I am Debra Chandler, and I have the privilege of working with a wide range of professional musicians who perform under the banner of Concerts in Care Ontario for our aging population in long-term and memory care (LTCs), assisted and independent living facilities. We perform in more than 115 facilities in Ottawa, Pembroke, Sudbury, Windsor, London, and the GTA.
As a result of COVID-19, we can no longer perform the remaining 300+ in-person concerts inside these seniors' facilities, and the research we had planned with Kate Dupuis of the Sheridan Centre for Aging, has been deferred. We also had a pilot series of concert-lectures ready to go for the Resident Doctors at McMaster University.
It will likely be 2021 before we can even contemplate returning to inside concerts in LTCs, but we suspect retirement/independent living homes will open in the fall. We will be there as soon as safety allows. And the research will follow. AND, once McMaster is up and running, we will run there, too!
In the meanwhile, the isolation and health situations compel us to help in any way we can. We have, with our colleagues in BC, Alberta, and Quebec, started production of a series of 30-minute video concerts called "From Our Home to Your Home." This is an opportunity to ensure music for the seniors, and some decent work for the musicians. They are recorded in an up-close and personal frame with the artists addressing their audiences through the camera in a manner that makes the listeners feel as though they are in the same room with the performers, just like in-person Concerts in Care performances!
People reading this interested in finding us can stay in touch with what we are doing and planning by visiting www.concertsincareontario.com, or by contacting me by email at debra@concertsincareontario.com
