Carefully crafted over multiple online and in-studio collaborative sessions, The Science Fiction People’s Robot Revelations is the product of a profoundly unique and experimental creative project exploring individualized and peer-to-peer approaches to Disability-led music creation. The project, made possible with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, explored new frontiers of accessible music-making, remote technology, and accessible digital instruments.
The Science Fiction People
The National accessArts Centre is proud to announce the arrival of The Science Fiction People. Featuring Colleen Ashmore, Mark Bedford, Jan de la Cruz, Tony Goodison, and David Oppong, The Science Fiction People are a collection of Calgary musical artists living with developmental disabilities who are ushering in a new frontier for Canadian music. In less than nine months, these five artists took on the task of creating an entire album’s worth of music. With their vision firmly set on making an album of contemporary pop music, the group rehearsed weekly to learn new technology and new processes while facing their limited experience in playing and composing music head-on. Together with a mixed-ability team of guest producers, the group learned to navigate unexplored and daring waters with eagerness and laughter.
Weekly rehearsals introduced the group to lessons in song structure, arrangement, and production, generating everything from thirty-second music loops to fully arranged tracks; the group archived it all. Creative prompts and practical exercises helped bring their songs to life. As the project moved into the final production phase, the group brought in one of their favorite guest producers, Dyllan Lambert Monroe (formerly Mills-Harten) – a highly talented, Calgary-based, self-educated, and visionary producer living with Cerebral Palsy – to offer arrangement and production advice and blast their tracks far into the depths of the cosmos. Prepare yourself for a stellar journey, and make way for the meteoric rise of the Science Fiction People.
Get Involved
Learn more about the National accessArts Centre’s Audio and Music programming, upcoming workshops, and current projects.
About the NaAC
Founded in 1975 as the In-Definite Arts Society, the National accessArts Centre (NaAC) is Canada’s oldest and largest disability arts organization – and in 2020, became the country’s first multidisciplinary disability arts organization. Today, the NaAC supports more than 300 artists living with developmental and/or physical disabilities through on-site studio supports and workshops, and an even broader community of Canadian artists with disabilities through immersive programs delivered online.
After launching three major music programs in 2021, the NaAC continues programming endeavours that bring opportunities in creative music and audio arts to our community of artists living with developmental and/or physical disabilities.