Nouvelles et Événements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Official Quebec Launch of 

Honouring Their Stories

The First Storytelling Album of 

Renown Master Storyteller, Louise Profeit-LeBlanc

CONTACT: 

Marion Gruner, StorySave Program Manager

519.400.7821

storysave@storytellers-conteurs.ca

Louise Profeit-LeBlanc’s first album of recorded stories is released along with an audio documentary called The Wealth of Elders about Louise’s life and work in storytelling. 

The album and podcast were generously supported by Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Wakefield, Quebec - StorySave, a program of Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada (SC-CC), is celebrating the Quebec launch of its 19th storytelling album, Honouring Their Stories by internationally renown traditional storyteller Louise Profeit-LeBlanc. Louise is originally from the Nacho Nyak Dän First Nation in northern Yukon, and now makes her home in Wakefield, Quebec.

Each year, StorySave’s programming committee selects one accomplished elder teller who has a unique repertoire, and whose work should be recorded. This year, and for the first time in StorySave’s 16 year history, the team also produced an audio documentary about the teller to accompany the album. The documentary delves into Louise’s inspiration and artistic journey, and the StorySave team plans to make these documentary productions a permanent aspect of the StorySave program, with plans to launch a regular podcast site. This year’s documentary The Wealth of Elders, is now available on CD Baby as a free download, or can be streamed on Louise’s StorySave webpage, on the Storytellers of Canada website.

Louise’s album Honouring Their Stories and the documentary The Wealth of Elders will have their official Quebec launch celebration on Saturday November 10th from 7pm to 9pm at Biblio Wakefield Library, 38 Chemin de la vallée de wakefield (Wakefield, QC) bibliowakefieldlibrary.ca/en/

The CD Launch is part of the In the Heart of the Library series. The event is free of charge.

Growing up in the small village of Mayo, Yukon Louise was nurtured by the traditional stories told by her grandmother Ellen Profeit, a masterful storyteller. Many more elders shared their stories with Louise, and early on she dedicated herself to storytelling and to the promotion of Indigenous stories.

Honouring Their Stories is Louise’s first recording project. She says, ”Recording this album has been a long time coming. The CD is the result of many Elders sharing their stories with me and I now can honour them by passing them onto others. Stories are valuable on many different levels but the greatest one is  that, they teach us how to be better human beings. For this I am very grateful. Each one of us has a story to tell, we are a story in the making and in the words of my mentor, Auntie Angela Sidney, told me that I must, "live my life like a story" so that when I go, they will tell a good story about you!”  My hope is that the next generations will be inspired by these stories and begin to tell them too!”

StorySave Program Manager, Marion Gruner says of Honouring Their Stories, “this is a gorgeous piece of work, and Louise seems to embody each of her mentors as she tells their shared stories. It was a thrill to work on this project”. 

The StorySave Program was established by SC-CC as a means of enhancing storytelling’s living contribution to Canada’s oral and literary heritage, through the recording of voices of elders from the Canadian storytelling community for reproduction and distribution through multivolume CD sets, and digital downloads. Tellers selected for inclusion are those who tell out of very particular repertoires, and have something unique to offer.

For more information on this and other StorySave projects please go to the SC-CC website and visit the StorySave pages: http://www.storytellers-conteurs.ca/en/featured-storytellers.html 

Louise’s project was made possible through funding from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. Storytellers of Canada is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Media inquiries or to reach Louise Profeit-LeBlanc: 

Marion Gruner, StorySave Program Manager

storysave@storytellers-conteurs.ca

BACKGROUNDER

The purpose of Storytellers of Canada / Conteurs du Canada (SC-CC) is to function as the national representative for those involved in maintaining and practicing the oral tradition of storytelling across the country. SC-CC is dedicated to furthering the art of storytelling and

bringing the diverse peoples of Canada together through story. SC-CC seeks to promote, support, and contribute to the growth of storytellers’ work, and to ensure the continuing development of the art of storytelling as an integral part of Canadian culture. Most of SC–CCs work is carried on by highly dedicated and hardworking volunteers from all across Canada, working on a very limited budget and supported by a small paid staff.

The StorySave Program was established as a means of enhancing storytelling’s living contribution to Canada’s oral and literary heritage, through the recording of voices of elders from the Canadian storytelling community for reproduction on and distribution through multi-volume CD sets, and the audio website. Emphasis is on the creation of finished products of a highly professional standard. Tellers selected for inclusion are those who tell out of very particular repertoires, and have something unique to offer. StorySave’s long-term objective is to ensure a permanent and vital production list which is fully representative of the art of Canadian

storytelling at its best.

Each year nominations are welcome from all storytellers who have made a significant contribution to the storytelling world. Only those nominees who have developed a marked personal style to the craft of storytelling, including but not limited to their vision, technique, interests, history, and specific repertoire will be considered. To date, StorySave has recorded the voices of 17 tellers. 

Donations help StorySave to record tellers and keep their voices vibrant and heard.