As the founding date of Guelph approaches, a musical based on its commencement will soon be available for residents to watch on YouTube.
A pre-recorded performance of John Galt and the Instant City will be available free online starting Friday.
John Galt and the Instant City is about the founder of Guelph, John Galt, and the Indigenous peoples who lived in the area prior to its colonization.
The musical was written by Mike Ford and Murray Foster, members of the former Canadian band Moxy Fruvous, in consultation with Alex Jacobs-Blum.
“It really looks at the life and motivations of John Galt, who is credited as the founder of Guelph, but it also considers the traditional founding story of Guelph in a new light, and that is taking into account the fact that there were people who were these lands prior to John Galt’s arrival,” said Tammy Adkins, manager of the Guelph Museums.
“So the show really does endeavour to provide a truthful and complete exploration at the way that the lands were used and the people who were on the lands.”
The musical was commissioned by the museum in 2019 and was shown in community centres and schools across Guelph and Scotland.
Prior to the pandemic, the museum had planned to launch a school tour for the musical in 2020.
“We did the recording at River Run Centre when we realized that we were not going to be able to get into the schools or be able to provide performances in person,” said Adkins about this upcoming virtual performance, which was recorded in October 2020. “That’s when we decided to make it available through video stream.”
The performance will be available online until May 2, which is the 242nd birthday of John Galt.
“As we consider both Galt and the traditional founding of Guelph, we think that it is important that this story be told at this time,” said Adkins.
Besides the virtual performance, the Guelph Museums are also planning some other online programming to keep residents occupied during the extended stay-at-home-order.
One of the programs is called Museum Daily, a video series which will focus on notable Guelph residents, museum artifacts and teach participants how they can make their own museum exhibits. The program launches next week on Monday and will run for six weeks.
Other online content includes History Bites, a military lecture series and a free concert series which will take place every fourth Friday of the month.
“We have received some generous support from the provincial government and from the federal government to transition some of our programming into digital programming,” said Adkins, “So we were able to provide this opportunity at no cost to the community.”
As the community’s museum, Adkins explains the museum sees its role during this time is to be providing some comfort, and entertainment, and opportunities for people to stay connected with their community.
“As people are staying at home for the next little while, we’re pleased to be able to offer them some Guelph history content,” she said.
A link to the performance can be found here.
