The jazz ensemble performing in 2019 (Photo: Grande Prairie Regional College / Flickr)

By Shaun Penner

Courses Cut

Arts community frustrated with loss of jazz, wind ensembles at GPRC

Apr 28, 2021 | 5:26 PM

The arts community in Grande Prairie is expressing its disappointment as Grande Prairie Regional College has recently made changes that have led to the elimination of the jazz and wind ensembles.

Interim Vice President of Academic and Research at GPRC Dr. Vanessa Sheane says the decision came after a “small number of reductions” in staffing were made this year, which she says aligned with student demand.

“GPRC, like all post-secondary institutions, are being asked to do more with less,” said Dr. Sheane. “It was a strategic decision that was driven by student demand. Historically, these courses have had low enrolment and low student demand.”

Both the jazz and wind ensembles have been offered by GPRC for many years and were comprised of a wide range of musicians from the community, including high school and college students, as well as members from the community at large.

Both of those ensembles had been led by Dr. Robert Howey, who broke the news to the community on his social media on Monday night.

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One of the many who took to social media to express their displeasure with that news was Travis Fowler, a musician in Grande Prairie who has been a part of both programs in the past under “Dr. Bob”.

He tells EverythingGP that he feels this is a significant loss to the community, not just at GPRC.

“They have a bigger impact on Grande Prairie as a whole, beyond the arts community,” said Fowler. “One of the great things about Grande Prairie is that we are this hard-working, northern city. We have all the trades, we have the oil industry, agriculture. At the same time, we have a very, very talented arts community.”

Understanding the financial reality the college is up against, Fowler feels arts courses are easy targets for institutions to cut. He feels by doing that, the school will chip away its arts offerings.

“Grande Prairie Regional College has all the trades… but it also had the culture of a strong art program,” said Fowler. “There are some film programs, there is some drama, then it had a great music program. And Dr. Bob was essential to that.”

Fowler also feels the removal of these two programs will be felt into the community, including at Grande Prairie Live Theatre, where many ensemble members, and Dr. Howey, have given their time to their productions over the years.

“GPLT is one of the few community theatres, in the country, that can offer live musicians for a lot of their productions.”

Speaking to EverythingGP last month, Interim President and CEO at GPRC Dr. Glenn Feltham did say the college did have to overcome some challenging financial times, mainly due to cuts in provincial grant funding. Those included a 13 per cent reduction in the Campus Alberta Grant in 2020. That amount was further reduced in 2021.

“These are difficult times for GPRC and for Alberta’s post-secondary institutions. These are difficult times for our province,” said Feltham, back in March. “I think it is important that we all find how we can do the things we need to do, in the best possible way, given the constraints that we’re faced.”

However, Fowler says he and several other members of the community are going to continue to advocate for GPRC to reinstate both ensembles, as well as Dr. Howey.

“There are a lot of people in this community reaching out that want this decision to be rescinded so that we can reinstate Dr. Bob, where he belongs, and we can have these programs and these wind ensembles and jazz bands because they play a huge role in the community.”

Dr. Sheane says the music programs remain intact at GPRC, including the Music Performance Diploma and the Bachelor of Music university transfer program. The choral ensemble will also continue.