Coinciding with Canada’s nationwide Culture Days celebration is the inaugural Rendez-Vous Cap-Breton festival, a three-day weekend extravaganza showcasing the culture, lifestyles, values, and heritage of the local Acadian and Francophone communities. Rendez-vous Cape Breton features a grouping of free-admission exhibitions and performances presented in several locations throughout Sydney, allowing residents to explore Sydney through a lens of French culture.
From 11:00am to 4:00pm on September 24 and 25, there will be educational exhibits at four different locations. The first location at St. Patrick’s museum at 87 Esplanade will feature an exhibit on the Fortress of Louisbourg, the largest reconstructed French settlement in North America.
The Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design serves as location number 2, and will host a special display of works by Elizabeth LeFort, an internationally renowned rug hooker. LeFort’s meticulously created works of art brought the Cheticamp rug hooking artisan community into international awareness. The exhibit will coincide with the launch of Elizabeth LeFort: Canada’s Artist in Wool, written by Daniel Doucet and published by CBU Press.
Location 3 will feature the photography of Eric Morneau and the works of Henri Boudreau at the Cape Breton Centre for Heritage and Science at 225 George Street, and works of art by Kent Senecal will be on display at McKenzie College, 74 Townsend St.
For evenings, Rendez-Vous Cap-Breton will have a full offering of live music and entertainment. Accordionist Roger Cormier will be hosting A Parisian Happy Hour at Governor’s Restaurant on Friday night from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. This will be followed by an Acadian concert featuring Nicole Deveau, Colin Grant, Delores Boudreau and les Pieds de Cadence, with showtime at 8:00pm at St. Georges church at 199 Charlotte St.
Saturday night features a triple threat of theatre, comedy, and a dance to finish the night. The theatre troupe Les Ricasseaux will presents Une Nuit de Salade at Governor’s Restaurant at 6:00pm. At 8:00pm there will be choir and comedy at St. Andrew’s church starrting Les Voix d’Acadie and comedienne Stéphane Jeannotte. The night’s activities will conclude at the Cedar’s club with a dance at the Cedar’s Club, located at 30 MacKenzie St. The night’s music will be provided by Colin Grant, Joël Chiasson and Marc Boudreau.
Rendez-vous Cap-Breton is Cape Breton’s only official entry into Culture Days, the pan-Canadian volunteer driven movement to raise awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and culture of their local communities. The Culture Days task forces worked to mobilize arts communities around the country to do their part to engage the public through free events, open houses and other forms of involvement.
To find out more about Culture Days, visit culturedays.ca. For more information about Rendez-Vous Cap-Breton, visit rendezvouscapebreton.com
