Natasha Smith will be sharing her extensive knowledge and skill of Visual Art processes with students at Oxygen again this semester.  Her course Low-tech Printmaking explores the basics of low-tech printmaking and investigate processes that can be done without the use of a printmaking press. Simple plate-making and image transfer methods will be demonstrated and students will learn a variety of printmaking techniques including: basic relief printing (lino cuts & speedycut), collagraph (printing from collaged plates) & monoprinting (one of a kind prints). This is a very popular and fun, process based course and is appropriate for artists of all levels.

Natasha’s course begins March 28 and runs for 8 weeks on Wednesdays from 6.30-9.30 pm.  We highly recommend signing up early for this course to guarantee your place.  Natasha’s courses tend to fill up fast and only ten students are accepted into the program.

Miriam Needoba will be offering her course D.I.Y. Film Making for Amateurs at Oxygen this Winter/Spring.  Got an idea for a video you want to make? Want to join the millions broadcasting on Youtube?  Learn to see, learn to shoot, learn to edit and find the story you want to tell.  Students must bring a recording device – from a digital camera or cell phone if no video camera available.   For those who already have some basic training in filmmaking D.I.Y. Film Making: Projects and Workshops will develop your video and filmmaking skills in a mentored, group environment. Workshops on shooting, editing, lighting and film language will be integrated with critiques and studio production time.   Both courses start on March 24th and run for five weeks on Saturdays (no classes on April 7 during the holiday weekend).

TO REGISTER:
Phone: 250-352-2821  
Or drop by: Kootenay School of Arts. 606 Victoria Street, Nelson BC V1L 4K9
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Visit Oxygen’s website: www.oxygenartcentre.org
Or Email us at: info@oxygenartcentre.org  Or Phone us at: 250 352 6322 Or find us on FaceBook!

Columbia Basin – Artists in all disciplines—as well as arts, culture and heritage organizations—are invited to apply for funding through the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (CKCA), which delivers the Arts, Culture and Heritage Program of Columbia Basin Trust (CBT).

For 2012/13, funding has increased by $55,000, to $706,000. This will help CKCA better meet demand in sought-after programs like minor capital for arts and heritage facilities, support for touring and major project funding.

“We’re very happy CBT has increased the funding made available to arts, heritage and culture through our programs,” said Jacquie Hamilton, CKCA Chair. “The works of these organizations and individuals touch upon the lives of people throughout the Basin, and CKCA appreciates the opportunity to provide support.”

Funding is available for: individual and group projects; minor capital projects; touring; arts and heritage mentoring/master classes; organizational development; major projects; artists in education; major exhibits; major heritage capital projects; and heritage projects.

“This is support for our neighbours, our museums, our local theatre troupes—for the many ways arts, culture and heritage weave through our lives,” said Gary Ockenden, CBT Director of Community Engagement. “We’re proud CBT can strengthen this sector in order to benefit the whole community.”

Find out more and get the application form by visiting www.basinculture.com, contacting your local community arts council or phoning CKCA at 250.505.5505 or 1.877.505.7355.
Applications must be received by March 9 or March 23, 2012, depending on the program. CBT delivers economic, social and environmental benefits to the residents of the Columbia Basin. To learn more about CBT programs and initiatives, visit www.cbt.org or call 1.800.505.8998.

Photo Submitted

Columbia Basin – To assist those interested in applying for Arts, Culture and Heritage Program grants from Columbia Basin Trust (CBT), Krista Patterson and Natasha Smith of the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (CKCA) will present workshops on how to apply and what to expect from the application process. CBT’s Arts, Culture and Heritage grants are managed and administered by CKCA. Individuals of all artistic disciplines as well as arts, culture and heritage organizations residing in the Columbia Basin are invited to attend the workshops.

CBT proudly supports initiatives and projects that highlight Basin culture and heritage, and for 2012/13,
funding has increased by $55,000, to $706,000.

Workshops are FREE. Registration is not required. Locations, dates and times are as follows:

Silverton: Saturday, February 11, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. hosted by the Slocan Lake Gallery Society
Location: Silverton Gallery, 408 – 4th Street

Trail: Saturday, February 18, 10 a.m. – 12 noon hosted by the Trail & District Arts Council
Location: Greater Trail Community Ctr., Room 208, 1501 Cedar Avenue

Fernie: Saturday, February 18, 9 – 11 a.m. hosted by the Fernie & District Arts Council
Location: The Arts Station, 601 – 1st Avenue

Kimberley: Saturday, February 18, 3 – 5 p.m. hosted by the Kimberley Arts Council
Location: Centre 64, 64 Deer Park Avenue

Creston: Sunday, February 19, 1 – 3 p.m. hosted by the Community Arts Council of Creston
Location: Creston Community Complex, Rotocrest Upper Level, 230 – 19th Ave. North

Revelstoke: Saturday, February 25, 10 a.m. – 12 noon hosted by the Revelstoke Arts Council
Location: Okanagan College, Room 102, 1401 – 1st Street West

More information, funding policies and program application forms are available online at www.basinculture.com, from local community arts councils, or by phoning CKCA at 1-250-505-5505 or toll free at 1-877-505-7355.

CBT delivers economic, social and environmental benefits to the residents of the Columbia Basin. For more information about CBT, visit www.cbt.org or call 1-800-505-8998

Press Release:

NCO is pulling out all the stops for this production.  The producers of the show are sparing almost no reasonable cost to maximize the production values and musical impact of the premiere. “To be able to afford everything we need to make this happen we have had to raise our ticket prices for this one unique production,” Horswill, explained. “Because tickets for the Thursday (March 8th) opening night performance are both scarce and in high demand, they will be the most expensive at $50 for each seat “

Tickets for the Friday and Saturday evening performances (March 9th and 10th) will be $40 for adults and $30 for seniors and students. Saturday afternoon matinee tickets will sell at the usual NCO price of $25 for adults and $15 for seniors and students. “Hopefully this range of prices, from $15 to $50, will offer something suited to every taste and every budget,” said Horswill.

Full-cast staging rehearsals for KHAOS began last Saturday. There will be a cast of 42 singers and instrumentalists and 1 solo dancer on stage for these performances as well as a behind-the-scenes crew of another 15 or 20 designers, directors and technicians.  “The commitment of each and every one of us is to do our utmost to ensure that every ticket holder leaves the theatre convinced that the performance of KHAOS they have watched was worth every penny they paid and more,” Horswill concluded.  “Truly, no-one (opera lover or not) will want to miss the once-in-a-lifetime birth of the West Kootenays’ very own opera.”

KHAOS, created by local composer, Don Macdonald and local playwright, Nicola Harwood, is a re-imagining of the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone set in a contemporary world of climate change and looming global disaster.   The opera asks the question “What if a civilization’s greed and need for “progress”  prevented Persephone from returning to Earth to console her grieving mother? Would Demeter’s grief and rage end life on earth as we know it?”

Tour performance dates and locations:

Nelson’s Capitol Theatre, March 8th, 9th & 10th (various times)

Key City Theatre, Cranbrook;  Saturday, March 17 @ 7:30 p.m.

Grand Forks Secondary School Theatre, Friday, May 11 @ 8:00 p.m.

Charles Bailey Theatre, Trail; Saturday, May 12 @ 8:00 p.m.

Prince Charles Secondary School Theatre, Creston; Sunday,

May 13 @ 2:30 p.m.

Tickets will be available at the usual local outlets in each community closer to the performance dates.

For more information and to hear excerpts from KHAOS, visit www.khaosopera.com.

Set the tone for next year's jazz fest.

The Kaslo Jazz Etc. Society proudly presents the 2012 Kaslo Jazz Etc. Festival Artwork Contest.

The contest for submissions of artwork for posters, T-shirts, website and other promotional material is on now.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, Mar. 2.

They’re looking for original, creative four-colour art that reflects bright, festive, simple, clear images of professional quality that is camera ready and transfers well to posters, T-shirts, etc.

What do you win?

A $500 cash prize

• 2 weekend passes to the 2012 Kaslo Jazz Etc. Festival
• Festival merchandise featuring the winning design
• Artist mention in the 2012 Kaslo Jazz Etc Festival program

Artwork may be submitted digitally or in original form. Previous posters can be seen www.kaslojazzfest.com.

Send your artwork to:

Mailing address:
Kaslo Jazz Etc. Society
PO Box 1293, Kaslo, BC V0G 1M0

Physical address: 404 Front Street Suite 2 Kaslo, BC V0G 1M0

Email: info@kaslojazzfest.com (Artwork contest in subject line)

With a slight change in the U-19 format this year, the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture has partnered up with the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology to bring you the REEL Youth Film Festival.

submitted.

Screenings will begin at noon on Saturday, Nov. 26 at the Miners Hall with a $3 admission charge. The REEL Youth Film Festival features some of the best in international youth film-making, along with submissions from the talented youth of the West and Central Kootenays (youth under 19 must submit films by November 4, 2011 – visit www.rosslandcac.com for submission guidelines and prize information).

The 2011 Reel Youth Film Festival is a collection of compelling and entertaining short youth films: animations, dramas, documentaries, comedies and a musical. Whether facing down riot police in Copenhagen, vying for love in Philadelphia, or searching Vancouver’s downtown east side for a missing aunt, these are the unflinching stories of today’s youth.

Local sponsors of the Reel Youth Film Festival include the Columbia Basin Trust, Kootenay Association for Science and Technology, BC Arts Council, Columbia Power Corporation, Nelson and District Credit Union and of course the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture.

The highly anticipated Gala Event, sponsored by Teck, is once again taking place in the Ross Thompson Room at the Prestige. Ticket prices are $35. Doors open at 6pm with films starting at 7pm. As usual, you can expect a lovely evening of live performance, great food (by Gabriella’s), choice of wine, and, returning this year, the Silent Art Auction which will feature local artists.

The performer this year will be Dominique Fraissard: hailing originally from Australia, he now calls Canada’s west his home. He has opened for Jack Johnson, John Butler Trio, the Waifs, Bill Bourne; amongst others and has been a BCIMA 2011 Top 3 Finalist for: People’s Choice, Best Folk/Traditional Recording, Best Roots/World Recording, and Best Producer. Certain to be a hit in Rossland, BC Musician Magazine sums him up by saying “…we are sure to be hearing more of this warm, comforting voice in the cool, dark festival night”. Listen to his music at Myspace.

As done last year, the Silent Art Auction will be donating ALL FUNDS raised. This year’s organization will be the Kootenay Columbia Trails Society (KCTS – www.kcts.ca): the group that creates and maintains the trails within the area. Last year, the auction’s highest item went to artist Julie MacDermott (www.juliemacdermott.com) who has agreed to come back this year with two pieces – her energetic, action paintings of the Rossland lifestyle will be sure to grab your attention.

Here’s a trailer for the touring film festival.

Join popular CBC host Grant Lawrence for a reading and slide show about his award-winning book, Adventures In Solitude: What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and Other Stories from Desolation Sound (Harbour Publishing, $26.95), at venues across the Kootenays. See below for the schedule.

Grant Lawrence. Photo submitted.

Grant Lawrence has become a popular voice across Canada as host of the CBC Radio 3 Podcast. Fans of independent music tune in to his podcast or turn up an old song from a record by The Smugglers, Grant’s defunct rock band. In Adventures in Solitude, Grant shares how Desolation Sound shaped his life in music and the history of Canada.

Young Grant’s father bought a piece of land next to BC’s Desolation Sound marine park in the 1970s, just in time to encounter the gun-toting cougar lady, left-over hippies, outlaw bikers and an assortment of other characters. It was these early experiences, many alongside an influential hermit named Russell, which led Grant to a life of music and journalism far away from Desolation Sound. In his book, Grant returns to regale us with tales of “going bush,” the tempting dilemma of finding an unguarded grow-op, and other laugh-out-loud stories from this unique place.

Grant Lawrence hosts the popular CBC Radio 3 Podcast with Grant Lawrence, and Grant Lawrence Live on CBC Radio 3 and Sirius 86, and can also be heard on various CBC Radio One programs such as DNTO, Spark, All Points West and On the Coast. Adventures in Solitude – a bestseller in BC and across Canada – won the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award for best book published in British Columbia earlier this year.

Just last month, the book was also shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, and the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, one of the richest literary prizes in Canada.

In addition to his book and radio appearances, Lawrence hosts many major music events, such as the Polaris Music Prize Gala, the Western Canadian Music Awards and various festivals around North America, and conducts music industry seminars and keynote addresses on music and media related topics. He still spends much of each summer at his cabin in the Sound. The rest of the time he lives in Vancouver, with his wife, Canadian folk singer Jill Barber.

Kootenay schedule

• Sun, October 30, 2011: Grant Lawrence Reads in Nakusp - Nakusp Public Library (92 6th Avenue NW, Nakusp)
• Sat, October 29, 2011: Grant Lawrence Reads in Trail - Crockett Book Company (109 8100 Rock Island Hwy., Trail)
• Sat, October 29, 2011: Grant Lawrence Reads in Rossland - Cafe Books (2063 Washington Street, Rossland)
• Fri, October 28, 2011: Grant Lawrence Reads in Cranbrook - Lotus Books (33 S. 10th Avenue, Cranbrook)

There is chaos in the literary community! The Kootenay Literary Competition is now open and the theme this year for the adult competition is “Chaos” in all its forms.

Photo source: redcargurl, Flickr, Creative Commons.

This popular annual writing event is open to all writers in the entire Kootenay region. This year there will two distinct competitions: one for adults and another just for youth.

Youth can enter the Grades 10-12 category or Grades 7-9 category.

Grades 10-12 should use the following first line : “It wasn’t that I meant for it to happen….”.

Young people Grades 7-9 but must include the following words in their piece: “tricks”, “seventeen cents” and “sweet” in their writing. Adults can enter in four categories: Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Poetry and Emerging Writer.

There will be great cash prizes and an awards ceremony, winners readings, and free food.

Prizes range from $50 up to $200 depending on the category.

Competition Details

The 2011 Entry Fees are as follows:
$35.00 for each submission in the Adult competition (4 Categories)
$15.00 for each submission in the Youth competition (2 Age Categories)
Information, rules, category descriptions, details and entry forms will be available on our website www.litcomp.inthekoots.com

Submissions

Maximum 3,000 words in the adult competition and 2,500 in the youth competition. Submissions must be submitted in standard competition format. A submission format template is available on our website. Submissions must be submitted electronically, with entry fees received by mail, before the submissions is considered.

Writers may submit in more than one category but each submission must be accompanied by a separate entry form and fee. All submissions must be submitted to mailto:info@ndac.cail.com no later than 5:00pm on November 15th, 2011.

Entry fees, with a copy of the entry form, should be mailed (or dropped off) to:

Mint Agency, Suite # 6 – 560 Baker Street, Nelson, BC V1L 4H9

For complete information on the competition, entry forms, entry fees and how to submit, visit the KLC website www.litcomp.inthekoots.com or email kootenaylitcomp@gmail.com or contact KLC Committee Member, Kathy Hartley at kathart@shaw.ca.

Winners in each of the categories will be announced at the KLC Awards Ceremony and Celebration planned for early 2012.

It’s that time of year again – the 12th annual Rossland Mountain Film Festival!

Shout Out Out Out Out.

There are some changes this year with the format. Typically having Friday and Saturday late night events, we’ve condensed our films and entertainment and will be having one exciting show on Saturday, November 26th being held at Rossland Secondary School. Be sure to get your tickets early as it’s sure to be a sellout – how do we know? Because we are thrilled to announce that this year there will be TWO bands at the event!

Co-headliners this year will be returning favourites Five Alarm Funk (www.fivealarmfunk.com)and, new to Rossland, Shout Out Out Out Out (www.shoutoutoutoutout.com). Both bands are sure to follow up our film showing with an excellent time.

Films have started arriving already but we are always looking for more! Spread the word – tell your friends – to send in those films!

As with every year, there will be the all ages film screening, film making workshops, the Under-19 competition, Gala event with charity art auction, films being shown around town, and our speaker presentation. Keep an eye out for more details and information in the coming weeks and don’t forget to check out our website, www.rosslandfilmfestival.com, for updated information.

Conceiving Family follows (Director/Producer) Amy Bohigian and her partner, Jane Byers, as they adopt biracial 15 month-old twins, Franny and Theo. Their journey to becoming a family, like the other four same-sex couples, is laden with challenges, including confronting the Christian Fundamentalist foster parents who express fear that the children they’ve cared for since birth will now, “grow up to be gay” with parents who are “going to hell for their sins.” Required to live together for two weeks during the kids’ transition they confront their differences in the most surprising ways. Combining personal interviews, intimate footage, and family photos, Conceiving Family tells the collective story of what it takes to become an intentional family.

Here’s the trailer:

Katherine Pettit will open the evening with her short animated documentary Dancing With the Moon. From Katherine’s press release:

The Nelson based documentary company, Sand KMT Productions Inc. is pleased to announce the public release of “Dancing with the Moon.”

“Dancing with the Moon” is an animated short autobiographical documentary that profiles Katherine Pettit (Director/Producer) on her troubling encounter with infertility. The hope to conceive dwindles and despair hits when Katherine is diagnosed with the enigmatic disorder PCOS – Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome. PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age, and is a leading cause of infertility. The doctor recommends a harsh fertility drug that could put Katherine’s health at risk. Determined to conceive naturally, Katherine tries a curious, yet non-invasive treatment – Lunaception, coupled with a three-month diet cleanse and the use of natural remedies prescribed by a naturopath doctor.

The documentary was funded by the BC Arts Council, was animated by a Nelson native, Sam MacKinnon and features the music of Adham Shaikh.

The producer/director of the documentary, Katherine Pettit says “I made the film for women who are struggling to get pregnant. There are natural, non-invasive options that are not part mainstream knowledge. This film is intended to spread that knowledge.”

The film will have its premiere play at the Capitol Theatre on September 17 at 8pm.