Last year, Le groupe MusiArt celebrated its 25th anniversary with a retrospective concert at the Montreal General Hospital’s Osler Amphitheatre. The choir – backed by its own band – is made up of outpatients of the MUHC mental health music therapy program. The concert featured selections from its three albums.
Yes, they write and record their own songs, and have done so since 2008.
But two weeks ago, the choir members were told that due to a drop in funding, the choir will have to fold. It was an emotional blow not just to the singers and musicians, but also to the therapists who run it. “It is very traumatic for a lot of the choir members,” says singer and saxophone player John Jordan. “There were a lot tears when we got the news.”
Money from the MGH Foundation usually covers therapist’s salaries for a period of three years, after which funding from the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux kicks in. But the money just isn’t there anymore. Co-director Dany Bouchard, a music therapist at the MUHC, sites cuts in both the health system and dwindling private donations.
Jordan, whom Montrealers know as an original member of Me Mom and Morgentaler, and more recently the founder of Osmosis Unlimited, has been a part of the choir – singing and playing sax – since 2019. He talks openly of his own bouts with addiction and mental illness. After a manic episode in 2019, a friend who was part of the choir invited Jordan to join.
That was just ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic. Self-isolation is still isolation; when Jordan’s band stopped getting together, the choir became a surrogate. “For me, in terms of playing with other people, the choir was my only outlet for a long time, so it was really important to me.”
“It’s about doing something meaningful,” says Bouchard. Through their original material, the singers “can talk about what they’re going through, they can share a part of them, emotionally speaking, through the music [and] with the public. We’ve always had this basic mission of destigmatization.” The award-winning group is considered a Creative and Artistic Ambassador, charged with raising awareness about mental health issues.
He likens the choir to dialysis for kidney patients. “For people who have severe issues with mental health, connection and creativity and a sense of belonging, connecting with others, is just as crucial.”
Jordan agrees. The choir is an important outlet for people either “chasing a substance or trying to fight their way out of a depression.”
But Jordan doesn’t believe that the cuts mean the choir is considered unimportant. “I don’t think the value of the choir is lost on the (MGH) Foundation,” he says. Though the choir is in its 28th year, “nothing lasts forever,” Jordan says, “and times are tough.”
“I think what may be shortsighted,” he adds, “is how many hospitalizations this choir has probably prevented over the years.”
The choir has even toured, performing at mental health conferences in the Martimes and in Toronto. They went to France in 2011 to meet and perform with other mental health choirs. “It was very touching,” Bouchard says, “because a lot of choir members never traveled before in their lives, never took a plane.”
Jordan says he’s hopeful that the choir can be saved. Boucard is cautiously optimistic. He also works with Les Impatients, a mental health foundation that specializes in art therapy. Les Impatients has a choir as well, so Bouchard is wondering if the two can integrate.
The choir’s original music can be heard at legroupemusiart.bandcamp.com.