Étoile des aînés

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Between 2009 and 2013, Chartwell-Reit, a major private developer of seniors’ housing ran a music contest by and for elders known as Etoiles des Ainés. It was part of their marketing campaign to seniors, for purposes of social outreach and to provide entertainment within their residences. The event was loosely structured on other popular music contests on television such as Star Academie and American Idol. Every Etoiles des Ainés event featured older adults singing songs or playing music, of their choice, with meaning for them or their families and friends, explained in the introduction to every song. Contestants performed their acts in front of residents and a panel of local celebrity judges who offered commentary on their performances. Winners of local contests, held in regional residences, were then sent to the next level of the competition.

After 5 years as an exceedingly popular public event, E des A was put on hold, indefinitely, by the company who admitted that while it was an entertainment success that they could not determine if the expenditure justified its continuation from within their marketing department. In 2012 an 2013, Dr. Line Grenier and Dr. Kim Sawchuk, with the assistance of Dr. Fannie Valois- Nadeau (who was then a student) collected hours of videos, audio recording, photographs and notes of the contest in different locales across Québec. We attended dozens of competitions over this time period, participating as audience members, talking with organizers, and taking the time, whilst driving, to reflect on why we found ourselves moved by not only the individual performances, but by the event itself. In our discussions we spoke of the relationship of music to memory, the regularity of tropes and narratives to frame each song, as well as the way that “musick-ing” together was manifested at different moments during performances. While we have produced several conference papers on the topic of Etoiles des Ainés, we have a vast corpus of materials that needs to be processed. We are in the process of cataloguing and systematically analyzing and processing this mass of documents. We have, at the moment, the outline for a book-length manuscript on “music, memory and age/ing” to bring together the theoretical, social and methodological issues raised by our work on and with Etoiles des Aines.


Chronologie du projet


Présence de Line Grenier et Kim Sawchuk à la finale canadienne de Senior Stars à Niagara Falls, Ontario. Entrevues avec Sharon Henderson et Brad Walker de Chartwell-Reit.

  • Participation de l’équipe aux finales régionales québécoises d’Étoile des aînés à Gatineau, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sorel-Tracy, Saint-Jean-sur-le-Richelieu. Rencontres avec les organisateurs, les juges, les participants.
  • Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée “Questioning “Successful Ageing” in Étoile des aînés” lors du 3ièeme sympoisum Active  Ageing and Mobile Technologies, York University, Toronto.
  • Présentation de Line Grenier et Kim Sawchuk, en collaboration avec Fannie Valois-Nadeau, intitulée « We are never too old to dream. Ageing Matters”  au colloque Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (France).
  • Présence de l’équipe à la grande finale québécoise du concours Étoile des aînés à Montréal. Rencontres informelles avec les organisateurs, les juges, les participants.
  • Présence de Kim Sawchuk et Barabara Crow à la finale canadienne de Senior Stars à Niagara Falls, Ontario.
  • Rédaction  par Line Grenier et Fannie Valois-Nadeau de l’article « Vous êtes tous des gagnants ».  Étoile des aînés et le vieillissement réussi au Québec », no spécial « Production et rapport aux normes contemporaines du vieillissement. L’injonction au « bien vieillir » en question », dans T. Moualert et V. Durandal (dir.) Recherches sociologiques et anthropologiques (paru à l’automne 2013).
  • Participation de l’équipe aux compétitions régionales d’Étoile des aînés qui se sont tenues à Québec, Gatineau et Montréal.
  • Présentation de Line Grenier  intitulée Moving “Étoile des Aînés”/Senior Stars. Performing Memory Work at a Music Contest, au colloque bi-annuel de la International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), Oviedo University, Gijón (Espagne).
  • Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée Memory Work Through Music-ing au colloque annuel de l’Association canadienne de communication (ACC) Victoria, Colombie-Britannique.
  • Présentaiton de Line Grenier intitulée A Simple Labour of Love? Exploring the Economies of “Étoile des aînés,” au colloque annuel de la section canadienne de la International Association for the Study for Popular Music (IASPM-Canada), Hamilton, Ontario.
  • Présence de Line Grenier et de Fannie Valois-Nadeau à la grande finale québécoise du concours Étoile des aînés à la salle l’Étoile Banque Nationale du Quartier Dix30 à Brossard. Un résumé de la finale du concours est disponible.
  • Présence de Line Grenier et Kim Sawchuk à la finale canadienne de Senior Stars à Niagara Falls, Ontario.
  • Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée “Moments of Music in Action: Exploring the Effectivity of Québec’s Étoile des Aînés/Senior Stars » dans le cadre de la série de conférences . Music, Media & Culture series à Memorial University, Terre-Neuve

Hiver 2014

Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée “Music in Action: Memory work at Étoile des aînés” à titre de conférence d’ouverture de l’année universitaire aux cycles supérieurs de l’Institute de Comunicaciones y Imagen de l’Universitad de Chile, à Santiago, au Chili. Présentation de Line Grenier intitule “Étoile des aînés/Senior Stars and the ‘active ageing’ agenda: Outline of a project” à la Facultad de Comunicaciones, de la Pontificia Universidade Católica de Chile, à Santiago, au Chili.

Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée “Music-ing and ‘ageing together’: Notes from a collaborative ethnography of Étoile des aînés” à titre de conference d’ouverture de l’école d’été du Centre de rechsrche Woman, ageing, media (WAM) à l’Université Gloucester University, Chestelham, au Royaume-Uni. Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée “Singing your age away. Configurations of active ageing in popular music events involving seniors” dans le cadre du colloque annuelle de la section canadienne de la International Association for the Study for Popular Music (IASPM-Canada), à l’Université Laval, à Québec.

Présentation de Line Grenier intitulée “La musique en action. Chanter et vieillir en public” dans le cadre du séminaire annuel de la Chaire d’études francophones en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN), à l’Université Laval, à Sainte-Foy.

Researchers
Line Grenier, Université de Montréal

Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University

Fannie Valois-Nadeau, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Students

Ashley McAskill, Concordia University

Marie-Ève Vautrin-Nadeau, Université de Montréal


Funding
ACT-SSHRC

Project updates


Related projects


Active Ageing, Mobile Technologies- and the A-C-M

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Active Ageing, Mobile Technologies is the title of the SSHRC Partnership Development Grant that is funding the development of this nascent international, multidisciplinary partnership. The grant brings together a team of researchers and community partners from Malaysia, Catalonia, Canada and Quebec whose goal is to better understand the intersections between communications, ageing and mobility. The goal of the grant is not just to create knowledge, but to create connection. In our case we are consolidating a team of researchers who share a commitment to expanding our knowledge of how older adults, primarily over the age of 65, engage with communications and media technologies in this present moment.

Read more →

AddressKnown

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In collaboration with seniors and youth from the Park Extension neighbourhood in Montreal, AddressKnown explores intergenerational location-based, dynamic storytelling.

It is a research creation project dedicated to collecting personal memories, based on common locations within Montreal’s Park Extension neighbourhood. Park Extension is a neighbourhood that transcends typical notions of age and “growing old.” In a sense, both the physical space and its citizens are linked together by solidarity and a willingness to keep the community dynamic and active. Through a series of digital storytelling workshops with seniors and youth, this project sheds light on local points of interest within Park Extension. Traditional and digital mapping techniques are used to capture the historical, political, and cultural dimensions of this unique neighbourhood.

The interactive website, which we call a location based web documentary, includes portraits of Park Extension citizens who are actively involved with the community at various levels. Each portrait brings forward specific personal memories based on locations within the neighbourhood. In turn, each location can be understood through personal, historical, and cultural lenses. Additionally, each portrait presents various perspectives on specific aspects of the community. Such perspectives include: age, gender, ethnic background, socio-economic background, religious beliefs, level of participation within the community, etc.

Location based storytelling techniques are used to showcase the connection between space, time, and memory. Moreover, the “function of mapping is less to mirror reality than to engender the re-shaping of the worlds [community] in which people live” (Corner, 1999, p.10). This project works against traditional assumptions about “old people living in old neighbourhoods”, in that it showcases the active involvement of seniors, youth, and adults in an effort to better understanding how intergenerational conversations and efforts keep a community strong and “on the map.”

This project, which was initiated in January 2012, was completed in April 2015. It works against traditional assumptions about “old people living in old neighbourhoods” because it showcases the active involvement of seniors, youth, and adults in an effort to better understanding how intergenerational conversations and efforts keep a community strong and on the map. The exhibition of the project happened in the Parc Extension neighbourhood in November 2015.


Project updates


Researchers
Giuliana Cucinelli, Concordia University
Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University
Myriam Label-Bernier, Concordia University
Sasha Dyck, Park Ex Historical Society
Sophie Guérin, Université de Montréal

Funding
SSHRC
GRAND NCE
Hexagram-CIAM

Research Areas
Inter-generational Storytelling
Community Activism
Location-based Storytelling

ACT Partners
Concordia University
Université de Montréal

Website 

http://www.addressknown.ca/

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Constance Lafontaine

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Constance Lafontaine is the Associate Director of ACT and works with the Director to manage the project from Concordia University. As part of her work with ACT, Constance develops and leads participatory action research and research creation projects with Montreal-based partners. She also explores the intersections of animality and human and non-human ageing, including probing multi-species temporalities. Constance is also completing a PhD in Communication Studies at Concordia University, where she focuses on the intersections between discourses of global warming and contemporary animal spectacles, focussing on polar bear displays in Canada. She has completed undergraduate degrees in Communication and Political Science and a Master of Arts in Communication at the University of Ottawa.