White Rock: Banners serve as tribute to local artist
It’s a symbol of generosity; a ‘gift’ that keeps on giving.
Banners commissioned by the White Rock BIA – installed this week on city light standards just in time to be seen by thousands enjoying Spirit of the Sea festivities – feature an image from a painting by Italian-born local artist Santo De Vita, who worked out of the Oxford Street Studios.
BIA executive director Cyndie Richards said the new banners not only promote White Rock – they serve as a legacy to the city from the artist, who died in January of this year at the age of 63.
Mission: ‘We had the world here’
The Mission Folk Music Festival appears to be weathering the storm.
Last year a lightning storm threatened the safety of the performers and audience, and all of Saturday’s performances were cancelled. It cost the festival $35,000 because of the loss of gate receipts.
The show’s producer Francis Xavier Edwards and the festival board are also grappling with funding cuts, as the provincial government rolls back the amount it will give for arts and culture. This year the provincial grant dropped from $18,500 to $11,200. Next year they will lose $30,000 in provincial gaming revenue, and the year after another $35,000.
Edwards said the board could have rolled back its show, but instead went the other way – expanding the festival by adding a Thursday night gala concert at the Clark Theatre. That night served as a festival preview for the audience, with nine different acts performing two songs.
B.C. government letter now hints at how it will hand out other Legacy funds to arts groups
Arts groups are starting to receive letters from the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism saying some Legacy funding will be made available to the B.C. Arts Council’s “annual operating clients“. But to be eligible, their events must meet certain requirements and “reflect the vision of the Legacy”, according to the letter.
The letter, signed by Minister of Arts, Culture and Tourism Kevin Krueger, says the move is being made because B.C.’s cultural community “has faced considerable uncertainty caused by the global economic recession“.
Until now, it’s been unclear whether established arts groups would be able to access any of the $10 million Legacy fund announced in the last budget.
Nelson: New tourism plan stresses communication
Cooperation is key in a new cultural tourism plan for Nelson, Kaslo and Areas D, E and F.
Nelson cultural development officer Joy Barrett says the new strategy aims to attract new visitors to the region’s artistic and cultural attractions, and also encourage visitors to continue exploring the area after major events have ended.
“If they’re coming to Kaslo for the Jazz Fest, how can we get them to come down to Nelson, rather than going to Kaslo for a couple days then going back where they’re coming from?” she says.
“The more time that people spend here, the more money they will spend, and that’s going to be a good thing. Not only for the artists, but also for the residents and the businesses.”
Christina Lake: Christina Art Centre opens in August
The grand opening of the Christina Living Arts Centre will be at 10:30 a.m. on August 6.
The Centre is located in the Christina Lake Community Park on Hwy. 3, just east of the Christina Creek Bridge.
This official ceremony will be opening the region’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Ecological Design) building which will house Canada’s first LEED Artisan’s Gallery.
The project is the culmination of over 13 years of proposals for the Community Park to build a Welcome Centre for the region.
New Westminster: Reaction to Massey plan mostly positive
Ed Harrington, who has spent thousands of hours directing musicals in the Massey Theatre, believes the best days of the facility are long past and it’s time to move on.
“Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye but we need to,” said Harrington, who served 16 years as the artistic director of the Royal City Musical Theatre, a group that has called the Massey home for 21 years.
“The character of the Massey comes from its age but that’s one of the things we have to sacrifice,” he said.
Harrington supports replacing the 1,260-seat aging theatre with a newer 1,000-seat state-of-the-art venue as the City of the New Westminster and school district proposed last week.
See also: Massey society voices concerns over its role in future theatre
http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/newwestminsternewsleader/news/99506039.html
Whistler writers festival wins reprieve, Teaming with Vancouver International Writers Festival allowed ninth annual Whistler festival
At the tail end of 2009, organizers of the annual Whistler Readers & Writers Festival announced that despite growing attendance rates they would be canceling the event. Not only was it not making money, it wasn’t breaking even.
“I always thought that there would be a magic number that we could sustain ourselves at without having to go for grants. Even at 150 people or whatever, you still don’t have the money that it takes (to cover the costs),” festival founder, Stella Harvey, said in an interview Monday.
But shortly after announcing the cancellation, Harvey started receiving e-mails from disappointed members of the local literary community, many of whom were asking what they could do to save the festival.
Exploring Whistler’s artistic underworld
The traditional art galleries in the village may be the obvious places for inspiration, but Whistler’s industrial park, Function Junction, offers up an unexpected wealth of hidden artistic treasures: it’s home to the Blind Mute crew, Chili Thom’s art studios, Orkidz arts and crafts workshops, the newly-reopened Art Junction Gallery, Justin Ormiston’s tattoo studio and many more who are the heart of the town’s creative core.
Next Friday (Aug. 6), the community is invited to come out and discover some of these often-overlooked artists and venues, as the Whistler Arts Council hosts its second annual ArtWalk Function Block Party.
Victoria: Coast Salish project takes shape, colour
Bonnie Quaite fine tunes the painted borders of a spirit in the sky, blowing a ship to shore.
The idea behind the image, Quaite says, “is that you’re always surrounded, looked over and watched – taken care of in a way.”
Quaite is the team leader of a group of six youth spending their summer painting mural to be mounted along the Ogden Point breakwater.
Using a projector, they transfer the original work of art onto large panels.
This is phase two of a multi-year project whose aim is to eventually run along the entire 1.1-kilometre span – likely the largest in the world.
Last year’s mural displays a unique Coast Salish designs from the land and sea on each panel, each with its own story
Theatre Kelowna finally in centre it helped create
There will be quite a scene at The Scene Shop in the Rotary Arts Centre come this September.
Finally, after about 20 years of wanting and wishing and hoping, Kelowna’s volunteer theatre group, Theatre Kelowna, will be moving into the centre—eight years after it opened and decades after they first started fundraising to build the building.
The group is responsible for pitching in roughly $50,000 for the building—longtime member Debbie Helf’s picture even hangs in the Rotary Centre as one who brought the vision to fruition.
But when the Rotary Centre opened, the group quickly found they could not afford to take part.
Vancouver: Youth orchestra celebrates 50 years
One anticipated highlight of MusicFest Vancouver is the performance by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. It’s always rewarding to hear this remarkable concatenation of young talent, but this tour is extra-special: 2010 marks the organization’s 50th anniversary.
Youth orchestras have been around for a while in many different guises; in recent decades the concept of how young people make top-quality classical music has been transformed by many regional and national initiatives. The current buzz is Venezuela’s astonishing El Sistema, a social movement in the form of a musical endeavour, which has made a major star of charismatic conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
City of Vancouver, Cultural Services: New Cultural Infrastructure Grant Program
Deadline: September 24, 2010
The Cultural Infrastructure Grant program, launched in 2009, provides support to Vancouver-based non-profit, cultural organizations to assist with projects related to cultural facility planning, purchase, construction, renovation, or expansion. Established as part of the 2008 Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan, the Cultural Infrastructure Program enables arts and cultural groups to advance their space planning and development through a wide variety of activities, from building programs to feasibility analysis, land/building acquisition and renovations/capital upgrades and repairs.
B.C. First Nations and Aboriginal Artists and Arts Organizations Awarded AADA Grants
The First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Council (the First Peoples’ Council) today announced that the Aboriginal Arts Development Awards (AADA) program has this year awarded 47 grants totaling $540,000 to Aboriginal and First Nations artists and organizations working in all artistic disciplines across the province. Proposals are accepted annually from First Nations and Aboriginal artists, organizations and established collectives that have a demonstrated commitment to their practice in any artistic discipline—visual, music, dance, theatre, literary or media and including the contemporary practice of traditionally based forms.
“This year is a hallmark of creative excellence and the continuation of strong artistic expressions from First Nations artists,” said Dr. Lorna Williams, Chair of the at the First Peoples’ Council Board. “Each year the quality of the proposals we receive increases, which demonstrates the growing capacity of Aboriginal arts administration in B.C.”
BC Spirit Festivals News Release, guidelines and application forms available
The Province is providing $3 million this year to support arts and cultural festivals in more than 150 communities across British Columbia through the 2010 Sports and Arts Legacy, announced Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Kevin Krueger.
“We created the Legacy to celebrate and renew the pride and excitement British Columbians experienced during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” said Krueger. “This new BC Spirit Festivals program brings together artists, cultural organizations and all British Columbians to celebrate the spirit of B.C. in our communities.”
The BC Spirit Festivals program will support festivals in communities during February, the anniversary of the 2010 Games. Spirit festivals will be delivered across B.C. through local arts councils and community partners with the assistance of BC Spirit Committees. Signature Spirit events will also be held in Vancouver and Victoria.
Guidelines:http://tinyurl.com/2e5zct2
Application: http://tinyurl.com/268wv8r
Vancouver: Drawn 2010 flips understanding of drawing sideways
Drawn 2010, Vancouver’s second annual drawing festival, recently kicked off with its first-ever juried exhibition. Titled The Drawing Room, mounted in the Pendulum Gallery, and selected by a knowledgeable group of artists, curators, historians, and critics, the show examines contemporary drawing practice from across the country. Unlike other exhibits in Drawn 2010, however, it is disappointingly conservative.