The Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party has grown into an event where people of all ages can work on their music and dance skills each year, and learn from some of the most talented musicians in their field.
This year’s Kitchen Party – the 14th edition of the event – was held earlier this month at Moose Mountain Provincial Park. The first week was Aug. 5-9, and the second was Aug. 12-16.
Michele Amy, who founded and continues to organize the camp each year, said the quality of the music this year was tremendous, the staff was fantastic and the participant feedback was excellent.
“The concerts each evening were well attended, the quality of the music was of the highest calibre, so it was a really exciting year for us,” said Amy.
Amy described the Kitchen Party as a multi-layered event. The first part is instructional, as people sign up to take lessons from touring musicians.
“These are musicians who are hired from all over the world and who excel in their craft on one of the key instruments which we’re teaching in a particular year. And so we hire a number of amazing instructors, and then people from all over Canada and the U.S. sign up to come as participants and engage in learning workshops with those artists.”
In the daytime, there are learning opportunities for people based on the instrument of their choice and the level of instruction. Those are alternated with campers learning to do collaborations, which is what Amy said professional musicians do as a matter of course.
“When you’re a learning musician, it’s maybe not in your skill set yet. So they work with the professionals on presenting these incredible collaborative efforts,” she said.
Dance is also a big part of their camp. Every day they have multiple genres of dance instruction, such as all of the traditional Prairie dances that they run workshops on in the afternoon, but then they have workshops on other Canadian dance styles as well. This year the focus was on Cape Breton, Quebec and Ontario.
Up to 90 campers are accepted each week, and each camp had close to that total. It meant they didn’t have to turn anyone away.
“In the evenings, we provide festival-style concerts. These will be concerts that nobody will ever be able to see again, because the musicians who we’ve hired from all over the world collaborate to create performances for the evening. And these are musicians who typically don’t tour together, or cross the same stages very often in these particular configurations. So what they create on the stage at the Kitchen Party is incredibly unique and engaging because it’s fresh and it’s right off the floor.”
Instructors in the first week taught fiddle, piano, guitar, banjo, ukulele and vocals. The second week offered lessons on fiddle, banjo, piano, guitar, mandolin, the cello and vocals.
“We have all sorts of diverse players, and they get up there together and they make absolute magic happen,” said Amy.
Amy believes they’re able to attract so many talented performers because she and her friends travel quite a bit and meet up at big events, play together and form relationships that last over time. Because they travel in the same circles, those circles overlap, and they have those friendships and connections.
The Kitchen Party has also developed an international reputation as a place of excellence, so they can invite big names who often have friends that have taught at the Kitchen Party.
“Our reputation generally precedes us when we make an offer to really big name artists.”
Amy stressed that the Kitchen Party is a family camp, and it’s for people of all ages. Families are encouraged to attend together, because it helps stimulate the music-making process. It takes many years for people to become proficient at their musical instrument, and they’re all at different points in their musical journey.
“A musician who is six or seven might be on the beginning of that journey, but maybe so is an adult musician might be on the beginning of their journey, starting an instrument at 50 or 60.”
When people walk into the community that is the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party, Amy said they start to coach people on how to be a musical village, how adults watch out for the children, and how children watch out for the elders.
“Everyone is valued regardless of who you are, your age or your ability level. We’re all just people on the same path, and some of us have spent a lot of our time doing one thing, and some have spent a lot of time doing something else.”
For the first time, due to the state of the economy, the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party fundraised for some camp counsellors, and people could send their children to the camp unsupervised.
“While we say we’re definitely not a children’s camp, this year we put in a children’s stream which was very successful in Week 2, and allowed a lot of families to have their children access this quality of music education and these quality instructors for their children.”
When the Kitchen Party started 14 years ago, Amy said about 80 per cent of its participants were from within a 100-kiloemtre radius of the camp. Twenty per cent were from other areas. Now she believes those numbers have reversed, with about 20 per cent from the southeast region, and 80 per cent are from beyond.
“We’re definitely a destination camp, and we’re bringing people in to the area from all over,” said Amy.
