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Burnaby Neighbourhood House open mic nights mark one year of building community

A year ago, local musician Robert Stewart partnered with Burnaby Neighbourhood House to start up a monthly open mic night series at the organization’s community hall.
Burnaby Neighbourhood House community hall, open mic nights, Robert Stewart
Robert Stewart plays in front of Burnaby Neighbourhood House Community Hall on Rumble Street in a photo taken a year ago, when the BNH open mic nights started. The open mic series is celebrating its one-year anniversary on Thursday, April 4.

A year ago, local musician Robert Stewart partnered with Burnaby Neighbourhood House to start up a monthly open mic night series at the organization’s community hall.

One year later, the open mic nights are going strong – and the group is hosting a celebratory event on Thursday, April 4 to mark its one-year anniversary. The community event has been growing in popularity each month since it kicked off on April 5, 2018.

 “Over the past year, the Burnaby Neighbourhood House community open mic has had singers from the local community come and perform on stage a selection of music types: everything from barbershop quartets to pop to country to folk music,” says a press release about the event. “We have also had poetry reads. Everyone gets time on stage, and it’s a real family event.”

The open mic is open to all performers, aged 14 and older, who want to share their talents – singers, instrumentalists, comedians, poets, spoken word artists and more. Since it’s for an all-ages audience, performers are asked to keep their material appropriate for families.

If anyone wants to join in the fun but not perform, that’s OK too – audience members are welcome to drop in, by donation (suggested donation $4) and just enjoy the talents on display.

Each night includes time for seven drop-in performers, plus one featured artist. For the April 4 edition, the featured musician will be the Burnaby-born and –raised musician Matthew Stewart – a multi-instrumentalist who sings and plays alto saxophone, trumpet, drums and guitar but now focuses his efforts on piano and, in particular, creating jazz-influenced original pieces.

Anyone who wants to take their turn at the mic should arrive at 6:15 to register; the first seven to sign up are guaranteed a performance spot. The open mic runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and Matthew Stewart will perform from 8:30 to 9 p.m.

Burnaby Neighbourhood House Community Hall is at 5024 Rumble St. All proceeds from the nights go towards renovation and upkeep of the hall.

For information, call 604-431-0400 or see www.burnabynh.ca.