The love of music has led a pair of local businesses to come together in support of an exciting music initiative in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge.
Lucky Star Guitars and The Geomatic Attic, both prominent supporters of local and visiting musical acts, have collaborated to fund the new Lucky Star Guitars/Geomatic Attic Digital Audio Arts Award. Mike Christou, Tom Anderson and Fred Greene of Lucky Star Guitars and Mike Spencer of The Geomatic Attic see it as a harmonious relationship.
“Five years ago, when Lucky Star brought forward the idea of donating guitars, getting them signed by the performers that came through The Geomatic Attic and holding a raffle, we loved the idea,” says Spencer. “Many scenarios for using the money to assist fine arts students were discussed and we feel the creation of this award will benefit not only the Digital Audio Arts (DAA) program but the local music community as a whole – and for many years to come. This sort of initiative is one of the reasons The Geomatic Attic was created in the first place.”
The new award creates a unique opportunity for University of Lethbridge students, the end result being student-recording projects with student art elicited for album covers. Each year, 500 CD units highlighting a DAA musician will be produced and sold, with proceeds adding to the continuation of the award.
The initiative began with a guitar, generously donated by Lucky Star Guitars, which was raffled off in support of the award. The Geomatic Attic had visiting artists sign the guitar in advance of a raffle. To date, four guitars have been raffled in support of the award.
“We at Lucky Star Guitars enthusiastically partnered with Mike and The Geomatic Attic and we are presently auctioning our fifth guitar,” says Christou. “We’re pleased that the U of L Faculty of Fine Arts has partnered with the two of us for this recording project, and thank the initiative of the University and the generosity of the Sakamoto family for creating this spectacular recording studio.
“Our objective with the recording and CD production is to promote local musicians, student production specialists and artists, and ultimately contribute more money to the funds that will be raised by future guitar raffles and through the sales of our CDs. Our vision is that this project will promote local talent and the U of L’s commitment to the community.”
In addition, The Geomatic Attic and the U of L have partnered to present The Geomatic Attic U of L Concert series. Beginning February 23 with the Acoustical Sounds of Big Sugar, this series will feature outstanding live musical acts from throughout the Canadian Prairies performing in the U of L Theatre. Again, a portion of the proceeds from each concert will fund the Lucky Star Guitars/Geomatic Attic Digital Audio Arts Award.
“This is such a unique concept and it’s only made possible because of the commitment of both Lucky Star Guitars and The Geomatic Attic supporting aspiring local musicians and artists,” says Dr. Ed Jurkowski, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. “Our students will now have an incredible opportunity to make their mark in the music business while still studying their craft. I’m very grateful for their generous support of our program.