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2013 in arts, culture and music

A wealth of talent passed through Whistler or helped the resort's artistic side flourish

The music, the art, the action, the entertainment, the food — Whistler's special way of combining mountain culture, artistic culture, sport and activity, and FUN was ramped up on several levels in 2013.

There was a bigger writer's festival, a Cornucopia that doubled in size, Crankworx broke records for attendance and even the ever-popular Garibaldi Lift Company had its best day ever during that festival.

And in keeping with the desire for economic diversity in the resort, major plans for Whistler's arts and entertainment future were announced in 2013.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) tabled its Community Cultural Plan report, with 32 recommendations that ranged from short term — such as changing bylaws to prohibit home-based business in residential areas — to medium term, like building a community art gallery. Long-term recommendations include things like updating the Rainbow Theatre — which received a huge boost in 2013 (more on that below) — and the creation of a new museum.

"This is a unique community that has invested very heavily in arts, culture and heritage, especially over the last 10 to 12 years. There is no community this size in the province that does it as well as you... But it's possible to do more," said Brian Johnston of Professional Environmental Recreation Consultants, the company commissioned to produce the report, at a public meeting in June.

Johnston added that Whistler's arts development should continue at the same pace as in the last decade. That means no new taxes or radical changes, but rather steady growth. "A fine-tuning of a well-developed system," he said.

Official support

In February, Festivals , Events and Animation (FE&A) funding from the RMOW went to the World Ski and Snowboard Festival ($135,000), Crankworx ($80,000), Wanderlust ($90,000), GranFondo ($75,000), Cornucopia ($75,000) and the Children's Art Festival ($45,000). Test and development money went to the Spirit Within First Nations' Festival ($35,000), Longboard Festival ($19,000) and the Readers and Writers Festival ($30,000).

The Whistler Film Festival, Crankworx and Wanderlust were three events that saw a reduction in municipal funding.

In October, the RMOW increased its FE&A Funding to $3.1 million, a growth of $320,000 over the previous year. Simultaneously, augmentation funding to support existing festivals, or events to boost programming was decreased.

And in December it was announced that 2013/14's winter event FE&A funding was going up by $160,000 to $431,000. This included more money for Family Après ($50,000), one-time Sochi Olympic celebrations ($80,000), New Year's celebrations ($130,000), family-focused Winter Animation for March ($50,000), the Whistler Holiday Experience ($75,000), and Whistler Blackcomb's Fire and Ice ($46,000).

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Whistler cultural event organizers, or the RMOW.

The Jazz Festival lawsuit by Arnold Schwisberg against the RMOW is set to continue in 2014. Schwisberg told Pique in a December interview that the dispute stemmed from Whistler allegedly damaging the success of his 2011 festival by advertising it as part of the municipality's own free-concert series, Whistler Presents.

And in the final moments of 2013, Dean Nelson of Whistler's gay ski week celebration WinterPRIDE said he was receiving $37,000 of FE&A funding for the 2014 event, which runs from Jan. 26 to Feb. 2. This has left it too late to secure the performers and talent that Nelson had hoped to bring to Whistler. He told Pique he is asking the RMOW to hold the money in trust for the 2015 event.

Festivals

Whistler's 10-day mountain bike festival Crankworx had a big year in August, winning Pique's best festival award in our annual Best of Whistler vote, and breaking records with 60,000 people in Whistler Village on one Saturday during the event.

Rocker Rich Hope kicked off Crankworx, followed by Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Matt Mays, reggae-folk musician Daniel Wesley and Vancouver indie band Mother Mother.

The Two Acre Shaker at the Lillooet Lake Rodeo Grounds near Pemberton brought in 12 DJ acts for the Aug. 17 event. California's Lyrics Born, JFB from the U.K., D.C.'s Fort Knox Five, Kelowna's JPod the Beat Chef and Victoria's Kytami were among the music makers.

The World Ski and Snowboard Festival tried to do more with less in 2013 with a smaller budget, down to $1.35 million from $1.8 million. It was a relative shoestring, after losing sponsors Telus and General Motors.

That said, the FE&A department supported the musical component of the festival with $135,000 in additional funding, allowing the festival to bring rapper Nas, K-OS, Keller Williams and Swollen Members to the festival for free outdoor performances. Other highlights included the 72-Hour Filmmaker Challenge, the Pro Photographer Showdown and Intersection.

All summer, the RMOW-sponsored Summer Concert Series brought music to the Whistler Olympic Plaza. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Ruckus Deluxe, Daniel Lapp and the English Beat were among the performers.

The Believe Freedom Festival took place in the Callaghan Valley in July, attracting 2,500 people to hear a host of electronic acts including Julian Marley.

At the beginning of August, Moby performed as the headliner in the Wanderlust Festival. Other performers included Trombone Shorty and Quixotic.

The Squamish Valley Music Festival in the second week of August brought Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Vampire Weekend, Queens of the Stone Age and Band of Horses to the region.

The festival organizers are working with Squamish Council to grow the event in 2014 to allow for a 35,000-person capacity next year, up from 19,000 in 2013.

It was announced last fall that the Pemberton Festival returns in 2014. Tickets, when tickets have been released, have been selling out despite the fact that the lineup is not being announced until early 2014.

With memories of Cold Play and Jay-Z at the 2008 event (the organizers being different companies, notwithstanding), expectations are high and hopeful.

November's Cornucopia jumped from five days to an 11-day food and wine festival that double the number of ticket sales over last year, according to organizer Sue Eckersley.

Along with food, drink and dance nights at the Crush Gala, House Party B.C. and House Party Argentina, the Whistler Readers & Writers Festival held a reading event 'Wined up on Books.'

Arts institutions

Whistler's arts institutions are growing in diversity, quality and clout.

To that end, Casey Vanden Heuvel, the executive director of the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre (SLCC), promoted a culture walk proposal in 2013 to connect the cultural centre in the Upper Village with the under-construction Audain Museum, Millennium Place and the centre of the village.

The "cultural connector" would be part of the SLCC's First Nations Cultural Journey program.

But a $5 million price tag on an iconic crossing over Fitzsimmons Creek seems a bit hefty for the RMOW, which was asked to put in $500,000, despite the SLCC's interest in raising more from senior levels of government and the Squamish and Lil'wat Nations.

The SLCC was named a Canadian Signature Experience by the Canadian Tourism Commission in 2013, which means it will be promoted overseas to potential visitors as a valuable experience to discover while in this country.

Ground was broken on the Audain Museum in 2013, with the aim of having it completed by 2015.  The museum, a 56,000 sq.-ft. facility, will house part of the collection of B.C. businessman Michael Audain and rotating art exhibits.

Suzanne Greening, executive director of the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, was appointed as the museum's director in December.

The Whistler Readers & Writers Festival in October expanded thanks to increased FE&A funding of $30,000 (up from $4,000 in 2012). Workshops and readings ran alongside an interview with Giller Prize-winner Will Ferguson by CBC radio personality Jian Ghomeshi.

The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) in early December welcomed Oscar-winning actors Richard Dreyfuss and Melissa Leo to a festival that has firmly established itself as a supporter and promoter of Canadian films.

The Borsos Feature Film Award, now in its 10th year, went to The Husband, directed by Bruce McDonald. The Oscar-nominated documentary about snowboarder Kevin Pearce, The Crash Reel, earned two awards for filmmaker Lucy Walker.

Actor and director Jason Priestly also attended, for the showing of his film Cas & Dylan, which opened the festival.

In July, the RMOW announced that the Rainbow Theatre — the WFF's main theatre during the festival — would receive a $500,000 renovation. Another $40,000 came from Tourism Whistler, which plans to promote the revamped theatre for conferences.

And on the last day of the festival, the WFF's executive director, Shauna Hardy Mishaw, announced that the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation is also providing $160,000 towards a digital cinema system for the Rainbow Theatre.

Additional support worth $50,000 will come from Christie Digital Systems Canada and ZOOM Audio Visual Networks (ZOOM AV) for the digital cinema system.

The WFFS signed an agreement with Tourism Whistler on Nov. 18, which allows it to use the Rainbow Theatre for the next 10 years, with an option for another 10, as well as allowing the WFFS to retain ownership of the theatre's digital cinema system.