From Sept. 24 to 26 (Sept. 17 to 19 for Alberta Arts Days), artists, groups, organizations and municipalities in more than 700 Canadian cities and towns opened their doors and offered 4500 free Culture Days hands-on classes, excursions, tours, demonstrations, seminars, panels and behind-the-scenes experiences.

Culture Days 2010 marked the biggest event of its kind in Canadian history.

“The first edition of Culture Days was a resounding success as thousands of artists and organizations opened their doors to Canadians in every province and territory simultaneously for the first time,” says Antoni Cimolino, Chairman of Culture Days’ national Steering Committee and General Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. “Hundreds of thousands of Canadians in every corner of the country enjoyed an enormous variety of activities. Strong attendance and an enthusiastic response have been the common experience in communities large and small. We are thrilled at the response to the inaugural event and thank all activity organizers, volunteers, partners and collaborators for their participation and support.”

And this year, 30 musicians between the ages of 12 and 18 are a part of the North Shore Celtic Ensemble.

“It just keeps growing,” the ensemble’s music director Claude Giguere says.

More than double the size, the group has also doubled its season’s performances, which includes stage time at Kay Meek Centre’s Culture Day.

On Saturday, Sept. 25, more than 150 performers and a dozen groups are filling the theatre with a buzz of activity. From the ensemble’s Celtic classics to the all-female group Aliqua, the centre will transform into a “live site” with simultaneous shows taking place in its two theatres and lobby.

The GVPL Central branch courtyard will be alive with music every Saturday afternoon in September during Culture Days, a nationwide celebration of the arts.

For more information, please go online to www.culturedays.ca

This is great news for Burnaby, and for the Burnaby Arts Council (BAC), our member groups and many other local arts and community organizations impacted by recent funding cuts at the provincial level.

The Burnaby Arts Council organizes many special events throughout the year, and is currently in the early planning stages of potentially initiating two new festivals in 2011. One of these will be the expansion of a new national event, ‘Culture Days’, in which B.C. communities are participating for the first time in 2010.