Growing up in Dauphin, Nic Bray always felt lucky that the Parkland has a very active and caring arts community. In recent years, he's been across Canada for his music, including Nova Scotia and Toronto, to play with some of the industry's best. Now he'll get a chance to take it to an entirely new level.
"I'll be a composer in residence at the Next Step Clarinet Academy in Coatepec, Veracruz, in Mexico, so I'm really looking forward to that for sure...it is truly a privilege to kind of share faculty with these incredible, incredible instructors, musicians, educators, it is truly going to be, I think an eye opening experience in terms of all that I'll be able to learn about the clarinet," said Bray.
Bray's background in music is mostly focused on composing and saxophone, especially jazz. Clarinet is going to be a new challenge, but when you want to learn, who better to teach than instructors from some of the best music schools in the world? The Next Step Clarinet Academy faculty includes talented instructors from schools including Juliard, widely regarded as the world's top music school, and Moores School of Music in Texas.
That's over the Summer of 2026, but once that's done, Bray is headed back to Dauphin for the year to teach French immersion at the Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School. It seems like the jump from teaching music on the world stage to teaching French immersion in a town of 8,000 people might not have any correlation, but for Bray, French immersion played a big part in his development, and he's proud he gets the chance to give back.
"I've always had a big passion for the French language and for French culture, I've done a lot of research in my Masters degree around French music, French history in France and in Canada, and how that kind of interweaves with Métis history...really happy that I was kind of able to take this position, because I feel very strongly about French immersion education and the value that can create for students, and I've seen it first-hand play out in my own studies, and my own professional life," said Bray.
One thing Bray is very thankful for is the Watson Art Centre, and how the Parkland has such a dedicated and caring arts community.
"[My destinations have] all been wonderful, but it strikes me how much Dauphin is a support of the arts, and I think the Watson Art Centre, particularly in it's current kind of state, or current era, is such a monument to how we value art in this community I think," said Bray.
Being from such a small town and going all across Canada, and soon to Mexico for his passion, has given Bray an interesting perspective. He's been able to bring a lot of unique perspectives and approaches to his destinations, but he's also been able to bring back a lot of those outside ideas home with him.
