SHOWCASE STORIES
The Only Animal Theatre Company: Nix
The Only Animal Theatre created Canada’s first theatre made of snow and ice. A pioneer in this endeavour, The Only Animal spent several years developing the story of Nix that was performed in and around an intricate snow dome. Objects were made of hand-blown glass that mimic ice, and the set, light, and costume design all involved technical innovations.
In 2008, Arts Partners in Creative Development invested in a full-scale workshop of Nix, enabling The Only Animal and its collaborators to show their daring theatrical production before a Whistler audience. From this experience, The Only Animal fine tuned its presentation for the premiere one year later in Calgary. Nix returned to Whistler during the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad for a five-week run.
Nix, the theatre of snow and ice, created by The Only Animal, photo by Trudie Lee Photography |
Lucia Frangione in Nix, photo by Trudie Lee Photography |
Testimonial
"By the time we got to the 2008 workshop, funded in large part by APCD, we were full of research, ideas, designs and theory about how to create a new genre of theatre, the theatre of snow and ice. The workshop was to be our big test, and to really up the stakes, it was unseasonably warm, our worst-case scenario. In short, the snow and ice work was wildly successful."
~ Kendra Fanconi, director/writer
Kevin Loring: Where the Blood Mixes
First-time playwright Kevin Loring spent nine years developing his play about the trauma and survival of Aboriginal people in Canada. Set in his hometown of Lytton, Where the Blood Mixes is about a man who must come to terms with his past in order to move forward with his life.
“The play is about reconciliation and redemption – that’s the heart of it. It’s also about the rebirth of a community that is coming to terms with their history in residential schools,” explained Loring, a member of the Nlaka’pamux First Nation.
Arts Partners in Creative Development’s investment in Where the Blood Mixes made a workshop tour possible, helping Loring fine tune his script with stops in Toronto, Vancouver, Kamloops, Trail and Lytton. The play received an overwhelming level of support and praise in Kevin’s hometown and is now in the process of being published as a book.
Testimonial
"The grant was instrumental in allowing the play to be the success that it was. It was instrumental in us being able to present a top quality piece of theatre and to tour and workshop it to get solid community feedback."
~ Kevin Loring, playwright
Coastal Jazz and Blues Society: Ice Hockey: Canada versus Sweden
Ice Hockey: Canada vs Sweden was a musical collaboration that combined two pillars of the Olympic movement – sport and culture. The Coastal Jazz and Blues Society commissioned two internationally acclaimed composers and improvisors, Canadian clarinettist Francois Houle and Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, to compose a number of pieces based on the rules, systems and culture of ice hockey for an ensemble of 14 artists. Developed in workshop settings throughout 2008, the work premiered at the 2009 Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
Image from Coastal Jazz and Blues Society. Photo by Tim Matheson |
Magnus Broo (trumpet, Sweden) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums, Vancouver). Photo by Tim Matheson |
Testimonial
"Time is unfortunately the one commodity we don't have as artists to see a project through from conception to realization. This APCD grant allowed us to test ideas, rehearse complex scores and strategies, and reflect upon the results only to go back to the drawing board to refine the ideas at hand. The performance at the 2009 Jazz Festival is a glowing testimony of the year-long process all the participants went through."
~ Francois Houle, Composer
Photo by Linda Stanfield
Bill Reid Foundation: Continuum: Vision and Creativity of the Northwest Coast
The Bill Reid Foundation commissioned multiple artists to create Continuum, a group exhibition developed in collaboration with Northwest Coast Aboriginal communities. With support from Arts Partners in Creative Development, 23 artists came together to create the exhibition.
Complementing the exhibition were community-based dialogues facilitated by curators from the Haida Heritage Centre, the Freda Diesing School of Art and U’Mista Cultural Centre. The exhibition and accompanying dialogues are intended to expand Northwest Coast artistic traditions and demonstrate innovations that will further the vision and creativity of the Northwest Coast artistic continuum.
Vancouver Art Gallery: Ought Apartment
Vancouver artist Reece Terris’ Ought Apartment looked at the relationship between architectural spaces and our common experiences and encounters within them. Displayed throughout 2009 at The Vancouver Art Gallery, Ought Apartment combined Terris’ art practice with his experience as a renovation contractor in a six-story installation rising up through the main atrium in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s rotunda.
He transformed recycled and discarded household goods into an inclusive work that commented on interior decoration and renovation as social phenomena.
Reece Terris: Ought Apartment, 2009. Image of the third floor of the installation representing the 1970s. Photo by Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery |
Reece Terris: Ought Apartment, 2009. Image of the sixth floor of the installation representing the first decade of the 2000s. Photo by Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery |
Two Rivers Gallery: Balance
Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George addresses the current pine beetle epidemic using an installation called Balance that brings together human and tree forms. Drawing an important link between nature, human beings and our community, artist Peter von Tiesenhausen created a 20-foot-tall iron and bronze sculpture centrally located in the City of Prince George. Arts Partners invested in the Two Rivers Gallery project to bring the work of this internationally renowned artist to Prince George. Von Tiesenhausen is familiar with the area, having produced a 2005 exhibition Requiem- art that explored the relationship between humans and the pine forest.
Photo courtesy of the Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George. |
Photo courtesy of the Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George. |
Photo courtesy of the Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George. |
Testimonials
"The production and installation of Balance for Two Rivers Gallery was a great opportunity for me as it dealt with the issues most important to my career and my life.
It is a substantial public work which portrays the need to balance human requirements with those of the environment in a very straightforward way, at a time when the effects of climate change and human industry are becoming more evident. Balance allowed me to explore the limitations of casting in bronze and iron, and produce a long-lasting sculpture of which I am very proud. I am grateful for this opportunity and confident that a significant piece has been created that addresses this challenging time in western history."
~ Peter von Tiesenhausen, artist
"Two Rivers Gallery is thrilled to have participated in the Arts Partners in Creative Development Program. As a result of their support and that of the City of Prince George, we were able to engage Peter von Tiesenhausen, a prominent Canadian artist to produce an iconic artwork that embodies the hope for a thriving ecosphere in Balance. It will be here for very many years to come and it is my fond hope that it will be a source of inspiration for us and for our children as we aspire to balance our needs with those of the world we inhabit."
~ George Harris, Curator