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.

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.

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 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.”

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.

“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

“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.

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.

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

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.

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.

“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.”