Spotlight on Marilynne Bell

Marilynne Bell started attending the inaugural Upstream concerts with her close friend Diane Moore, (founder of Live Art Productions) at St. Mary’s Art Gallery in the late 1980’s. She met many of the musicians in the Upstream founding group at that time.

She had a conversation with Paul Cram following an Upstream Ensemble performance. He asked her to attend a board meeting to “see if it was a fit for her”. At the end of that meeting, she found herself the newly appointed Chair of Upstream Music Association! She has since stayed on the Board for the past 15 years in some capacity. Marilynne has great respect for creative initiative and innovation in all art forms. In her opinion, Upstream embraced both of those attributes. 

Marilynne retired three years ago from her medical practice of 37 years that included her role as an Assistant Professor in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University for 25 years. While there, she developed programs in the curriculum on various societal issues related to women’s health as a feminist.

She holds a BFA from NSCAD University in Visual Arts, therefore the last three years have seen her travelling globally, photographing extensively, studying printmaking in Cuba and seeking out musicians wherever she goes.

(This picture was taken in Dubrovnik, Croatia with a sculpture entitled “Woman Violinist” by Mestrovice.)