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Newsletter ~ April 2021

 
The theme for this month is anticipation ... 

The lovely couple next door just had a baby.  Their lives have deeply changed and a big factor is anticipation.  Who will little boy be, how will our lives be different, where will this journey of parenting take us?  My own anticipation ramps up as I hope the little fella asks  me one day to help him dig tunnels in the big dirt pile down the street like the neighbour boys a dozen years ago.

And speaking of anticipation, our band of hopeful optimists at the Music Mile worked up a small, elegant Strategic Plan this past year and used four very non bureaucratic words to describe what we wanted to do ...
  1.  Help
  2.  Engage
  3.  Amplify
  4.  Anticipate
So simple but so real ... I really love Anticipation ... number four.  In these times anticipation is a dance between hope and reality.  I am looking forward to the waltz and the close dance of anticipation

And speaking of anticipation, I have been reflecting on where this little Newsletter may be heading.  I promised myself and you that I would do one a month during the ugly year.  With this edition I have fulfilled those 12 publications.  I am not ready to do another 12 months but I am not quite ready to give it up either.  So, I am thinking that a seasonal Newsletter (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) might be enough for all of us, especially me.  

So a big thank you to those of you who wrote and gave me feedback,  those of you who allowed me to use your art and especially thanks to Murray Little whose artistic eye and technical gifts guided me through the year.

So, with some muted anticipation, please look for a summer edition in July ...


Notes from a Song ...

 
Bucket List ... a bucket list is simply an often imaginary list of things you want to do before you die.  I don't imagine many folks actually manage to cross the list off completely and we all have sat in a memorial knowing that there is a lot of undone energy in the room.

This song came from that place.  Years of anticipation, swallowed up by years of procrastination and a bucket list with a big hole in it.

 

Notes from a Practice ...

 

A new upcoming feature
As this brave new world continues to unfold and our workplace, organization and civic cultures continue to evolve, we may do well to explore the leadership and engagement practice side of our thinking and learning.  If you would like to learn more about these practical tools and practices in the book, drop me a line ... if you have a deeper interest, I can send you the book for a subscriber's rate of $15.00 which includes postage. 



My colleagues at Roy Group are continuing to open up their great work virtually in coaching and conflict resolution ... There are a number of great online courses coming in the new year.  Look for The Leader's Discipline, Opportunities in Conflict, and Focus on Self on the website.
As always, find your own leadership practice! Then find your community of practice!


Notes from a Master...


All you engagement practitioners out there know how much I love the study of systems thinking and the practice of putting whole systems into a room for Big Conversations.  I was so lucky to be in a room in the early 80's where I saw the OpenSpace tool put into practice in a room of 500 people.  Since then I have led a few hundred of these myself and every time I reflect on the down to earth wisdom of Harrison Owen.  It was his dream to create a frame for large scale meetings and conferences that built agendas from the room itself not the head office.  He loved the idea of people joining each other in conversations that were more like coffee break conversations then agenda driven presentations. He took us off script!  Here is Harrison, one of the true elders in my life reflecting on our world through the lens of this practice

... I would recommend it it you have a a spare 23 minutes in your life.

 

Notes from a Neighbourhood ...

 

Organized religion has been occupying a lot of rental space in our heads this last year but here are a couple of photos from my neighbourhood walks that made me smile and gave me a little anticipatory hope ...

We have many Little Libraries and I could not believe my eyes when I saw these two books sharing the same space ... Fifty Shades of Grey meets Absolutely No Shades of Grey.  The Bible was snapped up quickly... the novel still sits.

I noticed this lovely group sitting on the church steps one fine Sunday morning ... I stopped and asked them about their church as I knew it was a very old time gospel orientated place of worship.  "Oh this is not our church," said the one lady.  "We are from the Catholic Church down the street but we love these church steps better!"

Anticipation...a fine thing, indeed.

Duly Noted ...

 
Remember to check out ... The Music Mile Society has a number of things happening including our  Music Mile Revival Fund

Please stay tuned to the Music Mile website for the next Stakeholder Town Hall April 20, 2021

The Music Mile Society is now publishing a monthly newsletter and I would encourage Calgarians and anyone else with an interest to subscribe and help support live music in Calgary.  Here is the column I wrote for the April edition and i believe it reflects our sense of purpose over the past year and the sense of anticipation for the next...

Milestones…Bob Chartier
Music Mile Newsletter, April 2021
 

 It’s been over a year since a pandemic changed the world as we know it. Music Mile has stood with our partners to address the COVID crisis together, head on.
 
Last summer, Music Mile hosted Friday Night Live, putting 173 artists in 13 capacity-restricted venues over 9 Friday nights, with a 5 hour weekly live stream, garnering nearly 3500 livestream views and 1800 in person attendees. Music Mile To Gobroadcasts in February featured 29 paid artists, prizes from Music Mile businesses, and delicious take out meals from fantastic restaurants on the Mile. We’re planning FNL+ for 2021!
 
In the past twelve months we’ve hired a part time coordinator, attracted new people to our board, welcomed a dynamic new volunteer coordinator and a new artist liaison. We’ve enjoyed hosting regular Town Halls to bring live music industry folks together to plan our collective future.
 
Our online presence will grow with interactive features on artists, youth, a volunteer portal, blogging and live streaming.
 
We are exploring more street activity with a new busking program and our lovely purple pop-up tent. We are very excited about the possible launch of First Mondays for Youth(performance and professional mentorship outdoors and online during COVID, and on real Music Mile stages asap) and seeing it spread across the city. 
 
Oh yes, we took care of business, with a 2021 strategic plan…I loved that it emerged on one page in plain language. Our mantra: Help (survival is still our #1 focus), Engage (always making new friends), Amplify and Build Anticipation (to me, the dance between reality and hope). 
 
Our Music Mile stakeholders on the front lines keep the spirit alive. The Ironwood invented window concerts, FolkFest’s live stream Block Heaterkept us warm, the hot chocolate bomb satisfies our sweet tooth at the Blues Can, the big pivot to takeout in the eateries,Fort Calgary’s Exploring the Confluenceinitiative and an art gallery that you can visit virtually on the Mile!   
 
Not a bad year’s work…for a d#$% lockdown!!
 
Take a bow Board members, committee members, volunteers, stakeholders, musicians and elders (you know who you are!!), and most of all, all you fans who keep coming to the Mile for a good time even when there’s no music.
 
In some little ways we kicked the Pandemic’s gnarly assumptions…



Find more on our anticipated plans @ https://www.musicmile.ca/about-3
 
Please consider subscribing to the Music Mile newsletter @  https://www.musicmile.ca/contact 

 

 

 

Please note … you have received this newsletter simply because at some point our paths crossed.  It might have been through my engagement practice, my pottery practice, my song writing practice or maybe I just met you on the street in my capacity as the Street Corner Mayor of the Music Mile here in Calgary. 

Please enjoy and give me feedback on how I can do better.  You can email me directly at chartierbob1@gmail.com  If this sort of thing just annoys you, please hit the unsubscribe button!  If you think someone else might enjoy it please pass it along and perhaps consider subscribing yourself.

bob
 

“... We need the sweet pain of anticipation to tell us we are really alive.” 
― Albert Camus

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Thank you for your support and taking time to read this newsletter!
~ Bob Chartier

 

Copyright © 2021 Bob Chartier, All rights reserved.


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