Arts

The art post outpost: Remembering Leonard Cohen and celebrating diversity

Your weekly roundup of can't-miss arts stories from across the CBC network.

Your weekly roundup of can't-miss arts stories from across the CBC network

Canadian icon Leonard Cohen passed away last week at the age of 82. (AFP/Getty Images)

Here at CBC Arts, you won't just find our original content — we also bring you the best art posts from across the entire CBC network.

These are the week's can't-miss stories from coast to coast:

Remembering 'unparalleled artist' Leonard Cohen (CBC News)

"We're so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is."

Those are the words of Lou Reed as he inducted the legendary Canadian singer into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. And on Thursday night of last week, that luck ran out: Cohen's family broke the news that he had passed away at the age of 82. CBC News celebrated the best moments of the songwriter's life and work — as all of Canada did the same.

Sacred Feminine: Indigenous art colouring book celebrates the power of women (Unreserved)

Jackie Traverse's message is as simple as it is powerful: "All women are sacred." The Winnipeg artist's latest project is a colouring book dedicated to Indigenous women, and she joined Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild for a chat about the book's mission and finding strength through art. (Revisit Traverse's CBC Arts video feature from last year.)

Celebrating Leonard Cohen (q)

Following the news of Leonard Cohen's passing, q dedicated their entire Friday show to his memory. Everyone from Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly to Cohen's most recent co-writer and co-producer Patrick Leonard took a few minutes to pay their respects to the iconic songwriter — Ron Sexsmith even stopped by the q studios just a handful of hours after the news broke to perform a cover of "The Faith." The music and conversation of the two-hour special soundtracked the country's struggle to come to grips with the loss.

'Making a meaninful difference': CBC launches new film fund for diverse filmmakers (CBC News)

Ready for more diverse voices to be represented on the CBC? The Breaking Barriers Film Fund will help make that happen: $7.5 million dollars will be invested over the next three years into supporting women, Indigenous people, visible minorities and the differently abled. Heather Conway, CBC's executive vice-president of English Services, explained that diversity is not just "some kind of task" for the corporation: "Our audience is made up of varied groups of people — we need to reflect that."

Tanya Tagaq teams up with Greenlandic mask dancer for 'incredibly intense' music video (CBC North)

Tanya Tagaq is no stranger to making haunting work — so her music video for the title track of her new record Retribution should come as no surprise. The celebrated Inuit throat singer teamed up with Greenlandic mask dancer Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory for the gripping collaboration, which features an unsettling spoken word piece from Bathory alongside her dancing and Tagaq's signature singing.

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