The New Brunswick Arts Board is an arm’s length arts funding agency with a legislated mandate to facilitate and promote the creation of art as well as administering funding programs for professional artists in the province.
(This article has been translated from the original in French).
We are evolving beings, and everything around us is constantly changing. I think artists have a duty to soften this change for humanity, because it is inevitable. I am passionate about cinema and theatre because of the freedom of expression and the possible perspectives; everything depends on the outlook.
Performing is my passion. When I was younger, I wrote parts for myself in both English and French. I am a visionary, and I am grateful for this trait; it is a hidden strength for the event industry, theatre and cinema. I am a traveler at heart who needs to venture into uncharted territory as much as to get back home and relax. Being Acadian means understanding the situation of a minority maintaining a link to the whole world through the diaspora. That means we get to see the big picture while constantly living with community realities.
Despite everything, life has often led me to situations where my art could act as mediation. I will never stop working on projects or collaborating; these are the projects that enrich me and make me grow. My artist’s mantra is to respond to a need, to gather so we can see each other better, and to muzzle ignorance. My projects often relate to uncovering the unknown, either by telling stories on the screen, on the stage or in public places. It is my duty as an artist to raise awareness and balance perspectives, so we can better understand the other.
We are living in an era that forces us to change our behavior. We cannot live the same way as we live in the long term anymore, and it is time to accept it. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth. This basic Indigenous philosophy resonates with my Acadian spirit because we are not defined by a piece of land. We are an inclusive, living, collective spirit that I like to define as an ongoing mediation. Artists have a duty to open new opportunities, to rally positive forces and to overcome boundaries and barriers.
My intuitions are my points of reference. My emotions are my creative impulses. My encounters are my inspirations. My visions are my line of sight and my body is my work tool.
It was my journeys that opened my eyes. Authentic experiences make me grow as an artist to see the world better, and to better understand the stories that deserve to be told. I like to confront my Sagittarius strength to go through paths that have never been trodden before, or to reinvigorate those that have been travelled.
Unity is strength – let’s use our gifts to help bring people closer, let’s be as efficient as a health care practitioner or a paramedic. Let’s create social cohesion to get back to basics. We have great planetary changes on our doorstep. Artists have always been spokespeople of hope in tough times.
We are creators. If you allow yourself to dream, everything is possible.
Anika Lirette is a bilingual theatre and film artist, an artistic director, a project creator and a facilitator living in Acadie. She has performed in theatres throughout Acadie, Louisiana, Maine, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Quebec and Germany. She also starred in Le Clan, a TV series produced by Radio-Canada. Anika manages the artistic direction, the writing and the staging of new bilingual stories at the Grand-Pré National Historic Site. She has been co-directing Le Théâtre Alacenne since 2003. She is a young ambassador for the francophonie des Amériques and as such has traveled to New York, Louisiana, Maine and Costa Rica several times. She has lived abroad, more specifically in Eastern Europe, and is passionate about stories from around the world.
Link to the Théâtre Alacenne and Experience Grand-Pré.
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