True to his habit of slapping art in places you wouldn’t normally find it, Mark Haney’s East Side Animals gets its one and only airing at Falaise Community Hall on Saturday (February 8), at 2 p.m. Haney—whose résumé as a double bassist includes playing with singer-songwriter Rodney DeCroo—worked with three classes from the neighbouring Nootka, Vancouver Christian, and Thunderbird elementary schools to compose a 25-minute, animal-themed suite inspired by the pebble mosaic in Falaise Park. (One of the eight individual pieces included in the finished work is called “Justin Beaver”.)

The Little Chamber Menagerie Haney assembled for the occasion includes Limblifter’s Megan Bradfield on bass.

“It was part of my field-house residency with the park board,” Haney told the Straight. “The whole piece is based on another piece of art in the park, and it was created with about a hundred kids from the area, so the whole purpose of it was to try and bring new music out of all context and pretence it’s ever been in and into a very different situation.”

As for the kids, “they were astonishing to work with,” reported Haney.