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THE UPEI SUN,ThurSday,Nov.I6;I978,page 6

High Hopes for Anne of Green Gables J

The Board of Directors of Confederation Centre of the Arts has decided to seek the necessary finan— cial support to conduct a tour of the Charlottetown Festival hit musical "Anne of Green GAbles," either in the fall of 1979 or in the spring of 1980.

Hugh Palmer, Executive Director, Confederation Centre of the Arts, today announced that corporate and Canada Council spon— sorship will be sought during the coming months in order to mount a tour of Canada's best—loved musical stage production. He said that the Charlotte— town Festival is examin- ing the feasibility of mounting wither a nation- al tour of "Anne", or pos- sibly eastern.or western tours of that musical.

"Much will depend on the response we get from

Canada Council Touring Office and from a corpor- ate sponsor or sponsors," he said. . The decision to lay the groundwork for an"anne"

- tour was made at a nation- _ a1 meeting of the board

held in Ottawa on Thurs- day, November 2.

"The board recognizes that because Confedera- tion Centre is a national memorial it should present as many Canadians as pos— sible with the opportun— ity to see productions of the Charlottetown Festi— val, especially Canada's Iforemost musical, Anne of Green Gables.

"The board is very aware of the importance of touring, but it believes we must first build a sound.

- financial base in order

to make a tour viable," _ I . he said. ‘ 2 Mr. Palmer said that

the board last week dis— cussed program and finan— cial planning for the 1979 and 1980 Charlottetown Festivals. ‘The board,

officially known as the \

fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust, is com- posed of prominent Cana— dians, representative of most regions across Canada. In June of this year, tentative plans for a fall '78 Anne of Green Gables tour of 15 Ontario cities were shelved because a wide gap between revenues and expenditures could not be bridged, despite a promise of a $35,000 grant from the Canada Council. Serious attempts to muster corporate supp— ort for the tour as early as February of this year did not prove successful.

Mr. Palmer stressed that with Canada Council sup—

fl

port, corporate backing could come from One, or from several sponsors.

The costs of producing

‘Anne of Green Gables on

tour are far more costly than presenting the show at Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Anne of Green Gables is renowned as Canada's most successful musical stage production, currently approaching‘its fifteenth consecutive season in Charlottetwon. The pro- duction has also completed tow national Canadian tours and immensely successful engagements in Japan and in New York City.

The Charlottetown Fes— tival and Anne of Green Gables are produced by Confederation Centre of the Arts. ‘

7/13 life {Ind Deaf/z ,OfBén/am/n [lice 5/188.

On the night of March 11, 1977, a Canadian Indian was picked up in an Ot— tawa restaurant and char— ged with creating a dis- turbance. Less than half— an—hour after being ar— rested he was found gang— ing from the bars of a cell in the city jail.

Two days later he was dead. 50 ended the promising career of 32—year-old Benjamin Chee Chee, who was just beginning to real— ize his potential as an artist. Art critics were raving about his work, and a Vancouver exhibition of 45 of his paintings had sold out in one day at an average price of $400, with some going for as much as $1200.

A few days before his death, Benjy Chee Chee re— corded an interview in which he told his own story to freelance broad- caster Barry Penhale.

CBC Radio's BETWEEN OUR- SELVES presents it on Sat— urday, Nov. 25, at 6:15 p.m. (7:15 adt, 9:25 Nfld) Production: Arthur Crigh- ton in Toronto. The pro— gram also includes a look at the development of scul— pture and graphic art in the Canadian north over the last 20 years, pre- pared by Bob McKeown and produced by Nicloe Belan— ger in Ottawa. Executive producer: Doug MacDonald in Toronto.

For Benjy Chee Chee his last four years were his greatest, because he was winning success and recog- nition on the Canadian art scene. He had such a love of life that his friends wouldn't believe he would try to kill him— .self. He was happy with his work and was beginning to enjoy the fruits of prosperity. They think perhaps success came too fast for him.

Benjy Chee Chee had had a rough life as a child in northern Ontario. His father, a trapper, drowned while Benjy was only a few months old. His mother made a living as a domes- ‘tic, and often was forced to leave him alone. By the time he was 12, Benjy had been drunk several times, had gotten into trouble with the law, and had been confined in an Ontario Training School. He spent his next 10 years in and out of training‘ schools and jails, and lost track of his mother.

Some of his friends will be heard on Between OUr selves: Mrs. Marie Gaign— ery of the Nicholas Gall— ery in Ottawa, the first to show his work; Tom Hill an Indian artist to whom Benjy Chee Chee sold his first painting, for $800; and Neil Sneyd, proprietor of Toronto's Wildlife Gal- 1ery, who handled Benjy's

works and was proud to be called his friend.

BetWeen Ourselves will also try to answer such questions as: How have concepts of Inuit art dri fted away from tradi t- ional oots? What about charges of commercialism?

What's ahead as the Inuit art industry comes under the control of the artists?

AmOng those heard from

are Jim and Alma Houston,

native art historian Geo- rge Swinton, Bill Taylor of the Museum of Man, and,

of course, the artists of the north. The program

will include original Inuit music recorded in the Arctic by Stefan.Pel—

linski of the Faculty of Music at the Univ. of Montreal.

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