Singing for Mass Connection: A Weekend Workshop with Melanie DeMore
September 13 & 14, 2025
10:00 am – 3:30 pm (both days)
Ukrainian Labour Temple
591 Pritchard Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
"Singing with Melanie DeMore was one of the highlights of my singing experience. She brought not just a weekend of joy and fun with her beautiful songs, but her compassion and love created a deep sense of community and connection."
- Ellen Titus (Toronto)
Come Sing with Us!
With Melanie’s exuberant and steadfast guidance, participants will enter into a song-filled space where we can listen deeply to our own voices and be surrounded by the voices of others; where we can renew our sense of what’s possible in our precious but fractured world; where we can joyfully and playfully sing our hearts out.
We Welcome Members of Winnipeg’s Diverse Community and Beyond to Join us in Song.
No experience is needed. In Melanie’s words: “Are ya breathin'? Good. That’s the only qualification.”
​
General Information
This workshop will take place over 2 days:
Saturday, September 13th 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
Sunday, September 14th: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
Schedule for both days:
9:30 am: Doors open. Come settle in over a morning snack and coffee/tea
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Morning session
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm: Lunch break/Social time
1:30 pm –3:30 pm: Afternoon session
Location
This workshop will be held at the beautifully renovated, fully accessible Ukrainian Labour Temple at 591 Prichard Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Please get in touch if you have specific accessibility needs.
Registration & Prices
Note: Lunches and snacks are included in the fee.
Please get in touch if you have special dietary needs.
We encourage folks to bring their own mug.
Early bird (Received by August 1st)
Adult: $250 + $12.50 GST
Adult supporter: $270 + $13 GST (incl. scholarship donation)
Student: (18-25): $220 + $11 GST
Teen (10-17): $125 + $6.25 GST
​​
Standard (after August 1st)
Adult: $300 + $15 GST
Adult supporter: $320 + $16 GST (incl. scholarship donation)
Student (18-25): $250 + $12.50 GST
Teen (10-17): $150 + $7.50 GST
​
* We are applying tiered pricing for this workshop, so that those of us with more can share, and those of us who could use some support can receive it. When you register at the Supporter rate, a portion of your registration fee will go towards our scholarship/sliding scale fund.
​
Once all workshop costs are covered, we will donate workshop revenue to Israeli-Palestinian Peace groups. (Details to follow.)
​
About Melanie DeMore
Community Works Manitoba is delighted to welcome to Winnipeg Melanie DeMore, a 3 - time Grammy nominated artist, and an internationally acclaimed songwriter, composer, performer, and choral conductor, for a weekend singing workshop. Melanie will bring participants into full-throated songs of sorrow and jubilation and of social justice and healing.
Melanie’s credentials are too many to list. Just to say she is an adjunct faculty at the California Institute for Integral Studies, Master teaching artist in music for CalPerformances at UC Berkeley, a featured presenter for SpeakOut!The Institute for Social and Cultural Change, and the Music Director for Obeah Operas in Toronto. She is currently a mentor for the Jerusalem Youth Chorus that brings Jewish Israeli and Palestinian youth together to sing, to talk, and to grow together.. Melanie has shared the stage with musicians such as Richie Havens, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert and Ani Di Franco, to name a few.
Describing herself as someone who uses her voice as “a weapon of mass connection”, Melanie is recognized for her compassionate presence with folks of all ages, all backgrounds, all genders, all spiritual traditions, all political beliefs, at all stages of life. Through song, she has welcomed newborns into this world, and has accompanied folks at the end of their lives through her involvement in Threshold Choirs.
A song can hold you up when there seems to be no ground beneath you. - Melanie DeMore
Cancellation & Refund Policy
Registration for this workshop is non-refundable, but it is transferable. If you wish to transfer your spot to a friend or family member, please contact us at 204-255-1131 or 204-881-6177 or by e-mail community.works@shaw.ca
For those who are travelling from out of town for this workshop, please note that we are not able to cover any costs incurred by participants for transportation or accommodations. As such, please organize your travel and travel insurance with this in mind.
If the workshop is cancelled by the host, you will, of course, receive a full refund.
Colds, Flus, & Covid
In an effort to keep everyone healthy, we ask that you stay home if you are sick, or have tested positive for Covid in the five days prior to the workshop.
“Singing with Melanie is something I will never forget. She opened my eyes to the power of song as an instrument of change, hope, and peace in this world. I still sing her songs with my family and community.”
– Angela Ouroumov (Toronto)