Arts, Pique

Come to WAC AGM and enjoy some cake

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik The Whistler Arts Council will hold its annual general meeting on Wednesday, May 30. Yes, there will be cake.…

Power, politics and Farrragut North

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Blank Slate Theatre stages award-winning play at Millennium Place by Stephen Smysnuik Farragut North is a play about power. It's a play about politics and ambition and what people will do, or not do, to get to the head of the pack.…

Whistler Answer gets the digital treatment

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Will be featured on WHistler Museum Website by Stephen Smysnuik Relief will soon be coming for those nostalgic for the heady days of 1970s Whistler. The Whistler Museum and Archives Society will digitize the entire collection of the satirical Whistler Answer for inclusion on its website.…

Arts News

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Chili Thom wins his first art award...EVER by Stephen Smysnuik Whistler's former, Squamish's current visual arts superstar Chili Thom is now officially Canada's favourite landscape artist...according to Canadian artists. Thom won the Federation of Canadian Artists "Best in Show" award in the landscape category for his painting "The Green Giant."…

Free Whistler Presents concerts to return this summer

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:00:00 -0700

FE&A Oversight Committee reveals plans for summer programming by Stephen Smysnuik Yes, the free concerts are returning. Members of the Festivals, Events & Animation Oversight Committee revealed the details of the $2.68 million FE&A program to council on Tuesday evening (May 1), which will include a mix of new programming and the return of previous festivals, as well as four free concerts under the Whistler Presents banner to fill gaps in the summer programming.…

Arts News Jazz festival faces cancellation

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik The fate of Jazz on the Mountain at Whistler (JOMAW) is currently in limbo. Festival organizer Arnold Schwisberg, who is still waiting on a $150,000 Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) contribution from the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), has been unable to secure Kool & the Gang, who were slated to play a free show as part of the festival.…

DuffleBag Theatre returns with The Three Musketeers

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Classic tale brought to life with audience actors at Millennium Place by Stephen Smysnuik Surprise of the week: Canadians are unfamiliar with The Three Musketeers. Yes, everyone knows Alexandre Dumas's classic novel coined the phrase, "All for one and one for all."…

The rising stars of snow film (and clothing, too)

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Intersection winners Voleurz are more than just a brand by Stephen Smysnuik When Voleurz won its second Intersection in a row, the Whistler Conference Centre erupted in a torrent of hollers from the crowd. The Vancouver-based company, already renowned in Whistler for its multi-sport snow films, had secured a title as undefeated champions of the TWSSF's latest, and some are already saying greatest, event — Intersection, an action-sport film-making competition that seems designed specifically for Voleurz.…

Jazz festival won't return to Whistler without municipal support

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

JOMAW founder Arne Schwisberg asks for $150,000 in RMI funds by Stephen Smysnuik Jazz on the Mountain at Whistler (JOMAW) will not return for 2012 unless the municipality steps up with money and conceptual help. The festival's founder and producer Arnold Schwisberg is asking for increased engagement from Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) staff, as well as $150,000 in Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funds to help alleviate the festival's $500,000-plus deficit — a deficit that Schwisberg contends is the result of the RMOW's mismanagement of the jazz festival brand.…

What's happening this week?

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

A guide to TWSSF's final weekend by Stephen Smysnuik We're in the final stretch of what may be the final TWSSF ever. So what's in store, you ask?…

Ignoring the boundaries for Intersection

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Six film-making teams compete for $15,000 by Stephen Smysnuik Intersection is a perfect marriage of the festival's sports and arts components. This year, each team has seven days to complete a film and are gunning for the $15,000 top prize, which will be awarded at the gala on Wednesday night.…

You may now enter the Multiverse

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik If you've ever had a childhood, chances are you spent a little time contemplating what alternate realities might look like. A child's imagination is boundless, unyielding and completely indiscriminate in where it will fly.…

...And what else is going on?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

A round-up of everything else we had too little time to cover State of the Art Truth be told, we're not completely sure what this event has ever had to do with skiing or snowboarding but it's a rad event anyway: a seven-day art exhibit for the discerning eye, featuring contemporary talent from across the globe.…

Pro Photo Showdown: The Rundown

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Let's take a look at who these photographers really are, shall we? by Stephen Smysnuik It's no secret that Whistler loves its action sport photography. The Olympus Pro Photo Showdown has been selling out consistently for years — including this year, when it sold out in only one week.…

It's time to get to the Point already

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik So, good news every one: Saturdays at the Point are returning for another year. This is great news for the Whistler arts community, but like all things arts related in B.C., financing is something of an issue.…

Artist meeting draws like-minded crowd

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0700

group-brainstorming session attended by 80 people by Stephen Smysnuik It's well known that artists are a fickle and elusive bunch. But in an impressive feat of artist wrangling, the Whistler Arts Council attracted about 80 people for the first-ever artist's meeting on Tuesday evening,…

WAC to award graduating students

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik It's true, there's no finer feeling than winning an award — preferably multiple awards. The Whistler Arts Council, as an entity, is not eligible to win too many awards so they'll partake in the second finest feeling: giving awards.…

Where's Whistler's theatre scene?

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Pique takes a look at what it will take to breed a local theatre scene by Stephen Smysnuik Last month, Short Skirt Theatre sold out all three performances of its pantomime A Long Time Ago (In A Ski Resort Far, Far Away). It was a celebrated string of performances that has resulted in a scheduled fourth performance during this year's TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival, replacing the annual (and much beloved) Chairlift Revue.…

Here's the difference between snow porn and legitimate art

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

His name is Mike Douglas. He makes good videos by Stephen Smysnuik On location: Mike Douglas (centre) on location with two of his crew, Blair Richmond and Jeff Thomas. In January, Whistler Blackcomb launched "First Morning," an advertisement documenting people young and old learning how to ski or snowboard and having a grand old time doing it.…

Lorne Elliot is still funnier than you

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Canadian comic legend returns to Whistler next Thursday by Stephen Smysnuik Lorne Elliott has been telling jokes for a long time. Thirty-four years, in fact, which is longer than most Pique staffers have been alive.…

Laughing with death in Squamish

John French — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Between Shifts production finds humour in death by John French Have you heard the one about the three Jewish widows who walk into a cemetery? While that may sound like the first line of a really bad joke, it is the premise of a stage production starting this week in Squamish.…

It is now time to let your Blades of Glory shine

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik We don't know if it's the general absence of Will Ferrell from our movie screens lately or that Jay-Z and Kanye West song that samples from the film but Blades of Glory has been on people's minds lately. It's a silly movie, of course, but if you're miserable on a rainy Sunday afternoon, Ferrell in a sequined leotard might just do the trick.…

Pro Photo Showdown finalists revealed

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

by Stephen Smysnuik We're inching ever closer to what may very well be the last TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival ever. Nobody seems to be lamenting the loss of our greatest homegrown festival so we won't either.…

Time to prepare for these pink tacos

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Annual Pink Taco Party set for March 21 at the GLC by Stephen Smysnuik Look fellas, we all know that you'd like a taste of those pink tacos but it ain't gonna happen. Not this year.…

Poetry is not dead, just hidden

Stephen Smysnuik — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0700

Pique explores the lives of poets living in Sea to Sky by Stephen Smysnuik Poetry. Once considered the highest of art forms, it is now tucked under a large stack of post-modernist literature and rock and roll record sleeves.…