Community Storytellers

From Buck Shot’s guitar to a Gord Downie penny tribute, the National Music Centre is offering a preview of its Community Storytellers exhibition online. The virtual edition is just a snippet of a much larger exhibition that will be unveiled when Studio Bell reopens.

Interesting, unusual, and meaningful musical artifacts and stories from the Alberta community are featured. Visitors to the virtual instalment will see a tribute to late musician Gord Downie—a 5×8-foot portrait of the Tragically Hip frontman constructed from over 11,300 Canadian pennies that took Airdrie’s Luke Carruthers over three years to make. Also included is a guitar zither from 1904 that was passed down through generations of a Vulcan, Alberta family; the 2004 CCMA Award for Record Store of the Year won by Megatunes Music Inc., a beloved Calgary/Edmonton record store owned by Mike and Joni Pleau; a guitar from the Calgary children’s television series, The Buck Shot Show, loaned to NMC by “Buck Shot” himself; and four other artifacts and stories ahead of the onsite launch.

Check out the online version here and share your story at exhibitions@nmc.ca for a chance to be featured in the onsite exhibition.