Jube School

Our first fly-over on this magic carpet ride, is the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. This program exists in two cities: in Edmonton at the Northern Jubilee Auditorium and in Calgary at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Those of us who have had the privilege of visiting both these International Style monuments built to celebrate Alberta’s Jubilee (50 years) as a province of Canada have experienced a real twinge of Déjà vu or two subtly different realities. The buildings were born twin sisters and live full lives in two different settings and cities but continue, over more than 60 years, to share the same beautiful bone, muscle and skin. Twin spaces. Different places.

Karen Youngberg is the Cultural Development Specialist for the Alberta Jubilee Auditoria Society, a not-for-profit organization led by Board members working for the betterment of the Jubilee and striving to promote the importance of art and culture. She carries a passion for what she does that radiates from her eyes and smile. Her path to Inquiring Minds, like each of the people we will meet who facilitate Inquiring Minds, is unique. 

Prior to coming to work at the Southern Jubilee Auditorium in an office admin job, she had been stage managing and working with Quest Theatre, a company with lots of experience working with and in schools. Her own children had exposure to inquiry learning education. She was eager when I invited her to come and spend an observation day with me at a site being run at the Calgary Arts Common in the fall of 2015. The rest, as they like to say, is history. She connected with a supportive crew from Campus Calgary/Open Minds and built a Jube School (Jube is a diminutive or term used  to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment for Jubilee Auditorium) program at the Southern Alberta Jubilee. In the past year, the existing Northern Alberta Jube School program folded into her job description.

In these days of Covid 19, the Jubilee Auditoria are “dark”, a term they use in the theatre business, meaning the venue has been closed to the public. But Karen is busy creating ideas and sharing activities for connecting folks of all ages with the arts. I, myself, attempted her “One Line Sketching” Challenge.

I asked her to comment on something teachers might overlook about her site and she barely hesitated. “I don’t think teachers realize it is a government building. It’s filled with more than 60 years of storytelling. They will get to feel that lived experience of building. The arts are about creating and sharing community.”

For her, a hidden gem of Jube School is directly related to that idea. Her voice warmed as she related the wonder of a student in Grade 3 who volunteered the fact that his dad loved Led Zeppelin. Building on those associations for kids makes participating in an activity about the Jube's state of the art sound system a connected, deep learning experience. Karen enjoys revealing the long list of artists who have walked from the dressing rooms out to perform on the Jubilee stage.

The Inquiring Minds website describes Jube School this way:  

A week-long program of personalized, interactive, arts-based learning rooted in elements of each class’ curriculum. Creative explorations in the technical, visual and performing arts will inspire learners and educators to make personal connections in, through, and about the arts. Working alongside some of the world’s best teaching artists and technicians, students have a hands-on opportunity to create, reflect, and explore in an environment that supports personal and social growth, empowers practical learning and inspires curiosity that enriches the individual, the class, and our community. 

Take a look at the Jube School webpage. https://jubileeauditorium.com/edmonton/jube-school

Do you want to know more? Contact Karen at kyoungberg@albertajubileesociety.ca

You can start your application process at the Inquiring Minds website. https://ourinquiringminds.wordpress.com/application/