Jeremy Dutcher: Unplugged (2019) and Artist Residency (2020)
Working across various roles and responsibilities for a 2-year long artist relationship with First Nations. Polaris Prize and Juno Award-winning artist Jeremy Dutcher. The first year saw the production & recording of Jeremy Dutcher’s inaugural music video. Recorded in the auditorium and permanent gallery of the Aga Khan Museum, featuring Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon. In 2020, Dutcher returned to the museum for the first in-house performing artist residency at the museum, developing new work and reworking pre-existing material.
The Making of the Mehcinut Music Video
Role: Venue producer, artist liaison, contract development & negotiation, project management
In early 2019, Jeremy Dutcher and his team of producers came to the Aga Khan Museum, looking to record his first music video for his single Mehcinut from his Polaris-prize and Juno-award winning album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.
Charity worked as the venue producer, securing approvals from internal stakeholders — board and senior leadership approval, operations, technical production, exhibition — to allow for the first-ever film shoot to take place within the Aga Khan Museum’s permanent gallery.
The project included custom building a table of “indigenous excellence” in the permanent gallery, securing permission from British artist Luke Jerram for use of his Museum of the Moon in the video, and managing a tight, on-site shooting schedule, to accommodate for regular museum operation needs.
Artist Residency — Jeremy Dutcher: Unplugged
Role: Curator, creative producer, budget management
Following the 2019 video shoot — the project was nominated for a Prism Prize — Jeremy and his ensemble returned to the Museum for a 5-day long residency project at the Aga Khan Museum. The inaugural artist residency experience at the museum included an in-house rehearsal and development opportunity, culminating in a public presentation of new and re-imagined older work.
Over the 5-days, Dutcher and his ensemble (Blanche Israel, Jonathan MacArthur, Teiya Kasahara & Greg Harrison) developed and fleshed out new material, worked with museum staff to design custom lighting and staging for the performance, and crafted an immersive, interactive experience that utilized the full capacities of the state-of-the art theatre.
The closing performance included a live-from-the-stage MTV-style interview with Sook-Yin Lee, delving into topics such as indigeneity and diversity in the arts, representation of culture and community, and the lessons indigenous culture can give to current day arts-making.
The Making of Mehcinut
As part of the Music Video Project run by the Prism Prize organization, a behind-the-scenes look into the thoughts, team, and planning that went into the making of the Mehcinut music video.
