Community Arts Council of Vancouver

You are here: Home / 2012 / Archives for December 2012

Archives for December 2012

The long, dark days of winter

by

The long, dark days of winter are upon us; it is dark at 4 pm, the days are getting shorter.  Until the 21st day of December………….and then sun rise is earlier, and earlier, and soon it will be spring.

There are many mid-winter festivals, many of them centered around light; Divali and Hanukkah among them.  There is the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanza and Hogmanay.  In many traditions and cultures it is a season of gift giving.

Which brings us to a winter fair in the Downtown Eastside (yes, all roads lead to the DTES – at least in this blog).

This is the 2nd  Woodward’s Indigenous Winter Market, a community market supporting local artisans, visual and performing artists.  While the focus is on local indigenous peoples there will also be non-indigenous presenters and artisans.  Some of the activities are art and craft sales, baking and canning workshops and hip-hop bingo.  As to the last, don’t ask me.  The festival runs from 12 December to 16 December, from 11 am to 8 pm.

The Window Shop artisans will be part of the Craft Sale on the 12th of December with 80% of the items below $20.

So pick up, think in terms of  fair trade, and support your local talent.

Take care, stay safe and keep your stick on the ice.

Karenza

 

 

 

 

Half-price for Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden Membership

by

We are very pleased to announce a special offer to members of Community Arts Vancouver.

Between December 11 and February 17, one of the benefits of membership is to buy membership at the Garden for half-price. Just show your identification and proof of Community Arts Vancouver membership.

Read here about the Garden  being named No. 1 on a list of city gardens around the world in a new book from National Geographic.

You can join Community Arts Vancouver online or at the door for any financial donation.

Our Operations Manager, Denise Cooper (denise@cacv.ca) will send you a confirmation that you can present at the Garden to receive your half-price membership

Membership rates and benefits can be found here:

http://vancouverchinesegarden.com/get-involved/become-a-member/

 

Membership Rates (1yr/2yrs)

  • Individual $35/$60
  • Adult Dual $65/120
  • Senior Individual (65 years and over) $25/$45
  • Senior Dual (any 2 seniors 65 years and over) $45/$80
  • Student (with valid ID) $25/45
  • Family (2 adults and their children under 17) $75/130
WINTER October 1- April 30 10:00am – 4:30pm

* Closed Mondays November 1 – April 30
* Closed on December 25 & January 1
* December 24 & 31: Open 10am – 3pm

If in doubt, check here: http://vancouverchinesegarden.com/rates-hours/

Note entrance ONCE is $12 – so a half-price membership is a wonderful deal!

Snake poems and stories at Sun Yat-Sen Garden

by

***This call is now closed. ***

The Community Arts Council of Vancouver’s Eco-Arts initiative is looking for poets/storytellers/performers to assist in our event on Tuesday, December 11 at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden where we’ll be creating a snake lantern for the Winter Solstice and then the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown.

To get us in the spirit, Susan Ma, Education Director at the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, will give us some of the history and traditions of the lunar new year and especially the year of the snake. This will be followed by a selection of readings and poetry about snakes.

If you are a poet with an interest in participating in this public event, please contact volunteer@cacv.ca. We’ll likely have some space for people to spontaneously make their offerings as well.

To read more about this project, click here. Register for the event on Eventbrite. The event is 7-9pm at the Garden. 

Send a message to eco-arts@cacv.ca if you’d like to participate.

Among those participating so far are: Don Fox, Mary Gavan, Elizabeth Fischer, Lenore Rowntree. 

Admission to the event is FREE to Community Arts Vancouver members. You can join online or at the door for any financial donation. Note: Between December 11 and February 17, one of the benefits of membership is to buy membership at the Garden for half-price. Just show your identification and proof of membership.

Call for Artist Facilitators: Snake sculptures

by

***This call is now closed. ***

Create snake sculptures from invasive/abundant natural materials

Thanks to the Province of British Columbia, we will be offering 5 half-day workshops for community groups to create snake sculptures in honour of Year of the Snake.  This snake sculpture will be modular and made from various natural or invasive species materials. The project will culminate in  the parade and an installation at this year’s Lunar New Year celebration at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

The workshops will be held at a variety of locations around Vancouver in collaboration with community partners who will provide working space, advertising and a group to work with. Workshops will take place during January of 2013 and can be scheduled on several sequential days or over a period of 3-4 weeks.

  • Volunteers are available to assist with workshops including documenting for our website.
  • Artist fee: $257/workshop (CARFAC rate) Materials /other expenses up to $80/workshop.
  • The same artist can lead all five workshops or different people can do different sessions. The artist can suggest groups/venues to participate.

Please send expression of interest by December 12, 2012,  with the following information:

  • Name and contact information;
  • Approach/medium you would work with and your experience with this;
  • Up to 5 photos of work you’ve done that illustrates your experience relevant to this project;
  • Statement of interest in the Year of the Snake, Lunar New Year, Eco-arts, Arts-Based Community Development;
  • Experience working with community groups on a sculptural, installation project (or other artistic product);
  • Two references.

Send to eco-arts@cacv.ca 

Expressions of interest will be reviewed by the CACV Eco-Arts Co-Chairs, Board Representative and Program Consultant. Final decisions will be made by the Eco-Arts Committee after any requests for additional information by the initial group.

 

Winter Solstice Lantern Festival 2012

by

Everyone is welcome to participate in this year’s Winter Solstice lantern festival celebration at Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. We will once again have our giant community white-cube lantern at the event ready to be decorated by visitors. Please stop by and contribute to make it even more beautiful this year.

This year we invite you to our Eco-Arts Salon at the Garden on Tuesday, December 11 to work with lantern artist Jacquie Rolston to create a snake lantern structure that will be added to at the Winter Solstice and then involved with the Lunar New Year Parade.

In 2011, our Community Eco-Artist, Haruko Okana installed have her participatory shrine “The Lightness of Hope” on site to contribute to. There will be live music and lanterns created by several local artists- a dazzling display to wander though in the garden’s meandering pathways.

The event will take place on December 21 from 6:00-10:00 pm.  See the Secret Lantern Society’s site for details!

For those who would like to join in the lantern procession, there are several workshops held before the event all over the city. This includes the Strathcona Community Centre and at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

Locations:
Strathcona Community Centre, 601 Keefer St.
Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Hall of One Hundred Rivers, 578 Carrall St.

S.P.E.L.L. Series: Social Profit Engagement, Learning and Leadership

by

S.P.E.L.L. Series

Social Profit Engagement, Learning and Leadership

Next session:

February 12 – Katia Tynan   Volunteer Role Descriptions

Registration opens a month before the session. RSVP at http://cacv.ca (upper right area of page).

These sessions are a combination of networking, information and resources.

2-4pm 2nd Floor Meeting room, 111 West Hastings (Woodward’s Heritage Building)

Purpose: To support arts and community groups in building their capacity in the organizational, planning and marketing skills needed to be successful.

Audience

For arts and community-focused groups and organizations who undertake community arts projects.

Presenters from a range of local groups who have practical experience in the area they’re speaking.

Community Arts Vancouver staff and volunteers facilitate networking and discussion.

Topics

For 2013, we will offer three workshops in three areas. The first in each series will be an overview of the topic area and the next two will be more specific on particular skills and usually include a working session.

Each session is standalone and even if you can’t make it to the whole series, you are welcome to come to one or two of the others in the series. Topics fall into three general areas, and each session takes a particular slant. You are very welcome to offer your suggestions for topics and send questions in advance.

1. VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT

  • Volunteer Engagement Overview
  • Volunteer Recognition
  • Volunteer Position Descriptions and Application Processes

2. GRANT-WRITING/FUNDRAISING/BUDGETING

  • Grant-writing
  • Preparing a budget for a grant application
  • Fundraising tips

3. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Board recruitment and involvement
  • How to write a mission, vision, values.
  • Lifecycles of a non-profit organization

Location: Woodward’s Heritage Building, 111 West Hastings (at Abbott)

Sign up for our e-newsletter at http://cacv.ca/newsletters to be sure to get topics, speakers and registration details as they are finalized.