Exhibit to open at Saskatchewan museum

The Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) and the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), the national not-for-profit organization behind the JUNO Awards, today officially opened a new exhibit at the museum which will be highlighted during the 2013 JUNO Awards.

"Hosting the JUNOs has created many partnership opportunities for organizations in Regina, including this interactive exhibit which showcases the RSM and its work on sustainability," Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Kevin Doherty said. "As our province continues to grow, we will have more opportunities to partner with events and encourage even more people to see what Saskatchewan has to offer."

The exhibit, "The Power of Music: Sustainability & the JUNOS" was curated by RSM Curator of Human Ecology Glenn Sutter. It features four interactive listening and learning stations, each dedicated to a different sustainability theme and featuring a Canadian artist (Bruce Cockburn, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Neil Young and Sarah Harmer) and his or her cause. Each station will consist of text, images and an iPad that visitors can use to learn more about the artist and their efforts. They will also be able to listen to a song by the artist and six other songs that touch on the same theme.

Each station will also include additional causes supported by more than 20 JUNO Award-nominated artists that relate to the station's sustainability theme, including Arcade Fire, Billy Talent, Gord Downie, Justin Bieber and Nelly Furtado among others.

"Sustainability is an integral part of planning for all of our events and this exhibit is an extension of our initiatives for 2013 and our ongoing commitment to reduce our footprint," CARAS/The JUNO Awards President and CEO Melanie Berry said. "We're pleased to be partnering with the RSM to showcase the efforts of JUNO Award-winning artists, all of whom use their public image and music to raise awareness about social, economic and environmental issues."

Saskatchewan-born and internationally-acclaimed musician and artist Buffy Sainte-Marie visited the RSM today where she was joined by local high school students to help launch the exhibit. Together they explored the exhibit's four interactive listening and learning stations.

"Such a pleasure to combine public education and Aboriginal brilliance through the music and sparkle of the JUNOS," Sainte-Marie said. "Brains and crystals for sustainability in my own hometown!"

"Later in the spring this unique collaboration will become the RSM's fourth travelling exhibit," Doherty said. "It will be a legacy of the JUNO Awards that people around the province can come out to see and continue the musical interaction while learning about sustainability and how they can make a difference in their own communities."

The RSM is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Admission is by donation. Go to www.royalsaskmuseum.ca/ to learn more.