Andrea Hansen, 1982, Inuvik. Daughter of Frank and Sandy Hansen and granddaughter of Kathleen Hansen.
This email was received 7Jul99:
Dear Mr. Palmer,
Your gallery took me back to my time in Inuvik (1986-1995). I knew many of the people in your terrific photographs. I thought you might be interested in this story.
I was actually searching on the web for my friend Andrea Hansen. She is a violinist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and has just received the Order of Canada for her work teaching fiddle in the Arctic. She first went North with the TSO in 1987, was billetted with Frank and Sandy Hansen and the rest, as they say, is history. Frank was telling Andrea that fiddling was dying out and there was no teaching or passing it on. Andrea was thrilled to find that she was staying in a house with another Andrea Hansen. She decided to start the teaching and began a foundation called Strings Across the Sky.
Believe me, that's the executive summary! She's been going back to the North twice a year ever since and just came back from the Orkney Islands where there were 38 children from the Mackenzie Delta and some from Iqaluit who played the fiddle in the big cathedral there. She also did some teaching while there.
Anyway, it was great seeing the picture of little Andrea.
All the best
Anne Crossman
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