In this edition of The Bulletin:
- Congrats to NAC Member Debbie Slade!
- UN-SEND: Fri 11 Dec 7PM Dennis Tourbin Members Gallery at NAC
- The Curse of Clara: Thurs 17 Dec 7PM at NAC
- NAC’s Annual General Meeting: Sat 19 Dec 2PM at NAC
- A New Place to Dwell: 8MM Film Mashup + Live Music: Sat 19 Dec 8:30PM at NAC
- Floyd Elzinga: Open Studio: Sat 12 Dec 10AM
- Suitcase in Point’s Holiday Cabaret Fri 11 – Sun 13 Dec at the PAC
Congrats to NAC Champion Member Debbie Slade
CAPACOA Lifetime Achievement Award
November 2015 – Retired director of the Centre for the Arts at Brock University, Debbie Slade, was presented with the CAPACOA Lifetime Achievement Award during the opening evening of the 28th CAPACOA Conference.
Debbie Slade
Debbie Slade has had a truly outstanding career as a performing arts presenter. From 1987 to 2015, she was the director of the Centre for the Arts at Brock University. Throughout these years, she was recognized as a pioneer, an ambassador and a mentor by her peers – artists, agents and presenters alike.
During her time at Brock, Debbie expanded the scope of programming at the venue from 12 shows to more than 70 productions per year, turning the Centre into Niagara’s Cultural Treasure. She has helped local, national and international artists get their touring legs through booking and commissioning unknown artists and giving them their first exposure to wider audiences. Debbie’s progressive artistic vision and “presenting stamina” also had a significant impact on the curatorial philosophy of multidisciplinary presenters in Canada.
Today’s CAPACOA Lifetime Achievement Award crowns an impressive series of distinctions for Debbie, including the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Arts and Culture (2001), the Niagara Women in Business Award for Community Spirit (2010), the Ontario Presenting Network Presenter of the Year award (2010), the CAPACOA Presenter of the Year award (2012) and the Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award (2015).
The CAPACOA Lifetime Achievement Award honors an individual with a long history of leadership and recognizes the significant and lasting impact these contributions have had on the performing arts sector. This individual’s work and contribution to the field and society should serve as a model that inspires excellence in others.
UN-SEND
Dennis Tourbin Members Gallery at NAC
Opening Reception Friday 11 December at 7PM
www.un-send.com
UN-SEND Is an International Collaboration Project created by Ivana Blanco Gross on January 15, 2015. The project functions as a forum in which artists communicate with one another through an exchange of small works.
The collaborative process has minimal constrains, besides a set of pre-arranged rules which regulate the mechanics of the exchange. One artist begins the process and the second one finishes the work.
Un-Send origins were influenced by the colour exchange between John Berger and John Christie as published in “I send you this cadmium red”. Even though Un-Send uses the post (mail) as a mean to attain its products, the resulting works are not Mail Art per se, but an expression of collective conceptual work.
The nature of collective work brings forward the question of aesthetic boundaries as understood by geographical location and cultural parameters.
Meaning changes according to individual context; you can cut, paint, wipe out, obliterate, partially erase, burn, add light whatever you send or receive.
During this process, the meaning of the work is being altered and influenced by the changing world view and the social reality of each participating artist.
This layering of meaning is what ultimately defines the prima fascia dialogue between artists.
When the pieces are shown side by side, the individual aesthetic value of each small work reverts to second stage; it is the final set that gives the ultimate meaning to the groups collaboration. It is important to be able to apprehend the message of the joint artistic effort since the final product is not necessarily defined by conventional aesthetic parameters but by the cultural un-edited dialogue between the artists.
The Curse of Clara
Special Niagara Screening
Based on the autobiographical short story by Vickie Fagan
THURSDAY 17 DECEMBER
DOORS at 7PM / SCREENING at 7:30PM
When small-town girl Vickie is accepted into the prestigious National Ballet School and selected to play “Clara” in the Company’s holiday production of The Nutcracker, things look like they couldn’t get any better. And they can’t, because that’s when Vickie finds out about the mysterious Curse of Clara. Thankfully, she’s got a good friend, the 1972 Summit Series and an imaginary mentor (in the form of Phil Esposito) to keep her “on pointe.” Starring Saara Chaudry, Sara Botsford, Sheila McCarthy, Karen Kain, Bob Cole, and Phil Esposito.
THE CURSE OF CLARA: A HOLIDAY TALE is a new original animated special airing on CBC-TV in December as part of its holiday programming lineup. A young dancer’s dreams come true when ballet, hockey and the holidays converge.
Inspired by the autobiographical short story “The Curse of Clara or My Big Fat Disappointment” by Vickie Fagan, the 30-minute special is set against the backdrop of The National Ballet of Canada’s Nutcracker and the 1972 Summit Series, a Canada-USSR showdown that shaped hockey history.
THE CURSE OF CLARA: A HOLIDAY TALE stars Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Phil Esposito and Bob Cole (Hockey Night in Canada) and National Ballet of Canada Prima Ballerina Karen Kain as themselves with Sheila McCarthy (Little Mosque on the Prairie, Emily of New Moon) as the narrator, Sara Botsford (E.N.G., Legal Eagles, Still of the Night) as the ballet mistress and Saara Chaudry (Max and Shred, Degrassi) in the roles of Vickie and Clara.
www.curseofclara.com
NAC’s Annual General Meeting
Saturday 19 December at 2pm
At the Niagara Artists Centre – It’s a potluck!
All members are encouraged to attend this scintillating review of the activities of the last year. Highlights include power point, motions, election of the board directors, and adjournment. A bag of chips has sufficed as a contribution to the buffet in the past, but some members actually try.
A NEW PLACE TO DWELL
Saturday 19 December at 9PM
Sound + Vision at NAC
Doors Open at 8:30PM / Show begins at 9PM
ONE HOUR SHOW! LICENSED EVENT!
Pay-what-you-can / suggested $10
Live Music by SEVERAL FUTURES
Super 8 Film Mashup by Jonathan Culp
A New Place To Dwell is a live multi-screen Super 8 film mashup, with driving accompaniment from Toronto avant-rock band Several Futures. This one hour performance features dozens of one-of-a-kind film clips from the “orphan film” archives of Jonathan Culp – from horror movies to home movies, from living rooms to dance floors. Projected on three 50-year-old Technicolor loop projectors, these images are orchestrated into a bizarre, kinetic journey through the 20th century camera’s gaze.
Floyd Elzinga
Christmas Open Studio
Saturday 12 December 2015 10AM-4PM
3841 Mountain Street
Beamsville, ON
Art, sculpture, and gifts for Christmas.
www.floydelzinga.com
Suitcase in Point Theatre Company’s
Gimme! Gimme! A Holiday Cabaret
Presented by FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Come celebrate the give and take of the holiday season as you prepare to load up on sweets, carbs and sloppy kisses from Aunt Gertrude. This year … Santa is a hot mess, 3 hens work on getting a partridge out of a tree, Jesus has a swanky wine party, and more. All original. All for a laugh.
*Mature Content*
Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
250 St. Paul St., Downtown St. Catharines
Friday 11 December 9pm
Saturday 12 December 7pm + 9pm
Sunday 13 December 7pm
Tickets: Regular: $18 College/University: $15
Purchase tickets online at firstontariopac.ca
About SIPs Cabaret series:
These popular sketch comedy nights bust at the seams with good times. Original, clever and way too much fun, the Suitcase in Point company and collaborators knock heads to bring good laughs to downtown St. Catharines.
Thank you: The St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program, The Ontario Arts Council, Artista Design and Print and The Merchant Ale House.
suitcaseinpoint.com
