Neil Speers
A man of many, many hats. Neil is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, recording engineer, producer, composer, marketer, and he has also been a graphic designer, commercial photographer and videographer, and a journalist. He’s released three CDs and dozens of singles and plays blues, jazz, rock, IDM, ambient, lofi jazz, and more.
His music has won a prize for the soundtrack in an indie video project and he has played in festivals, bars, pubs, and backyards. Neil’s early career was playing on the road in a cover band and has also performed his original works across the country.
One of his greatest skills is that of “problem solver” – which applies to every aspect of his varied occupations and interests. He’s also a tinkerer, being the one who has always set up the PA system for his band, taught graphics programs to business people, and developed processes in darkroom management and digital retouching. From the first time he sat at his mother’s early Mac computer, he had an affinity for pretty much any kind of application he opened. When he studied graphic design he wound up as the class tutor – even to the instructors.
In marketing, he has worked with local, national and international clients including a tourist stop in Alaska for which he was part of a team developing a marketing package that increased the number of visitors by 300 per cent.
Rob Maciak
Français/English. Rob Maciak has been a professional musician and consultant in arts performance and education since 2005. Rob’s range of performance experience includes orchestral music, latin, jazz, fusion, blues, flamenco, Latin American and West African drumming, contemporary and jazz dance collaborations, wind orchestra music, and contemporary chamber music. He has performed across Europe, North America and Oceania, and his clients and collaborative network include National Geographic, Cirque du Soleil, Videogames Live, Legend of Zelda, Diana Krall, the Foothills Brass, the United States Army Brass Quintet, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and the Elmer Iseler Singers.
Rob has taught for Mount Royal University, the Universities of Calgary and Lethbridge, the Banff Centre, the Vic Lewis International Music Festival, the Canadian Forces, several provincial music teachers’ conventions, and over 400 intermediary and secondary school music programmes across five provinces and eight of the United States. Rob has been featured on five albums that span six musical genres and has been the one to successfully apply for grants on numerous occasions. He was also showcased in a multi-destination tour as a concerto soloist with Symphony of the Kootenays in 2017, he has had sixteen students go on to become professional musicians, and his pedagogical method book is currently pending publication.