Arts Offstage is an exciting project designed to promote an intimate understanding of Canadian music. It features many guest artists, displays and performances and provides students with a rare opportunity to converse and perform as peers with successful Canadian musicians.

This project is the creation of Centennial Secondary School music teacher, Mr. David Reed. He believes that Canadian music is an integral part of music education, and that working with professionals is a valuable component of that experience. Arts Offstage has hosted such notable guests as the Skydiggers, Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith, Hawksley Workman, Sarah Harmer and K-OS. This is an annual event at Centennial Secondary School.

After meeting with the artists to agree on a setlist Mr. Reed arranges all music for the show, creating scores for chorus and horn section. The music of the visiting artist is integrated into the music curriculum with extensive listening, analysis and performance.

The guests are encouraged to arrive in Belleville one day prior to the performance, to take part in a valuable evening rehearsal with the students. This is an integral part of the project as students and guests work together to polish the subtleties of the new arrangements.

During this time, students have an opportunity to discuss Canadian music with the artists in an informal setting. Student questions and artist stories create an atmosphere of intimate dialogue.

The evening performance is the ultimate highlight, as the visiting artists perform unique arrangements of their music with a chorus of thirty, and twenty instrumentalists. This project promises to be a very special encounter for professional Canadian musicians and talented young music students. This unique project is the first in Ontario to take this bold new direction in music education.