural Centre — and is the first in a planned series of three seasonal shows at Baribeau’s homestead, an acreage in the RM of Taché where she also operates Atelier 48.

Named as an indication of the nearest municipal road, Atelier 48 is a bookable creative residency space, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchenette and a dining room.

Formerly a yoga retreat centre, the space is also equipped with an entry-level studio, soundproof recording booth and a quarter-size grand piano.

Baribeau recorded parts of her recent album, 200 Acres, in the space and figured that other artists could benefit from the creative retreat.

Running an artist residency has long been a dream for Baribeau, who plays in a band called Beausejour and performs for children as Madame Diva. After a friend decided to sell the property and move to Ontario nine years ago, Baribeau was asked to share the realtor link on social media in hopes one of her followers might be interested.

“I was like, ‘Dear god, no! I’ll come and buy it tomorrow,’ so I did, and I’m happy I did. It’s been great,” she says.

Throughout the pandemic, Baribeau was reminded anew what a privilege it was to have the space to create.

With her son, Micah, an award-winning children’s performer who’s been touring with his mother since grade school, Baribeau also began to use the space to film digital music content, unlocking another use for the space she hopes artists from across the country can take advantage of when they find themselves passing through.

“For me, it’s also about giving back,” says Baribeau, who has received support from the Manitoba Arts Council for the concert series.

She says she has participated in residency programs through the National Arts Centre and francophone music organization 100nons, giving her inspiration for creating a meeting place for artists to share ideas at various stages of completion.

So far, visiting artists have included seven-time Manitoba Country Music Association Award winner Kendra Kay, Americana musician Brandon Post and francophone electronic artist Rayannah, who will perform with Saskatchewan artist Stephanie Kuse at Le Patio 340 on Sept. 26 as part of the Centre culturel franco-manitobain’s Nuit Blanche celebrations.

After Sunday’s concert, the next Icebreakers show is scheduled for Oct. 18, featuring performances by Winnipeg pop singer Diaphanie — a frequent vocal collaborator with artists such as Begonia; Leaf Rapids songwriter Keri Latimer, who will release her first theremin-centred album, When the Future Tried to Take Me, at the WECC on Nov. 6; dream-pop artist félixe sl; and Micah Baribeau.

A third Icebreakers set, with a yet-to-be-announced lineup, is planned for February.

Tickets for Sunday’s show cost $30 and are available at atelier48.ca.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca