Surviving 40 yearsin Vancouver’s chronically underfunded and often transient music scene is an achievement in itself. But the New Orchestra Workshop Society’s milestone represents something even bigger, because its longevity is based more on its ability to constantly reinvent itself than on the endurance of its founders. Now on its third generation of core members and with a fourth coming up, NOW has played a key role in our city’s emergence as a hub in the global improvised-music network, and it seems ready to keep contributing for a long time to come.

Like any true grassroots organization, NOW started small—as a band, in fact—and has grown in an organic, erratic, and always creative fashion. But it’s likely that its founders—saxophonist Paul Cram, bassist Lisle Ellis, trombonist Ralph Eppel, pianist Paul Plimley, and drummer Gregg Simpson—knew they were onto something important when they first joined forces in 1977.

By 1979, they had a word-of-mouth warehouse venue in an industrial area of Kitsilano, had begun to invite international guests to perform and lead workshops, were organizing their first festival, and were ready to file incorporation papers as a nonprofit. And, as current NOW managing artistic director Lisa Cay Miller has discovered while readying the 40th-anniversary festivities, they’d identified the things most necessary to ensure the nascent society’s enduring relevance.

“One thing that really strikes me about preparing this celebration, which includes an installation that has an archival element to it, is that, in looking through the original purposes of the society, it’s remarkable how little they have changed,” the composer and pianist says, in a telephone interview from her East Vancouver home. “I guess a more positive way of saying that is to note how constant those values have remained, despite there being a few generations and different leadership and various people being involved. Those values have stayed true, which is really incredible.”

NOW’s core concepts, Miller continues, include “community, collaboration, trust, generosity, and adaptability”. “It’s about creating community through collaborative effort,” she explains. “And that manifests itself in presenting concerts and providing opportunities for British Columbian musicians to share their music here and abroad and throughout Canada, and in commissioning composers to create new works which use improvisation. And it also manifests itself in the workshops, which have been an immensely important part of NOW Society since ’79, I think, starting with the first workshop at the Western Front with [vibraphonist and educator] Karl Berger.”

All of those ideas are reflected in NOW’s anniversary celebrations, which start tonight and run through Saturday (November 15 to 18). In addition to open rehearsals and panel discussions, there are four evening concerts that each illuminate aspects of the society’s mandate.

Wednesday’s Improv Workshop Concert highlights the work that has come out of NOW’s most recent round of Western Front teaching sessions; it features emerging improvisers who range from true neophytes to veteran classical, soul, and indie-rock performers. But it will also showcase the links between improvised music and contemporary composition: on the bill is CalArts-trained pianist Rory Cowal, a relatively new arrival in Vancouver, who’ll play Kris Davis’s 8 pieces for the Vernal Equinox, which he recently recorded for the esteemed New World Records label.

“I’m just blown away by his interpretation and his ability,” says the Vancouver-born, New York–based Davis, who’ll join Cowal and Miller in contributing solo piano to the night. “I have such a hard time performing through-composed material; that’s why I didn’t become a classical pianist. So for me, when I hear him play these things that are pretty difficult and without any mistakes, I’m just so happy that he agreed to do it.”

Thursday’s Trading Places: Un Échange d’Improvisateurs features two Quebec-based performers, guitarist Vicky Mettler and trumpeter Elwood Epps, as part of an exchange that will see Vancouver’s Cole Schmidt and Peggy Lee play Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo festival in June. (NOW veteran Plimley is among the locals who’ll join Mettler and Epps here.)

Friday’s NOW Society Ensemble concert reprises a program of graphic scores that was one of the highlights of the recent ISCM World New Music Days festival. Epps and Mettler will join NOW regulars Miller, Joshua Zubot (violin), James Meger (bass), and Skye Brooks (drums)—and for Brazilian composer Henri Augusto Bisognini’s dizzying Curiosidade the audience is invited to play, too, using a digital controller to create projected images that the musicians will then interpret.

The celebrations end on Saturday with the full 14-piece NOW Orchestra premiering commissioned works by Davis and trumpeter-composer Lina Allemano. It’s especially gratifying to see that all four generations of NOW musicians will get a chance to play together, with former artistic directors Ron Samworth (guitar) and Nikki Carter (sax) among the participants.

“This just warms my heart,” says Miller, “because it means that the values that are kind of core to our community are being shared and passed on.”

The NOW Society’s 40th-anniversary celebrations take place at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre from Wednesday to Saturday (November 15 to 18). For a full schedule, visit the NOW Society website.