Who We Are
Rasputin’s Folk Café was legendary folk music venue with a 27 year history. On July 5, 2008 a fire lead to the shutdown of the café. Subsequently, owner Dean Verger decided to retire from the restaurant business, and Rasputin’s Folk Café was closed.
On June 13th, 2009, a meeting of 18 of the Rasputin’s orphans was held, and the Spirit of Rasputin’s was born. As Chris White, artistic director of the Ottawa Folk Festival noted at the time: “This is an historic day!”
The closure of Rasputin’s Folk Café left a number of gaps in the music community in Ottawa. The Spirit of Rasputin's overall goal is to revive the musical traditions of the Folk Café through a volunteer-based organization to support the folk music community of Ottawa.
Our specific objectives are:
- Provide a physical home for folk events;
- Promote participation in folk music and generally promote folk music;
- Support, promote and house the Rasputin’s jams;
- Develop performers through the open stage;
- Celebrate folk music by presenting paid performances; and
- Provide a listening environment for the enjoyment of folk music;
Our New Home
Thanks to the benevolence of the owners of the Elmdale Tavern (the coolest music spot in town), we are able to present our events there on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. Our first event there was an open stage held on October 26th, 2009.
The Spirit of Rasputin’s Board of Directors
Lizz Dunlop – currently Manager, Baton Rouge Restaurant; previously a staff member and den mother at Rasputin’s Folk Cafe
Brian Harris – previously a restaurateur; and Proprietor, Bonnie’s Natural Foods; currently Brian is an old retired curmudgeon and singer; songwriter; guitar player
George Laing – an information technology project manager; and fiddle player
Rick McGrath – Director, Codes and Standards/Engineered Structures, Cement Association of Canada; singer; guitar player; expert on all things Gordon Lightfoot.
Arthur McGregor – Proprietor, Ottawa Folklore Centre; singer,; multi-instrumentalist
Chris White – Artistic Director, Ottawa Folk Festival; singer; songwriter; guitar player; ukulele addict.
Our Current Volunteer Staff
George Laing – General Manager
Brian Harris – Treasurer
Lizz Dunlop – Folk Festival Booth Organizer
Chris White – Volunteer Coordinator
Paul Slater – Accounting
Christian Delahousse – Webmaster
Sjef Frenken - Open Stage
Rick McGrath - Folk Jam
Bob Nesbitt - Concert Manager
Tony Turner - Assistant Concert Manager
Pat Moore - CKCU Weekend Wrap-Up
Hollis Morgan - Rasputin's Beard
Lynn Stevenson - Communications
Dan Arnott - Communications
Stan Neathery
Mark Evenchick
Heather Evenchick
Adrian Searle
Brian Silcoff
Join us…
As a volunteer-driven organization, our objective is to engage sufficient volunteer help, to ensure that no single person is unfairly burdened by his or her volunteer workload.
If you are interested in participating in any capacity, we’d love to hear from you.
Draft Mission Statement
A mission statement is an important building block to any organization. We know what our mission is, but putting it into words is a challenge. At this point, the draft below is currently under review. If you would like to contribute your thoughts or words, please drop us an email.
The mission of the Spirit of Rasputin’s is to create a home for the Ottawa folk music community where we celebrate and promote folk and folk-related music, provide an opportunity for participatory music, and create a launching pad for developing talent.
|
