Bringing music to the streets

Grad Aurora Robinson organizes second annual NDG Porchfest, May 7-8

May 2, 2016

By Samantha Mileto

Montreal has always long been renowned for its music festivals, especially in the summertime. But a music festival on your front porch? Or rooftop?

That will be the case in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) borough this weekend, thanks to Aurora Robinson, BA 03.

Aurora Robinson, co-organizer of the second annual NDG Porchfest.

Robinson and co-coordinator Sarah Ring have organized the second annual NDG Porchfest, to be held May 7 and 8. Local residents and musicians will play an array of styles, including Irish, folk and blues, from their front porches up and down the streets of NDG.

The event is free but donations will be accepted for the Head and Hands’ J2K, an afterschool music program that teaches children about recording music, DJ-ing and how to use recording equipment and different musical instruments.

The first edition, held May 2, 2015, was so successful that this year’s event was expanded to two days.

“It’s a neighbourhood music festival that musicians who live in the neighbourhood participate in, Robinson says. “Visitors just walk around and enjoy live music from the sidewalk.”

The 2015 NDG Porchfest was so successful that this year it’s been expanded to two days, May 7 and 8

Robinson graduated with a BA in English literature and a minor in history from Concordia, where she first gained some event planning experience by organizing the Ethnographic Film Festival of Montreal. For the festival, participating universities across Quebec hosted a day of films from across the globe, bringing in guest lecturers who discussed the films.

She also helped create an arts-council organization in NDG called Notre-Dame-des-Arts, “to offer opportunities for local artists to share and discuss their work,” Robinson says, and to help raise money for local projects and events, including Porchfest.

Porchfest originated in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2007. Robinson first attended a similar festival in Boston, Mass., where she was working as a restaurant manager. When she returned to her hometown three years ago, she thought it would be a great idea to start one.

“When I moved back to Montreal, I was looking for a way to get more involved with the community,” Robinson says.

“I was thinking about Porchfest in Boston and how much I liked it, and I just thought it would be a good fit to do it here. I have a little bit of experience in event planning, so I decided to try it out.”

And for the second straight year, the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough will host the event.

“I live in NDG and I think it’s the perfect place to do it,” Robinson says. “There’s a lot of fun porches, it’s a nice neighbourhood to walk around in, and there’s a lot of musicians who live here.”

You don’t have to be a resident of NDG to enjoy Porchfest. For a full schedule and map of who will be performing and where, visit the NDG Porchfest website.

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Bringing music to the streets

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Bringing music to the streets

#CUalumni

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