Tantramar youth need a place to hang out, says Michael Freeman, and tonight at the Sackville Commons, they will have just that, at an all-ages open mic and show, featuring local garage rock band, Reclaim the Vents.<\/p>\n
Freeman is six weeks into his new position as youth strategic coordinator for the United Way\u2019s YOU Turns program, based out of Tantramar Regional High School. CHMA spoke to him about his new role and the upcoming show.<\/p>\n
Freeman\u2019s job runs the gamut from helping youth connect with resources to help meet their basic needs like housing, food and health, but also to help provide some opportunities for enjoyment. \u201cFun is restorative,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cIt\u2019s a human right, it\u2019s developmentally necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeman says he has heard youth expressing the need for spaces to hang out. \u201cFrom my point of view, I think it\u2019s crazy that a community of our size doesn\u2019t have a youth centre,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cAnd so the hope is, we\u2019re working with the Sackville Commons, and we would really like to, over the next year or so, develop a youth drop in space where people can come in, hang out, engage in programming, get some food, and do those kinds of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to get the ball rolling, we\u2019re thinking, let\u2019s have some events, let\u2019s have some open mics and coffee houses, some concerts,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cWe\u2019re starting to see more concerts in Sackville now. It\u2019s great. But there are not a lot of concerts that you can go to if you\u2019re 14, or in that zone, or if you just don\u2019t want to be around drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s show features Reclaim the Vents, a band made up of Tantramar Regional High School students. Freeman credits TRHS music teacher Tanya Dunlop with introducing students to basic rock instruments during the pandemic, when wind instruments suddenly became problematic. \u201cIt\u2019s so cool to see something updated and relevant, that kids really feel good about,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cAnd that they can carry into their community and do in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s event is at the Sackville Commons on Lorne Street, and doors open at 6:30pm. Cover charge is $5 for youth $8 for adults, and free for anyone who\u2019s performing, but Freeman says no-one will be turned away for lack of funds: \u201cWe just want people to show up and have a good time and be together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tantramar youth need a place to hang out, says Michael Freeman, and tonight at the Sackville Commons, they will have just that, at an all-ages open mic and show, featuring local garage rock band, Reclaim the Vents. Freeman is six weeks into his new position as youth strategic coordinator for the United Way\u2019s YOU Turns…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":164634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,219],"tags":[26266,3619,20501,8151,487,27828],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164627"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164978,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164627\/revisions\/164978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164627"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=164627"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=164627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}