culture
UBCO student brings campus cultural clubs together for first ever Harmony banquet
KELOWNA – It's unusual for Ryan Kaila to walk into a room at UBC Okanagan and not know anyone. "I consider myself a pretty well-known person around campus,” he says. “But I walked into this cultural club event and I didn't know a single person there. I noticed that all of these groups get the...
Preschoolers tackle racial tensions using locally-designed dolls
ENDERBY - A troop of handmade, multicultural dolls called the Backpack Kids have been deployed to local childcare centres where they are bringing a message of diversity and acceptance to young children. The life-sized puppets, each representing a Canadian kid with a different cultural background, are part of a newly launched teaching curriculum designed to...
Performing arts centre report released this week
KAMLOOPS - Six months after a $233,000 study looking at the hows, whys and whats of a potential performing arts centre, the public will finally get a peek at the results. The preliminary business case will be presented by the Performing Arts Centre Committee on Thursday, April 9. The work done to date, including what...
Vernon could host unique pop-up art gallery this spring
VERNON - Vernon could be home to a temporary, pop-up art gallery this spring. To accommodate the 2015 Okanagan Print Triennial, a large, international art show, organizers have come up with the idea of using storage containers as exhibition space. The Vernon Public Art Gallery, which hosts the show in partnership with UBC Okanagan and...
Complementary enterprise pitched for Vernon visitor centre
VERNON - A local politician wants to bring Vernon’s arts and culture to a main pit stop on any tourist’s jaunt through town. Expressions of interest are being accepted for a vacant section of the new visitor centre on 39 Avenue, and City of Vernon councillor Mary-Jo O’Keefe sees it as an opportunity. “I would...
Performing arts community could lose its lot
PENTICTON - The empty lot at the corner of Nanaimo Avenue and Ellis Street has been vacant for years, and the performing arts community may lose their shot at building a new performing arts centre if they don't submit an updated business plan to the city. Jake Kimberley raised concerns about the lot at the...
Young artist takes the paintbrush into her own hands
PENTICTON - There's photographs and paintings hanging from an industrial fence wrapped in lights that stands in a closed off parking lot next to a creek and people mingling with cans of beer in their hands while a three-year-old runs around their legs making people laugh. An old man with a glowing face and small...
Splatsin First Nation plots dramatic return of traditional stories
ENDERBY - After years of safekeeping in archives and in the minds of elders, stories of the Splatsin First Nation are being told the way they should be; with music, actors, costumes and an audience. Tuwitames, a community play presented by Runaway Moon Theatre and the Splatsin Language Program, runs August 6-10 at the Splatsin...
Unwelcome merger gets axed
KAMLOOPS — It began as a way to fix quorum issues but if the majority of the volunteers on a committee don’t want to merge with another committee what do you do? According to city council, the right thing. Andrew Yarmie stood up on behalf of the Heritage Commission, which voted six to one in...