Nanaimo arts
Nanaimo: Public invited to play the city
You may not know it, but the City of Nanaimo is a musical instrument. On June 12, 1:30 p.m., the public is invited to “Play the City” at Diana Krall Plaza, when the walls, sculpture and pavement will be transformed into music-like instruments and the sound mixed with recorded sounds from the core of the [...]
Nanaimo: Documentary looks at mental illness and art
A film about a museum dedicated to the production and collection of art by people living with a mental illness will be featured during Start With Art Nanaimo’s annual show. The fourth annual art and film show features two screenings of The Living Museum, by director Jessica Yu, which chronicles the museum of the same [...]
Nanaimo: Fibre art conference coming
Fibre artists from Vancouver Island and vicinity are invited to participate in a textile “wonder world” Sept. 10-11 at Nanaimo’s Conference Centre. Fibre artists will be given the opportunity to promote and encourage the lively fibre arts of Vancouver Island, home to a thriving community of creative artists who work with yarn, fibre, textiles and [...]
Nanaimo: New arts society takes aim at homelessness
A new society aims to raise money through music concerts and theatrical performances to combat homelessness. The goal is to sponsor concerts and theatrical performances with 40 per cent of profits going toward a community’s designated homeless committee. Thirty per cent will go toward bursaries and scholarships at Vancouver Island University, 20 per cent will [...]
Nanaimo: Blues Northern David Gogo’s music career recognized by city with Excellence in Culture Award
David Gogo’s after-school job saw him rub shoulders with some of the legends in the world of blues music. Gogo grew up during a rich time in Nanaimo’s music scene, when people like Junior Wells and John Hammond played nightly in the Commercial Hotel (now the Painted Turtle Guesthouse), the Queen’s and Frisco’s (now the [...]
Teachers rally to protect school music programs
With looming cuts of up to $3 million as the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district prepares its budget for 2010-11, efforts are being made to protect what’s left of a once-mighty music program that spawned such local legends as Diana Krall and Allison Crowe. Norman Mould, president of the Coalition for Music Education in B.C., said that [...]
Nanaimo: Blues festival takes one-year break
Blues fans are losing their signature annual event. Low sponsorship and cuts to government grants means the popular and successful Nanaimo Blues Festival will not happen this year, said Ed Poli, president of the Nanaimo Blues Society board. “It was a very difficult decision,” Poli said. The free annual festival was paid for through sponsorships [...]
Nanaimo: City drafts plan for public art
Maffeo Sutton Park is at the top of the list for the location of new public art in Nanaimo. The site was identified in the Community Plan for Public Art, a draft document outlining the city’s plan to acquire art, placement and to increase awareness of public art in the community. The waterfront park already [...]
Nanaimo Arts Council launches its 6th annual fiction competition
The Nanaimo Arts Council is launching the 6th annual Nanaimo Short Fiction Contest. This event is held in co-operation with Vancouver Island University — Creative Writing and Journalism Department. Local writers of all ages, living on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, are invited to submit original stories of up to 2,000 words in junior, [...]
Port Theatre plans on hold: No infrastructure cash for new studio, rehearsal space
Officials at Nanaimo’s Port Theatre have been told their dream of building a studio theatre and rehearsal space adjoining the downtown performing arts centre is on hold. Port Theatre directors found out earlier this week they would not receive any money from the federal/provincial Build Canada infrastructure fund. They had hoped the fund would kick [...]
City offers arts, culture, sports grants
The City of Nanaimo has three grant programs available to arts, cultural and sports organizations. The cultural operating grant is available to non-profit arts and cultural organizations to assist with operating costs. Sport tournament grants and arts, cultural and festival grants are available to assist organizations host events that use city services and facilities. The [...]
Building a dream (Nanaimo)
Camela Tang wants Nanaimo to be a place people want to stay – and that their children want to move back to. Her work to build Nanaimo’s arts scene, by securing funding, buildings and recognition for artists, earned her the Honour in Culture Award from the City of Nanaimo. “It is a wonderful honour but [...]
Theatre builds confidence in teens
Theatre has become a source of empowerment for three teen girls. The teens, all students in Nanaimo school district’s learning alternatives program, wrote three skits based on events that happened in their lives. Each skit features a negative experience – alcoholic parent or shoplifting – and shows how choices each person makes opens a new [...]
Sound study
Until she read letters from professors, teachers and former students from across the country, Wellington Secondary School band director Carmella Luvisotto had no idea the impact she had on students in her 13-year career. “I had to read them in private, actually,” Luvisotto said. “I think there would have been a few tears.” The letters [...]
Arts and culture sector thrives
The arts and culture sector employed more than 2,400 people in the Regional District of Nanaimo in 2006, according to best estimates. The sector grew by 41% in the first six years of this decade, but analysts predict that rate of growth will slow considerably during the recession. Try to tell that to Port Theatre [...]
