Where the (he)art is: For this PEI artist, it took coming home to find her true calling
Megan Stewart had to get some distance to find out that she could create the art scene she was looking for
Megan Stewart is the co-creator behind several of P.E.I's local indie arts institutions of the past few years — namely the March of the Crows, an annual procession; the Island Fringe Festival, P.E.I's first and only festival for indie theatre; and the River Clyde Pageant, an annual community performance about water issues.
But when Stewart was a teenager, she couldn't wait to move away from Charlottetown. As she'll tell you in this video, she didn't feel like she could be part of the kind of art scene she was looking for in P.E.I.
Watch the video:
It wasn't until she was invited back one summer by Art in the Open to create what would become the March of the Crows that she realized she could have a larger impact making art in a smaller town than a big city. And she also found a community waiting for her — including performers and her musical director, Marti Hopson.
As Stewart reflects: "I thought I knew what the arts community was, but once I put out an invitation for others to join, so many different types of people came out of the woodworks to get involved. And the process has redefined what I think of as an arts community."
Follow Megan Stewart here.
Music courtesy of Petunia, the River Clyde Pageant and George Rahi; travel support courtesy of Simon Fraser University; camerawork by Millefiore Clarkes and sound by Steven Sych.
This short doc is the third part of a trilogy about community-created performances in P.E.I., including the River Clyde Pageant and the March of the Crows.
Stream CBC Arts: Exhibitionists or catch it on CBC Television Friday nights at 11:30pm (12am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT). Watch more videos here.
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