Harvest Media Center
The Fredericton Playhouse Honours
Brent Staeben
February 18, 2009
The Fredericton Playhouse will honour Brent Staeben at a Gala Fundraising event on Saturday, May 2. Mr. Staeben is being recognized for his outstanding contribution to music and the performing arts in the local community.
Mr. Staeben has been one of the foremost leaders of Fredericton's music scene for the past 15 years. For the past ten years, he's been music director of the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, building it into one of Atlantic Canada's largest and most influential festivals. As music director, he's not only presided over unprecedented growth of the event which now spans six days and almost two dozen stages, he's maintained a firm commitment to the development of local and Atlantic Canadian musicians. He developed a lasting relationship with CBC's Galaxie to bring the Rising Star contest to the Festival which has been responsible for "discovering" local talent such as Matt Andersen, Ross Neilsen and Keith Hallett. He has also brought in national and international recording artists who may not otherwise have ever been heard live in our community. In the past five years, the Festival has donated more than $50,000 to local school music programs. Mr. Staeben has been a juror at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and sat on the board of the Maple Blues Society. And he does all this as a volunteer. In his professional life, he is the director of marketing and communications for Service New Brunswick and a father of two active, growing young boys.
In January of 2008, the Board of Directors of the Fredericton Playhouse initiated a program to honour the contributions of individuals to the performing arts in Fredericton with the purpose to foster a deeper appreciation of the value that individuals make to community life through their work in the performing arts (music, theatre, dance, spoken word, multidisciplinary arts).
"I'd like to thank the Playhouse Board of Directors for this incredible honour" said Staeben. "I have always believed that Fredericton has tremendous potential just waiting to be tapped. Through the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, I hope we have helped inspire others in this city to create something meaningful and lasting, and to work a little harder for the community's betterment. More so, I hope that we have helped change not only how we as Frederictonians look at our own city, but how people across the province, region and country look at this gem we call home."
Mr. Steaben will be honoured at the Onstage Gala Dinner to benefit the Fredericton Playhouse and he will also be recognized in a permanent display in the Playhouse facility. President of the Board of Directors, Scott Thomson noted that he is "pleased that our Playhouse Honours program is creating a tradition of honouring people like Brent Staeben who, through their hard work and dedication to the performing arts, contribute to the cultural fabric of Fredericton."
"The Onstage Gala is a special evening of celebration and recognition, and we're very pleased to be honouring such a commendable recipient," said Scott Thomson, Playhouse Board President. The event will feature musical performances as well as a silent auction filled with unique items such as a trip for two to Toronto to see Measha Brueggergosman perform at the Roy Thomson Hall.
Tickets for the dinner are available through the Development Director at the Fredericton Playhouse. For more information or to purchase tickets contact Valerie Hillier by phone at 459-6207 or by email valerie@theplayhouse.ca.
