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Music lending program goes to 11 in celebration of 150

Sarah McLachlan and mayor sing benefits of making music more accessible
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(Left to right) VPL chief librarian Sandra Singh, VPL board chair Kyla Epstein, Sarah McLachlan, Mayor Gregor Robertson and Sun Life Financial Canada president Kevin Dougherty were at the Central Library branch of the Vancouver Public Library Monday to announce the expansion of a wildly-successful instrument lending program. Photo Dan Toulgoet.

Music and parties go together like peanut butter and jam.

Jamming and partying was top of mind Monday for musicians, Mayor Gregor Robertson and a host of dignitaries gathered at the Central Library branch of the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) to announce the expansion of a wildly-successful instrument lending program.

Sun Life Financial Canada president Kevin Dougherty announced the program, which started in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto last year, will expand to libraries across Canada to coincide with the nation’s 150th birthday.

Guitars, ukuleles, violins, keyboards and various percussive instruments are available to loan for free as part of the program. Fifty instruments are being donated to libraries in in each of the three founding cities to keep up with a level of demand that has skyrocketed since its inception in June 2016.

“After it launched last summer, instrument lending was big hit with Vancouverites,” said VPL board chair Kyla Epstein. “All of the instruments were borrowed or reserved the same day we launched. That popularity has only continued.”

That level of demand is such that a 450-instrument waitlist exists today.

While no financial terms were released Monday, the program received about $100,000 at its Vancouver launch last year. That money goes toward donating and maintaining the instruments. Long & McQuade is also a program partner, overseeing the maintenance and repair of instruments.

Multiple Juno and Grammy award winner Sarah McLachlan was on hand Monday to tout the program’s benefits, and music’s place in a child’s development. She said she was bullied in her formative years as a teenager and music was her place of solace.

“Music was the one thing that got me through it,” McLachlan said. “It gave me an amazing emotional outlet and lens through which I could make sense of the world. Through music I felt I had value.”

The Sarah McLachlan School of Music programs in Vancouver and Edmonton have received funds from Sun Life in the past. McLachlan also donated an acoustic guitar to the library on Monday.

“I know how extremely valuable music education is and the amazing benefit the arts offer our children and youth,” she said.

A tuba player and drummer, Robertson noted that creativity in its myriad forms is having a tangible impact on Vancouver’s economy, and that programs like the VPL’s are breathing new life in to the city. “It’s making a huge impact on our economy,” Robertson said. “Vancouver right now is cranking economically because of music, and because of the creative spark that we have here. We are creative capital now. This is a new identity that I think we’re finally coming to grips with.” 

For info on the program, go online to vpl.ca/programs/details/borrow_a_musical_instrument_faq.

@JohnKurucz

jkurucz@vancourier.com