As we celebrate our 30th anniversary in 2025, we’re excited to reflect on the vibrant stories and community members who have helped shape Under the Spire’s story. Our Community Spotlight Series will feature a diverse group of supporters, sharing their personal connections, experiences, and favorite memories with us across 10 interviews. Through their testimonials, we’ll explore why Under the Spire holds a special place in their lives and in our community. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed to this celebration by sharing their reflections with us!
Community Spotlight Series
Interview with Corinne Osborne-Fraser
1. How did you come to know about UTS, and how did you begin volunteering with the organization?
I grew up with wonderful memories of camping with my family on PEI, probably from the time I was about eight years old onwards. And we started off camping on the other side of the island in Souris. The campground that we used to go to closed probably when I was about 14, so my parents were looking for another nice place to go camping and we landed in Cabot Park. My family just loves the Malpeque area, loved Cabot Park, and loved camping there. Later in life I met my husband, and he grew to love PEI as much as I did – to the point that he got in on these family camping trips. After we got married, we continued with the camping at Cabot Park in the summers, but then we moved up to Calgary for about five years, from about 1997 to 2001. We weren’t back in Nova Scotia very long before we said, “We miss the ocean, we miss the water. . . I wonder if we could ever buy some land in Malpeque?” And we did – we bought a small cottage in 2003. And when we retired, we actually bought an additional piece of land and kind of moved a little bit and built on the other side of the river, so now we’ve got a different view in the same area, and we built our retirement cottage where we stay for 5 or 6 months a year. So along with that journey, I have equally fond memories of driving by the church with my family when I was younger, and going in and saying, “What a beautiful church!” You just couldn’t believe the beauty of a church like that. My father in particular was fascinated with the acoustics. He always loved music. I do remember, as a teenager, going to some concerts with him mainly because my mother and my sisters wouldn’t. At the time, nobody wanted to go! My mom was like, “Okay, your father really wants to go, he’s driving everybody crazy. Who’s gonna go with him?” So I remember certainly when I was younger, in my teens camping at Cabot, going to one or two concerts and driving by the church. [As an adult], I remember driving by the church and if the door was open, maybe I’d pop in, and I remember taking my children in. But, I don’t remember actively looking to see if there was a show I wanted to see or anything like that. That, to me, has been more recent in the last couple of summers.
Post-COVID, when I was lucky, I had the opportunity to go and stay at our cottage for four or five months and I said, “You know what? This is something that I’d love: to start trying to attend some more concerts and enjoy the beauty of that building.” This past summer of 2024, I said, “You know what? I’ve always thought I would like to volunteer.” I wanted to try to reconnect with music because both of my children absolutely love music. I grew up listening to music as a teenager and loved it, but along the way my life got too busy and I lost my interest in music. It happened for no reason other than I was too busy and if I had some downtime I wanted quiet. I wanted to rekindle that connection to music, and I love the concept of volunteering and giving back to communities. . . I have so much respect for the artists we have here because I didn’t grow up working in the arts – my background is in engineering. I envision these artists that come to Under the Spire, the talent that they have just blows me away. Sometime along the way, I kind of lacked that appreciation for listening to music, listening to the lyrics that someone has written because it means something to them. That was part of the enjoyment for me this summer – I gave myself the allowance to take this in, to do something with this. It’s more than what you do as a volunteer – standing behind the cash asking “Can I help you?” To me, a big part of the joy is interacting with people. I certainly enjoyed every interaction I had with the volunteers behind the counter. Different people are there for different reasons. I made a point of saying “I’m here to volunteer, to meet people, I want to go in and listen to the music.” And I just kind of rolled everything into one nice, big package and put a bow on it and everything was perfect for me this summer while I was there. I’m getting ten times more back from my interactions and my involvement than what it is on the surface.
2. How has your time at UTS influenced your views on the importance of arts and culture?
Some of my thoughts here are wrapped up in the venue as well. I enter the space and I will tell you – that venue means something to me spiritually as well. I guess my feeling is more serene and spiritual. To me, the venue is almost magical, really. As a patron, you know, I walk through the door and I feel different. You can’t help but be de-stressed and relaxed. Even before the concert – just sitting there and looking up at this ceiling and looking around, like, there’s a real sense of spirituality of whatever type of spirituality you get something from, and I’m not speaking about the Roman Catholic faith there at all. I’m just talking about something from within. And serenity – that means a lot to me as a patron walking in the venue.
I had the opportunity to take my daughter to a show this summer. We saw Rum Ragged and that was fabulous! I wouldn’t say that it was ‘serene’, but you know what? That was just such a great concert experience. The extremes of the music that’s offered for sure is something special. The whole feeling of the venue means a lot to me. And you look around and you just know that you’re not the only one feeling that. You can see people smiling. You don’t see people cranky and unhappy when they leave – they’re usually energized! . . . The whole atmosphere of going into Under the Spire, even when there’s not a concert, is pretty awe-spiring on this beautiful little piece of land, in the smallest province in Canada. You have to step back and think, “How did this ever happen?” Like the wherewithal and the ingenuity and the spirit and the motivation of the people who built that beautiful structure. It’s amazing, really. . . It’s so beautiful and so wonderful that the concert series continues on with music for 30 years, but the church in its new form of not-a-church is open to the public to enjoy the beauty as well, whether or not they want to or are able to attend a concert.
3. Can you share a special memory that you have from your time at UTS?
I really resonated with the first concert that I attended there this year – Shakin’ the Shingles as part of the Festival of Small Halls. People were having such a wonderful time. And I remember a staff member and I were down in the back, and I remember saying to her “That was just unbelievable.” That really resonated with me. That was one of the wilder concerts that I’ve seen, but that’s a pretty vivid memory for me.
I did want to mention that the pavilion is beautiful. What a wonderful addition it is. I remember a concert I attended with my daughter – she was keen on having the strawberry shortcake and so we had the strawberry shortcake. And then when we went this year, I said, “We’re going to take the time and we’re going to get you a nice glass of wine.” To me, that’s a really fun social part as well. I think that’s a really nice part about the concert series, you’ve got that social space if you if you want to go early or if you want to come in and chat with a neighbor at intermission – or if you want to meet at seven instead of seven thirty and get a glass of wine and then enjoy the view or sit quietly in the church and reflect, you know, all kinds of different things.
4. Why do you want to continue supporting Under the Spire and donating your time there as a volunteer?
I guess it’s quite simple – I so much enjoyed listening to the music and the wonderful artists. That’s the big thing. I love being able to drop in as time permits with the volunteering and so attending and being able to hear the music myself allowed me also the opportunity to sit back and really appreciate the community of Malpeque, and of broader PEI. The reason why I want to go back and volunteer is that I want to be part of that magic – not just as a patron, but as somebody who keeps that magic alive and moving forward. I enjoyed it so much – there was a lot given back.
5. What would you say to someone who has never been to a concert at UTS before, or who may feel a little bit nervous about exploring a new genre of music?
My advice would be: “It may not be within your comfort zone, you may not think you’ll enjoy it, but you have to at least allow yourself the opportunity to see that and to experience that. Don’t close the door before it’s open.” With people who are busy and working, and maybe they’re on summer vacation and they’ve got their list of what they have to do – they just need to consider adding this to the list as something that will create lifelong memories for them, as it has for so many people already. Allow yourself the opportunity to create some wonderful memories like thousands of people already have.