#1 Congres Mondial Acadian Arts Culture update 2024
French Canadian artists who grapple with unresolved shadows creeping out from the corners of cultural tableau of World Acadian Congress in 2024.
What could be the very last CMA 2024 event shows a Bleak Outlook for Future Cultural Events in Insular French Acadian Culture.
A quadrennial spectacle that paints vibrant pictures of our cultural wealth, the World Acadian Congress is an exquisite ode to the rich tapestry of Acadian tradition, language, and history. Our rejoinder to an ever-diluting media world is an assertion of identity that glows like a steady candle in the dark expanse of global homogenization in a perfect Pleasantville Franco Cajun World.
The Congress event is not just an event but an unfolding narrative, an interweaving of artistic expressions that form a colourful mosaic of our Acadian sensibilities. Each Congress becomes a testament to our shared kinship, an accumulation of shared stories, and an affirmation of our unique collective spirit, with the inclusion of the Q in LGBTQ for a change.
However, as a contemporary French Canadian artist who began his creative journey in 1974, I grapple with unresolved shadows creeping out from the corners of this sparkling cultural tableau. For instance, the most recent World Acadian Congress in 2024 left an unexpected collapse of meaning bitterness, a disagreeable residue from a taut apprehension towards the evolving, the fresh, the 'other.'
Conservatism attempted to imitate curation, deliberately ignoring avenues of cultural evolution. Ideas that challenged the norm or moved against the established grain were scrubbed off the canvas.
The refusal to accommodate the emerging diversity like Claude Edwin Theriault and his Cajun Dead et Le WalkinStick benchmark 1755 Duspora of the French Acadian Deportation of Grand Pré as seen through the eyes of two five-year-old children or his Cajun Dead et «le TalkinStick song lyric project of innovation and change.
All of it gets ignored by the Allister Surrette, Yaugh Madden, Marcel Aymar, Nathalie Robicheau, Trevor Murphy, Daniel Le Blanc, and Toutes la Oligarce Gang. All serve to reveal a potent xenophobic cookie-cutter fear of the different creative and innovation, of anything that refused to be bludgeoned into homogeneity.
The culmination of these regressive tendencies led to a glaring exclusion. The executive committee, responsible for steering the artistry and communication of the Congress, disregarded the heart of what makes us truly Acadian—our diversity. Our embrace of differing identities, voices, and narratives has always been our strength until the recent past.
The Congress, once a beacon of inclusivity, suddenly belied xenophobia and queerphobia, constructing deafening silences where once there was music, painting voids where there should have been colours.
While the 2024 Congress did drape itself in a beautiful tapestry of traditional performances, there was a palpable lack, a tell-tale absence that belied the festive facade. The glaring omission of contemporary artists—spark-plug visionaries daring to disturb current inertia with their avant-garde explorations—left a gaping hole that was hard to ignore. These creative mavericks were subtly nudged to the margins; their honesty and audacity ghosted in favour of a safer, steadier route.
Claude Theriault
Amazon kdp Children's Book on Grand Pré 1755 Diaspora is worth the read.
The relentless celebration of sameness indicates a troubling trend toward monolithic representation, threatening to smother our culture's dynamic pulse. Genuine artistic evolution needs space to challenge, question, and deviate, but the 2024 Congress sought to weed out these disruptions, favouring comfortable stagnation over uncomfortable growth.
As a community, we need to catch up on the multifaceted narratives offered by these contemporary voices. Their vibrant stories, encoded in brushstrokes, melodies, and movements, faded into the shadows, away from the glaringly unidirectional spotlight.
Thus, the question is heavy and has implications: What will the future hold for the World Acadian Congress if it continues to tread along the rigid alleys of aged conventions? If the voices of contemporary artists find no space in our cultural landscape, will the Congress remain relevant, vibrant, and meaningful?
There is an urgency to change, to reorient our collective gaze and listen to the voices that refuse to adhere to antiquated norms of Our Artistes from the Bay being the only Acadian Music Hill Bill style prevent in the Atlantic Canadian scene. Leaving little to no representation for visual artists
The most important French Acadian Visual artist ever was June Deveau; her works have a profound Heritage of Patrimonial pride and expressive love for all things Acadian; the CMA 2024 Claregyle event would have been a great opportunity to do a retrospective of her work, yet the selfish self-serving executive community has no interest in doing so; it is as if she and her work never existed in the self-serving agenda of the Oligarchs who do what they want with 7.3 million dollars and do not answer to anyone.
Hence, there is a need for Contemporary artists to bear the torch of progress, moving the dull and uninspired culture forward, ahead with a vision freed of crippling conventions. A path waits to be carved out from the thickness of current biases, shining with the potential of equal representation, rich intersectional identities, and a fair celebration of diversity.
It is time to let go of the concrete uniformity and embrace the abstract chaos of human expression. Let us invite the emergence of a million narratives, each different, each beautiful in its authenticity. In the vibrant mosaic of these stories and journeys, we will find the true essence of Acadian culture.
The congress must evolve, not just survive, and for that, we need to salvage the essence of artistic interplay from the tides of blind conservatism. Let the World Acadian Congress become a platform that is not merely celebratory but also transformative, showcasing our resilient Acadian narratives yet leaving room for change, growth, and constant evolution.
To echo a time-worn truth, unity in diversity will keep our rich Acadian culture aflame. So, let's continue to kindle this beautiful flame together, lighting the way to a more inclusive and vibrant future.
"Callout to stop the racist fuelled Ghosting as a Consequence of Xenophobia and Queerphobia."
As a renewed teller of cultural tales through art, I'm saddened to witness the unfolding tragedy of exclusion— a heartbreaking narrative seemingly etched deep into the canvas of the World Acadian Congress, perpetrated, quite ironically, by the hands of its executive committee.
A noticeable blindness to the crucial need for acknowledging and expressing diverse identities manifests within the committee's actions, trumpeting out a sorrowful reminder of the often unheard realities of xenophobic and queerphobic tendencies.
Astonishingly, while traditionally adorned performances took centre stage at the World Acadian Congress 2024, filling the halls with sound, colour, and movement—a haunting stillness could be felt. Like an unsaid prayer gone afloat amidst the clamour, the silence was telling.
The expanse was devoid of the loud and powerful voices of contemporary artists who aren’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers to cause ripples in tradition's otherwise calm waters. Artists, with their innovative thoughts and bold concepts, add a modern tinge to the canvas of tradition.
Contemporary artists, armed with a creative liberty that isn't afraid to question the status quo, were ghosted. Their brilliance, which should have shone within the spaces of this esteemed Congress, was carelessly held back behind the opaque curtains of conservatism.
The exuberant vitality, disruptive innovation, and fresh perspectives that they bring to the grandeur of the World Acadian Congress remain unseen, marring the potential bloom of ideation and gravely dampening the spirit of the occasion.
The loss of their dynamic presence turns the Congress into a stark landscape, deprived of the interaction and intersection between past narratives and the challenges of the present moment. This eerie absence of contemporary artists' bold narratives is a chilling reminder of the monumental loss the Congress experiences with each passing edition. The unwillingness to embrace evolving modern voices starkly contradicts the rich vein of progress, movement, and inclusivity that the genuine spirit of Acadian culture encourages.
This artistic shadow-play at the Congress hides many, and it is time we pulled back the veils, allowed the hushed voices to echo within the walls, and lit up the hallowed spaces with a vibrant array of narratives. It's high time that the World Acadian Congress rises from this lamentable state of creative stagnation and embraces the crisp freshness of contemporary artistic voices, taking them into its fold.
Highway to Artistic Homogeneity for a Change
As we observe our Acadian cultural scenery, a lingering question appropriates our thoughts: What lies at the end of a road paved by collective amnesia? Imagine, if you will, a cultural landscape luxurious in its variety of vibrant artistic expressions, lively colours and dynamic ideas. Yet, what awaited spectators at the World Acadian Congress 2024 was a consistent, unvarying terrain needing more creative evolution.
An artist is a provocateur of vision, a manipulator of norms, and a boundary-pusher who constantly prises open the oyster of creativity to reveal unexpected wisdom. Yet, in the face of restrictive structures at the Congress, what could have been a vibrant gallery of artistic evolution dulled into a succession of monotonous illustrations with little variety.
One cannot help but ask: What happens when inclusivity implodes into singularity? When diverse strains of our cultural DNA are masked under an overbearing milieu of sameness? The World Acadian Congress 2024 was undeniably wrapped in a quilt of comforting familiarity—but the underlying, persistent homogeneity was a chilling reminder of enforced conformity.
This homogeneity—a steady, droning hum—is not just a mark of artistic stagnation but also serves as a form of resistance to cultural evolution. A cultural event that once pulsated with heterogeneity, injected with invigorating artistic expressions, stagnated into an echo chamber of uniformity and sameness at the Congress. The lack of diverse artistic expressions and the muting of the metronome of progress is an indictment against the spirit of inclusivity engrained in our Acadian blood.
Significantly, the voices lost to this tidal wave of conservatism are not faint whispers; they are the boisterous din of contemporary, maverick artists. Their narratives are as diverse as their artistic methods, revealing a panoramic view of our current societal dialogue. The danger of this enforced silence is profound – for when such important voices fade, a monumental aspect of Acadian culture dims.
But, having dwelled in this world of the arts since 1974, I've come to cherish one thing above all: artists, as a breed, don't easily accept defeat. We adapt, persist, and create defiantly against all odds. Although the Congress 2024 could have better embraced this defiant spirit of the contemporary Acadian artist, this should serve as a clarion call, not a death knell for our vibrant culture.
Our Acadian culture isn't a stale photograph but a rich, endlessly evolving tapestry. As guardians of this heritage, it's incumbent upon us all to sustain the dynamism, audacity, and colourful, unapologetic interweaving of various narrative threads and ensure that our culture continues to radiate its true vibrancy. Whether that will be acknowledged and championed in future iterations of the World Acadian Congress remains to be seen.
The Path Yet Taken by the Xenophobic Executive Committee and the Future Awaiting for the Brave and Intrepid Queer and Marginalised
As the curtain descends on the World Acadian Congress, the future is like an impalpable fogged mirror. The Congress, up until now a famed project honouring Acadian culture, now faces the chokehold of this figurative fog - the stubbornly persistent conservatism and blinkered norms.
These issues, gnarly brambles at our feet, time and again tripping the Congress, become increasingly pronounced with the passing years. The vital question looms shadowily before us, askance and perennial – what could the future of the Congress be if it continues down this narrow path of rigid conventions and parochial customs? The thought, loaded with implications, lingers like a suspenseful symphony, heavy with foreboding notes.
However, as much as the concerns hound us, it's crucial to remember that the antidote to our predicament mystery already exists, sparkling in plain sight—our salvation beams from the cutting-edge sensibilities of contemporary artists.
These creative visionaries have already chipped away at the chains of oppressive traditions, unveiling a new world that champions liberating concepts over repressive confines. They paint a path, a Rocketsurgeon's trail, unmarred by the shackles of stereotypes and lit by the incandescent ideas of free-thinking voices. Through the symphony of their skills, they imagine a society that has transcended crippling conventions, blooming into a space enriched with the golden hues of diversity and the sterling silver of acceptance.
The path sketched by these artists is a good track. It's a less-travelled road that promises a horizon flushed with equal representation, a scenic vista dotted with intersectionality of identities. They spur us to view the world beyond the spectrum of singular dimensions. The World Acadian Congress can take cues from these revolutionary artists and promote the understanding of culture's dynamism, celebrating it as a shifting, evolving organism rather than a static entity frozen in time.
Instead of folding into a mould of uniformity, the Congress can envelop itself in the vibrant patchwork of myriad narratives. After all, the essence of Acadian culture thrives not in monotonously similar tales but in a technicolour vision stitched from multiple perspectives and experiences. The enchantment lies in honouring the variances, not the mere homogenization of culture harvested from eons.
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It's high time the World Acadian Congress paused, assessed its leaning, and aligned towards a more open, diverse ethos. We must keep the Congress's spirit alive by making space for artists who challenge, disrupt, and reconstruct status-quo norms. We must let this blend of old-world charm and new-age vibrancy bind us stronger than ever. This would truly be a tribute to Acadian culture—a warm gathering that encapsulates love, unity, acceptance, and a reflection of all who wear the Acadian identity proudly.
In conclusion, the need of the hour is an intervention. Congress needs to reassess its conservative approach, navigate away from its traditional moorings, and chart for edgier and more potentially worthy artistic vistas. Let's strive and not avoid ensuring that the World Acadian Congress remains an event that truly mirrors our narrative — that of the Acadians, not just the ten Oligarce who run the show.
An event that boasts of our resilience, capacity for love and acceptance, and an unyielding commitment to unity. Let's light the pathway forward, illuminated not by a single tone but by a kaleidoscope of artistic expressions, multifarious yet harmoniously assembled.
