Q & Arts: Kyle Tenove and Hailey Laycraft
Faces behind the benefit concert honouring victims of Calgary’s worst mass murder
Kari Pedersen
Arts Editor
After a successful first event called High Hopes, which celebrated the five young people who passed away at a tragic house party this past spring, Zackariah and the Non-Profits(ZatNP0hope to carry on honouring their friends, as well as gain notoriety around the local art scene.
The Reflector recently caught up with one half of ZatNP, Kyle Tenove and High Hopes event coordinator Hailey Laycraft, to find out what is next for this inspiring crew.
The Reflector: So tell me a bit more about High Hopes.
Kyle Tenove: It was a concert to celebrate the lives of the five people who passed away April 15. We just wanted it to be a positive event and really uplifting to everyone who was affected by what happened, even people who didn’t know them. It was a rock concert cause that’s what we do.
TR: What was your favourite part?
Hailey Laycraft: My favourite moment was in the day and there was some time where I got to sit and watch everyone around me getting ready and I was actually sitting with Josh Hunters dad, Barclay and I got to sit and watch it all with him which I thought was really neat.
KT: My favourite moment was walking off stage at the very end and standing there with Barry (Mason) and it was kind of neat to see all the clapping and see everyone standing there — I was kind of shell shocked.
TR: What made you get involved in the arts scene?
KT: We just stuck to what we know and I knew Kaiti (Perras) and Jordan (Segura) as well but I was close with Josh (Hunter) and Zackariah (Rathwell) so honouring them was the goal for me — I know what Zackariah and Josh would have wanted, so I wanted to keep it close to the art and I’m not a business person so just keeping it really close to what we know.
TR: How did you decide this is what you wanted to do to honour them?
Zackariah and the Prophets stand as a whole before the tragic events that lead to two of the band members’ death. Photo courtesy: Facebook
KT: Music was and is so important to us, so we felt it was the best medium and it’s kind of universal. I mean my grandma, Josh’s grandma and Zackariahs grandma were there and they enjoyed it so it was kind of just acceptable for everyone. That’s the idea behind it.
HL: Just adding on to that — this is such an emotionally based topic, and I think that regardless of if you know anything about music or art, both can illicit that emotional response. So I think it was something that everyone was able to connect to regardless of their background. If you didn’t know anything about rock music you could still go and feel the emotion from the songs. Songs have the ability to heal in that amazing way.
TR: What would be your advice to university students?
HL: Network with who you know, because if I hadn’t been constantly trying to increase my social circle this opportunity would have never come up. This is something that has forever changed my life. Also volunteer — that is so valuable — all of the volunteering I did helped to give me the experience I needed for this event, and even though it doesn’t pay it gives you such a priceless outlook that you can hold on to.
KT: All of the time that was put into this event, and the event itself was volunteered time, but it was priceless and we got to play at the jubilee!
TR: Where would ZATNP go in an ideal world?
KT: I would like it to continue on and grow because it is a good way — you know everyone worries people will forget their names and you know we aren’t going to but it’s kind of nice tribute to the five of them. I would like to keep doing events and make them bigger and bigger until I don’t know what. It is a great place to dream up ideas and we have the ability to take dreams now and make them real not just for us but for everyone else.
For more information about the group go to www.ZATNP.org or check them out on Facebook.
