2017 RBC Bluesfest Blues in the Schools

With 22 participating schools and over 6500 students per day, 24 artist/educators (Canadian and international) made their way around Ottawa and rural locations through the snow and rain, sharing the roots of music with students, parents and teachers alike. Featured here (on pajama day apparently!) are Shawn Tavenier and Tyler Kealey who spent the final week out at Arklan Public in Carleton Place preparing the kids for a performance on the final Friday. As a group, they miraculously wrote 6 original songs and put on a huge show. Congratulations to students across Ottawa on that final Friday for the hard work that they all undoubtedly put in.

“I just wanted to pass along how blown away we all were about our finale concert with Shawn and Tyler. I was almost brought to tears when I was announcing. What a great pair of musicians. I am amazed at how well they work with kids. They got the very most that they could have gotten out of our core group students and the audience loved it. I would love to have them back again…”
Susan McCuan-Harron, Teacher, Arklan, Carleton Place

Other participating artists for 2017 include TJ Wheeler, James Cohen, Todd Snelgrove, Chrissy Crowley (Cape Breton), Tyson Chen, Doug Gouthro, Rick Fines, Brandon Wint, Matt and Curtis Chaffey, Catriona Sturton, Tiah Akse, John Carroll, Gabe Roberge, Alex Lecours, Natalie Fraser, Sharon Riley, Jeff Rogers, Jonny Olsen, Chris Zimmerman, JW Jones, and Laura Greenburg. Thanks to everyone for making this program happen from staff, volunteers and sponsors.