Newsbites (Page 4)

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Home > McGill News > 2002 > Winter 2002-2003 > Newsbites > Newsbites (Page 4)

Newsbites (Page 4)

Jazz Reunion

PHOTO: Claudio Calligaris

Ten years ago, 22 McGill jazz musicians made a trip to Europe and the UK, playing the prestigious Guinness Jazz Festival in Cork, Ireland, as part of the renowned McGill Jazz Ensemble. Under the direction of Gordon Foote, the jazzers managed to resist the sponsor's brew long enough to play a blistering set to open the festival to enthusiastic reviews and went on to tour Paris and London.

This past October, the band members reassembled for a reunion concert at Pollack Hall. Many of the performers are enjoying international success and came from the U.S., Europe and across Canada for the reunion gig, which raised money for a Jazz Students' Scholarship Fund. (An old jazz joke: Know how to make a million dollars playing jazz? Start with two million.)

The original tour was in part the handiwork of former McGill Alumni Association director Gavin Ross, who had a friend at the Guinness Corporation and after much back and forth managed to secure the prestigious gig for the jazz ensemble and the tour that followed. It gave the young musicians "a chance to play for an international audience in pretty exciting venues they wouldn't otherwise get to play," Ross told the McGill Reporter recently.

Nearly all of the original 22 musicians made it back to McGill for the reunion concert.

Big News for Media Scholars

Take 12 young strangers, put them together in a house for several months and explore their progress on a web site. While it might sound like yet another reality TV series, it's actually a unique new scholarship program soon to debut at McGill.

The University will serve as headquarters for a group of twenty- something media professionals who are expected to make a big splash in the years to come.

Beginning next fall, the Sauvé Scholars program will offer 12 recipients unlimited access to McGill's courses and resources over a nine-month period, housing them in a building located within walking distance of campus.

"We're looking for emerging leaders, people who got up and did something out of the ordinary," explains Harry Parnass, president of the Sauvé Scholars Foundation. "We want the sort of individuals who, within five years of taking part in this program, will be starting up magazines, creating TV networks and running for public office."

McGill will have a hand in selecting the scholars, but the final decisions will be made by the foundation. Potential scholars need to have some background in the media, but that background can vary widely -- anything from serving as a reporter for a major newspaper to publishing an edgy underground e-zine.

Each scholar will be awarded a stipend valued at $30,000 for travel, tuition, food and other expenses. Sauvé Scholars can sit in on any McGill course that captures their interest. They can bone up on quantum physics, contemporary Russian literature, technological entrepreneurship -- whatever.

In addition, the foundation will invite prominent figures in politics, journalism and academe to meet with the scholars and, in some cases, lecture to the larger McGill community. For their part, Sauvé Scholars will publish essays, short films and photos on the foundation's web site.

Young people from around the world are invited to apply. In fact, Parnass is hoping to assemble as diverse a dozen as possible, people who can learn as much from one another as they learn from McGill. "We want them to feed off of one another," says Parnass. "This is an opportunity for them to refine their abilities. When their time here is done, they'll be better prepared to make their mark on the world."

"These are exactly the kind of young people we want as part of our community," says Associate Vice-Principal (Teaching Programs) Martha Crago of the scholars.

The program is sponsored by the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation. Sauvé -- a respected reporter, federal cabinet minister and Canada's first female governor general -- had a keen interest in the mass media and in encouraging young people to take part in public policy debates.

So if you're under 30, have two years or so of media experience and you're, in Parnass's words, "full of piss and vinegar," why not apply? More information is available on the foundation's web site at www.sauvescholars.org.

McGill in Toronto

Tara Kitts, Peter O'Brien and Ayanna Ryan are at your service.
PHOTOS: Henry Koro

Over 15,000. That's the number of McGill grads that live in and around Toronto. "Whenever I mention that figure," says Peter O'Brien, MA'85, Director of Development and Alumni Relations for McGill's Toronto office, "people are always a bit surprised. It really is a large number and there's no question that such a group deserves some special care and attention."

The office was set up in 1997 by Colin Campbell, BSc'62, as a way of connecting Toronto-area grads to McGill, and to ensure McGill had a presence in Canada's largest city. After Campbell retired this past spring, the office increased its complement to three full-time staff, and then moved into the newly invigorated King and Spadina neighbourhood, about five minutes' walk from the SkyDome.

While doing his Master's degree in English at McGill, O'Brien also worked as an editor with the McGill News. He then went to the University of Toronto, where he worked for 12 years in Public Affairs and Development. "Now I get the opportunity to work in this great city for my alma mater. It's the perfect combination," he says.

The office is involved in many aspects of McGill life.

"One of our staff, Ayanna Ryan, BA'98, visits about 50 schools each fall to recruit new students, and helps coordinate our local alumni activities. Tara Kitts, our other staff member, ensures that the whole office stays organized," says O'Brien. "My job really is to go out and meet with people to talk about the funding priorities of the University, as well as those of individual faculties. I'm trying to connect with as many McGill grads in Toronto as I can."

Among the activities the office has recently helped organize are a breakfast with medical researchers, a series of pub nights, and a reception at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair with Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean Deborah Buszard. There has also been a series of mini-lectures, including one by Faculty of Religious Studies dean Barry Levy on the James Ossuary, which was recently exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Proposed future events include a wine appreciation evening, a special tour for young donors of CITY-TV (whose president and executive producer is Moses Znaimer, BA'63), and the ever-popular Toronto Leacock Luncheon, planned this year for May 30.

McGill's Spadina Ave. headquarters.

"We try and cater to all ages and areas of interest, and our local alumni chapter is both committed to McGill and full of energy and enthusiasm," says O'Brien. "If you have an idea for an event, or information you'd like us to know, we'd be happy to hear from you."

The office works closely with newly minted principal Heather Munroe-Blum and all McGill faculties in order to help them stay connected with Toronto-area alumni.

"As I talk with people, I am always amazed at the great things they say about McGill -- grads of all ages, as well as current parents. McGill has a great story to tell and it's important we tell that story in Montreal and Toronto, certainly, but also across the country and wherever we have grads in the world," says O'Brien.

If you'd like more information about the office, please write to the McGill University Ontario Office, 110 Spadina Avenue, Suite 601, Toronto ON, M5V 2K4, or send an email to toronto.alumni@mcgill.ca.

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