The NWT arts community has been hit hard in recent months, but for Yellowknife musician Carmen Braden, 鈥渉aving a strong and supported artistic community is essential to humanity.鈥�

Braden is scheduled to play Saturday in a live-streamed concert from the 快盈v3 Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC) stage. She describes her music as 鈥渁 bit quirky,鈥� and hopefully touching on things people can relate to. She aims to showcase a different perspective on 鈥渢he simple things in life.鈥� 

On how she鈥檚 coping during the pandemic, Braden says she鈥檚 adapting 鈥� 鈥渁s everyone has had to.鈥� In the performing arts, Braden says, the work has been either hyper-local, like the recent Buskers in the Bush festival, or online. 

In any case, she says she always tries to perform as if she鈥檚 in front of a live audience. 

鈥淚 don't really know any other way to play and I think any other attempt to play would be, probably, a little disingenuous and would do a disservice to the music,鈥� she says. 

Even as she adapts and learns to play for different kinds of audiences, Braden says she鈥檚 grateful that NACC has continued to be creative and find new ways to support artists.

鈥淭hey've been a real champion for a lot of 快盈v3 musicians this summer,鈥� she says. 

NACC executive director Marie Coderre emphasizes the importance of having a thriving arts scene, even in what she describes as 鈥渁 completely different reality.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 mental health,鈥� she says. 鈥淎rts prevent populations from going into depression mode.鈥�

She says it鈥檚 important for people to have creative outlets and to use the arts as a way of forming connections despite our current state of seclusion. Arts could be almost anything for any demographic of people, she explains.

鈥淓verybody needs to be creative. (The arts) make people dream, and encourage them to be motivated,鈥� says Coderre. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that we don鈥檛 forget about them.鈥�

While NACC worked hard to support the arts over the summer, Coderre says September will be quieter as they work to re-evaluate their plans and budget. 

Saturday鈥檚 show is free for virtual concert-goers, and can be accessed through the Northwestel Community channel, Western Arctic Moving Picture's or NACC鈥檚 Facebook pages, or NACC鈥檚 YouTube channel. The performance is slotted from 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m.

鈥淭hrough any crisis, everything kind of gets magnified,鈥� Braden says. 鈥淲hen you have problems, those problems are amplified. But when you have strengths, those strengths are what becomes so important to get you through.鈥� 

鈥淎rt is a strength for humanity, and in times of crisis, the strengths are what we need.鈥�