The Common Thread – La Semaine acadienne volunteers August 2026
JAMS Canada Is Evolving – But Maybe It Was Heading Here All Along
For a long time, I thought JAMS Canada was mostly about music.
That makes sense. Music has been at the centre of my life for decades – writing songs, performing, producing shows, working with other artists and creating projects that bring music into communities.
But lately I’ve been asking myself a different question:
What is the common thread running through all of it?
And I don’t think the answer is simply music.
I think it’s connection.
It was never just about the stage
Some of the work I’ve loved most has happened on stage. But a lot of it hasn’t.
I’ve organized festivals, produced benefit concerts, developed creative projects, brought artists and organizations together, worked with sponsors and community partners, and spent countless hours thinking about something most people in the audience will never notice:
What are they experiencing?
Where does their attention go?
Where does the energy drop?
What happens while they’re waiting for the next thing?
Are they simply watching – or do they feel like they’re part of something?
Those questions have followed me throughout my career, even when I didn’t have a name for what I was doing.
France made me see it differently
This summer, I had the opportunity to bring several very different projects to Normandy, France.
There was music, of course. But there was also history, storytelling, memory, place and community.
One project in particular, La lumière dans la cave, brought together narration, music and the true story of two young boys hidden by a community of Sisters during the Second World War.
Standing inside the chapel where part of that history had actually taken place reminded me that an experience can be much more than a performance.
People weren’t simply listening to songs.
They were connecting with a story.
And with each other.
Maybe this is what JAMS Canada has been about all along
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since coming home.
About JAMS Canada. About creativity.
About the role of music. About technology and AI.
And especially about something that feels increasingly important:
How do we create meaningful human connection in an increasingly digital world?
I don’t have all the answers.
Actually, I’m much more interested in exploring the question.
Music is one way. Storytelling is another.
A thoughtfully designed live experience can do it.
So can an unexpected conversation, a shared memory, a creative collaboration or simply creating a space where people feel that they belong.
So where does JAMS Canada go from here?
I’m still discovering that.
And for once, I’m resisting the urge to have the entire map drawn before taking the first step.
What I do know is that JAMS Canada is becoming less about a list of services and more about a way of thinking.
Start with the people.
What do we want them to feel?
How can we invite them into the experience rather than simply present something to them?
What might help them connect – with an idea, a story, a place, an organization or each other?
Then we can decide which tools belong in the room.
Sometimes that will be music. Sometimes storytelling.
Sometimes creative strategy or live experience design.
And sometimes it may be something we haven’t thought of yet.
That’s the part that excites me.
The next chapter
Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing more of what I’m discovering – about creating meaningful experiences, human connection, creativity, storytelling and what happens when we use new tools such as AI without losing the human imagination behind them.
There will probably be experiments. There will definitely be questions.
And knowing me, there will be a few ideas that go completely sideways before they turn into something useful.
That’s part of creativity, too.
But underneath all of it will be one idea that I think is becoming the heart of JAMS Canada:
Music that connects. Stories that matter. Experiences people remember.
Maybe that’s not a new direction after all.
Maybe I’ve just finally found the words for where I’ve been heading all along.
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