The Making of Arts in April and the Hidden Powers Behind It All

Having been involved in many of the arts over my time at Ridley, I know how much work goes into just one performance. That got me thinking: what about Arts in April? This month, I dove behind the scenes and spoke to the people that made it possible. Four interviews later, here’s what I’ve learned.

Mr. Nickerson

The first person I reached out to was Mr. Nickerson, Ridley’s Arts Department Head. This year, Arts in April started with RIFF (Ridley International Film Festival) on April 11th, followed by CISMF (Conference of Independent Schools Music Festival) on April 13th, the Senior Art Exhibition Opening and Arts Awards on April 16th, and finally the Arts Assembly on April 18th.

Yet, even before this year’s events took place, next year’s dates have already been set. I asked Mr. Nickerson about the planning process, and he explained, “The planning starts in the previous year when we’re looking ahead to the next year’s calendar. That usually happens around March-April time. The calendar is complicated … there are arts, sports, academics, development, and all kinds of different departments that plan out the year. So that’s when it starts — in the previous year.” The dates are carefully designed to adhere to external dates (the Senior Art Exhibition is an IB-course requirement) and to minimize conflicts. Then, planning picks up again at the start every Term 2 in preparation for the upcoming April.

The concept of Arts in April was something that Mr. Nickerson himself had come up with some six-odd years ago. “It was like ‘OK, there’s all this stuff that happens in April, we have the Art Exhibition, we have CISMF, we have RIFF, we can revisit the play, so … yeah.’ This goes back way before COVID, and it officially became Arts in April … I think I came up with that moniker maybe six years ago. And it’s gradually grown where people now see it as a ‘thing’ — but it didn’t use to be; we had Arts Awards and Art Exhibition basically, and that was that.”

So, Arts in April has grown significantly over the past few years. Mr. Nickerson had made a call to combine everything under one name — “I thought … the more you package multiple events into a larger event, the more awareness it will generate” — and it turned out to be the right call.

The growth of Arts in April is perhaps best demonstrated in this year’s RIFF, which saw Degrassi actors Pat Mastroianni and Stacie Mistysyn take on significant roles, helping students re-create a scene from The Breakfast Club and emceeing the film festival on the night of. When asked about this year’s RIFF, Mr. Nickerson replied, “In previous years, attendance was not great, so we wanted to make more of a splash. Mr. Wiens, I think, came up with the idea of getting some filmmakers or someone in the industry, so he reached out to the Degrassi folks, and … we got support from the administration, so we decided to move ahead with that.”

While talking, Mr. Nickerson also hinted at plans for future RIFFs: “Next year, we’ll try to find probably a producer or even technicians — people involved behind the scenes — to bring the film industry to Ridley a bit more. Today, film-making and cinema [are] enormous parts of our culture, and it’s an enormous industry … students need to be aware of that.”

Of course, as an event with a year-long planning process, Arts in April is far from a one-man show. “We have a department meeting and we think about what ensembles are ready to go; we think about the assembly and who wants to do what,” Mr. Nickerson explained.

His specific role, as he describes it, involves “Sorting all the awards.” “I have databases of award winners … and I compare those names against the names of last year’s winners to see what year they’re in, then I check with teachers. So I’m doing a lot of the work in terms of prepping the awards, getting the trophies engraved.”

However, that’s just one part of the Arts Awards, which itself is just one part of Arts in April. I asked Mr. Nickerson if there were individuals who put more work into Arts in April than students may think, and he immediately replied, “Definitely the teachers. The teachers involved in each subject are the people who get everything lined up … students are doing all this work, [the teachers] have to prepare it.” He continued, “Teachers like Mr. Wiens and Mr. Adair [put in] a lot of work behind the scenes for RIFF … The music festival (CISMF) is also a huge factor, hats off to the music teachers — particularly Mr. Reid, who organized the buses and food … and Ms. Fournier is taking on my role, the role of Department Head, so she’s been shadowing the whole process as well — and preparing her students.”

“People who are not as visible would be the technicians: Ms. Forte and Mr. Anderson and Ms. Anderson; Ms. Forte running around getting the walls prepared for the Art Exhibition and printing out the certificates … and Ms. Anderson behind the scenes, thinking about transitions like moving a full orchestra on and off the stage.”

Ms. Forte

One thing Mr. Nickerson mentioned that piqued my interest was the involvement of the technicians, so I reached out to Ms. Forte and Ms. Anderson next, to learn more about their roles.

Ms. Forte, when asked about her role, answered, “I do all of the behind-the-scenes stuff. Throughout the entire year leading up to April, any time art is made in any of the classes, I help document it — I take photos of all the work.”

As Mr. Nickerson mentioned, Ms. Forte also prepares the white walls for the Senior Art Exhibition and prints out the Year 1 art achievement certificates. “I touch up the walls; I fill all the holes and I sand and paint them so they look fresh again … For certificates, there’s an Excel document from Mr. Nickerson with all the names. I take all the Year 1 names and put them in, make sure they match with the right category and whatnot, then print them.”

Even after the Art Exhibition is set up, though, her work isn’t finished. “We have to photograph the exhibits as they stand so that they can be uploaded for the IB portfolios. [The students] plan it, they hang it, and then it’s photographed as proof that they’ve shown their body of work.”

“The Kunstmatrix (Digital Art Gallery) is another thing that we’ve done since COVID. All of the images that I’ve taken throughout the year are assembled and then the teachers go through and choose pieces. There are only so many pieces you can put in each room and only so many rooms you can have in each gallery … now that we know, it’s easier, but the first couple of years were major learning curves. I think this is the last year we’re using it though, because next year we’re going to have a full gallery in the new space.”

Aside from preparations for the Arts Awards and the Art Exhibition, Ms. Forte also co-leads two clubs that prepare for RIFF. “I was with Mr. Wiens for the Digital Studio and Film Club, and throughout the whole year, we purposely filmed content to show for RIFF. The Costco film for instance; we started filming that in September. Mr. Wiens did the editing for that movie, and I did a lot of the filming for it.”

For RIFF this year, there were also new factors to take into account. “We had the Degrassi actors come; it took a lot of planning to make sure their roles were fun and defined … We also got a new backdrop for RIFF, so I designed an Illustrator file, and Communications gave us the contact to have it printed … Now that’s ours to keep for all RIFF events going forward.”

After hearing about just how much Ms. Forte does for Arts in April (RIFF, the Art Exhibition, and Arts Awards), I was amazed – but she responded, “I’m just … extra hands [for] everywhere that needs help; that’s my job. [This is] the culmination, where you get to show everything off. It’s fun.”

Ms. Anderson

On the other hand, Ms. Anderson’s role as a technician is different from but just as vital as Ms. Forte’s.

Ms. Anderson’s role starts with the Arts Department meeting. “People who typically do performances, like music and drama, decide what performances they want. Then, Mr. Nickerson puts it in a big pile, hands it to me, and we see if I can make the arrangement function for the Arts Assembly and Awards. That’s where my piece comes in; it’s the coordination of the stage and how that’s going to work.”

Ms. Anderson, her work is centered around ensuring Arts Assembly and Arts Awards run smoothly, as well as assisting in RIFF. “For RIFF, I work with Mr. Wiens and Ms. Forte to make sure that we’ve got the videos all in order. This year, there was also lobby coordination; we wanted a red carpet and a backdrop and those sorts of things.”

However, on stage (or – rather – backstage), when things are unfolding in real-time, is where Ms. Anderson fully steps into action. To gain insight into how she organizes the events to run smoothly, I asked her to take me through some of her thought processes on the day of the Arts Assembly.

“Assembly… let’s say we’ve got our order already figured out. We’re doing [a scene from] Chicago first, which means I need a clear stage, but I also need a band on stage. I want to have some lights, but not full musical lights.

Next, I’ve got to move a lot of stuff, so we’ll add a film presentation in between because that’s just lights out and the screen down. Then, during that, we’ll clear some of the band stuff out and push the piano forward.

The vocal class is next; they’re just microphones and piano, and they’re standing up front. But we need somebody handing out 10 microphones, and Mr. Anderson up [in the booth] is making sure all those mics are functioning. While we’re moving stuff for the vocal class I can also sneak a few chairs and stands on stage.

Then it’s the next ensemble, and so on… That’s sort of how my brain flows through the process for Assembly.”

While describing her process, Ms. Anderson also stressed, “You’re not only listening to the people speaking; you’re watching the movement of backstage, and coordination of large instruments or large props, and looking out for film [because] the screen comes down and lights come down in that presentation.”

With so many things to keep track of, it’s difficult to catch a break or stop to think about the bigger picture in the heat of the moment. That makes planning beforehand all the more important – especially strategic planning so that things both look good on stage and feel smooth backstage. As Ms. Anderson describes it, “Each [performance] we try to add things, and then we end with the biggest performance which involves chairs and stands all over, like a symphony.”

“It’s like any set change in a show; you want to make sure [transitions] flow or else it looks sloppy.” When Ms. Anderson said this, I realized that, by nature, a job well done by the technicians – Ms. Anderson, Ms. Forte, Mr. Anderson, and anyone else – means a job completed invisibly. Yet, although setting up the Art Exhibition or facilitating stage transitions aren’t typically noticed by an audience, they are crucial to ensuring that we can enjoy the art shared in April to the fullest.

Mr. Wiens

I was also interested in learning more about the making of this year’s RIFF. So, to satisfy my curiosity, I reached out to Mr. Wiens.

I first asked him about his typical roles in Arts in April, to which he replied, “Usually I’ll contribute projects from all five of my Digital and Media Arts classes to shine a light on the digital work that we do.” He explained that the digital nature of this art meant that it was often more difficult to display it to increase viewership, unlike physical art.

Mr. Wiens also isn’t just involved as an art teacher. “With RIFF this year, I had a chance to step up my role through my co-curricular clubs; I was the co-lead with Ms. Forte for Film Club and Digital Studio. I took on the role because Mr. Mugan (the past club lead) stepped away this year, and we had a new film teacher, Mr. Adair, who was trying to get his bearings with the classes alone. I thought, ‘I’ve seen RIFF, I think I know what we can do.’”

After learning a bit more about his role in RIFF, I immediately asked Mr. Wiens about the story behind inviting the Degrassi actors to Ridley this year.

“The inclusion of the Degrassi actors was an idea that I’d hatched with Mr. Mugan last year around this time… I was looking for people from my generation who could speak to students who were interested in going into film and television. I thought [these actors] were particularly relevant for two reasons; one is they’ve been on television their whole lives – we see them grow up – and they’re distinctly Canadian, which I wanted to promote to show what our actors looked like. Another reason is that the show itself was very cutting-edge at the time, and I feel like the topics it dealt with, even in the later 2000s version, were still edgy. I remember we’d hear that the UK or Australia wouldn’t air certain episodes on abortion, teen pregnancy, AIDS, or suicide. Even some friends’ parents wouldn’t let them watch Degrassi, because these were huge topics told through the eyes of teenagers. And [Pat and Stacy] played the two main characters of the show. It was cool to have them come and talk, with how the show was like the influencer of its day.”

Mr. Wiens revealed to me that he had actually found and reached out to them initially on Instagram. “They were doing a lot of fan-cons, and I thought, ‘this would be great,’ so I reached out and asked if they would like to come and work with our kids… We could build a presentation, make the visit worthwhile for everybody.”

Mr. Wiens also echoed what Ms. Forte mentioned: the difficulty of establishing a defined and fun role for the visiting actors. Although the idea of inviting the Degrassi actors had been floating around since last year, Mr. Wiens clarified that “having them work with us to make a scene from The Breakfast Club was only a decision we made around February – so everything evolved over the year we had to think about it.”

After finishing my last interview and looking through the notes I made for this article, I couldn’t help but be amazed at the tapestry of dedication, creativity, and meticulous planning going into Arts in April. So many people and roles are involved, from Mr. Nickerson overseeing the whole process and preparing the Arts Awards, to technicians like Ms. Forte and Ms. Anderson doing so much work behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly, to all the teachers who support their students while giving each of them a chance to shine, to individuals like Mr. Wiens who, on top of their regular contributions, helped make this year’s Arts in April unique in different ways.

Perhaps next year, while taking in the ambiance of RIFF, admiring the Art Exhibition in the new building, or cheering for friends’ performances during the Arts Assembly, we can take a moment to appreciate the hidden powers that created these experiences. Or, better yet, take a moment now and say a ‘thank you’ to your art teacher, if you have one – your participation in and their dedication to Ridley Arts has played a part in uniting our school community in a way that is inspirational, celebratory, and, as always, uniquely Ridley.