Dear friends,
We close out 2019 with heavy but hopeful hearts as we look towards the new year. The 2019 River Clyde Pageant was a tremendous collective achievement, but it was not without its share of heartbreak. Before we begin our fundraising efforts for Giving Tuesday 2019, it is important to us that we share some of our experience of making last summer’s production.
Many of you know that our beloved co-founder and co-director, Ker Wells, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late fall of last year. Ker underwent treatment with immense positivity, generosity and bravery, moving through chemotherapy and radiation in winter and spring. Working on the River Clyde Pageant during this time was often a welcome distraction for him.
Despite all he was going through, Ker brought astonishing energy and vision to the Pageant planning efforts for 2019, 2020 and beyond. He and I wrote a successful multi-year Canada Council grant together in April, outlining our plans for how the Pageant and its programming would grow over the next two years. In June, Ker returned to PEI where he co-led an incredible playwriting workshop with Mike Geither, and co-directed stilt rehearsals with me. However, Ker’s condition worsened while on PEI and he had to return to New York to resume treatment with his medical team.
photo by Roman Kralovic
Holding the knowledge of Ker’s declining health while continuing rehearsals for the 2019 Pageant was a tremendous feat, one that would have been impossible without the strength of our creative team, who stepped into bigger roles, taking on greater responsibility and workloads. We were deeply supported by the local community, our extended Pageant family, who cooked meals for us, coordinated rehearsal transportation, and generally said ‘yes’ to anything we asked of them. It was a daily balancing act of grief and joy as we banded together to make the Pageant; a tribute and offering to Ker, whom we held in our hearts at every single moment.
On August 30th, Ker passed away, leaving loved ones, friends, collaborators, students and admiring audiences behind. Our hearts are broken, but we also recognize the gifts Ker left us. The River Clyde Pageant and its community are a legacy to Ker’s vision and creative spirit. The Pageant was one of his most glorious achievements in a remarkable career - uniting his values of artistic rigour, civic practice, and caring for the earth.
We are privileged to continue the work of the Pageant; growing the organization and its programming in honour of our dear friend.
2020 will be a year of change and transformation for the Pageant. We begin our third cycle of work, exploring a new performance structure and narrative. We have plans for a winter 2020 event, and we are working to bring the Pageant magic into new contexts across PEI and beyond. Ker was a co-conspirator of these plans, and we are forging ahead to make them a reality.
December 3 is Giving Tuesday, a day when we ask for your support for the next year of The River Clyde Pageant. We will be releasing our latest video documentary by Millefiore Clarkes, and sharing more details of our vision for RCP 2020. On that day, we invite you to journey with us into the next phase of The River Clyde Pageant with a donation or pledge of support.
We hope you will continue to support this ever-evolving community project. We are so grateful to work with this community each summer to create the Pageant, and we know that each summer will be a new celebration of Ker’s commitment to local creativity and environmental stewardship.
You’ve made it this far, so perhaps it’s time for some comic relief...
Have you ever heard Ker Wells tell a joke? Nobody tells ‘em like he does. That said, we did compile a bunch of them into this video, featuring some of the Pageant kids performing their takes on classic Ker jokes. Enjoy...
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and most of all, thank you for being part of the greater Pageant family.
We look forward to sharing more details on our plans and our 2019 video with you next week.
With gratitude,
Megan Stewart
on behalf of the whole River Clyde Pageant team