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Artistic finds Friday in Function

On Friday, Aug. 6 Whistler's industrial park will be the destination for local art lovers, as they flock to the second annual Function Junction Block Party.

On Friday, Aug. 6 Whistler's industrial park will be the destination for local art lovers, as they flock to the second annual Function Junction Block Party.

The entire community is invited to discover some of the often-overlooked artists and venues that call Function Junction home, as the Whistler Arts Council hosts its second annual ArtWalk in the industrial park.

Function Junction is home to the Blind Mute crew, Chili Thom's art studios, Orkidz arts and crafts workshops, the newly-reopened Art Junction Gallery, Justin Ormiston's tattoo studio and many more who are the heart of the town's creative core. This year's Block Party includes 25 artists and three group shows featured in 14 venues, including Whistler Brewing Co., Patina Home Interiors, Millar Creek Café and Pique's own offices. Aside from the artwork that will be on display, the party also features street hockey, a community mural, a family fun zone, food vendors and live music from Tommy Honest & The Liars, Gnar Boots and DJ Phroh. Best of all, the event is free and everyone is invited. So dig out your bikes or rollerblades and get ready to be inspired. Art Junction, Pique and Whistler Brewing will be featured HotSpots, offering refreshments to thirsty ArtWalkers.

A free shuttle courtesy of Canadian Snowmobile Adventures will pick people up at the taxi loop starting at 6 p.m., and drop them off in Function.

 

Wildcard winner(s) announced

The people have spoken: Steve Lloyd of Salt Lake City, Utah has been selected as the winner of the Saint Deep Summer Photo Challenge Wildcard competition.

After tallying more than 11,000 votes cast at Pinkbike.com, Lloyd rose to the top and will join the roster of world-class professional mountain bike photographers - Paul Morrison, Sven Martin, Nicolas Teichrob and Jordan Manley. They go head-to-head at the second Deep Summer photo challenge on Wednesday, Aug. 11.

"I am stoked to compete in Deep Summer! I really want to get my name out in the bike industry and there couldn't be a better way," Lloyd said in a recent release. "So far I have Eric Porter and Kelly McGarry on board as riders. I have never been to Whistler - shame on me, I know - but maybe that will work to my advantage. I love showing up somewhere new and photographing it for the first time. It's all fresh and my creative mind really starts to work."

Organizers have also decided to allow a second Wildcard contender, Adrian Marcoux. The special invitation was made because the fifth invited pro photographer, Sterling Lorence, had to drop out of the competition due to an unforeseen schedule change.

"I am now going to be in California for the week of the photo contest," Lorence said in that same release, "so, with a story board ready and in place, I will have to put the Deep Summer project on the back burner for another year. I hope to be able to shoot it out in 2011."

Photographers will work against the clock to create a slideshow from images shot over three days in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and surrounding cross-country trails. Then, each show will be presented to a live audience at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. The winner will receive $3,000, second place wins $2,000, third place walks away with $1,000 and the best photo of the evening will win the shooter an additional $1,000.

Tickets to the slideshow are $17 at Whistler Blackcomb Guest Relations. (Hint: the inaugural event sold out last year, so you should probably get yours in advance.)

 

Unearthing a range of arts at the mine

The B.C. Museum of Mining will play host to their eighth annual summer festival, dubbed Copper & Fire, this weekend.

The event features a range of performing and visual arts over two days. On Saturday, Aug 7, starting at 7 p.m. the museum will host a concert featuring the musical talent of Joseph "Pepe" Danza and fire spinner Laura Scarlett. Tickets to the live concert, which will be held in the historic mill building, are $15.

On Sunday, Aug. 8 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., visual artists will demonstrate, display and sell pieces that relate to the overarching themes of copper and fire. The goal of the daylong event is to engage the community and demonstrate the ways that mining impacts our lives. Specifically, they hope to show how artists use various materials to achieve their creative vision. In addition, local musicians Karen Fowlie, Carolyn Grass, Pawnshop Diamond and The Roomates will perform.

For more information on the Copper & Fire festivities, check out the "What's New" link at www.bcmm.ca.

 

2011 Group Grants open up

The Whistler Arts Council has announced that limited funding is available to member groups and organizations with arts and culture projects in the works.

The arts council has secured $3,000 in grant money from the B.C. Arts Council's Member Groups Assistance to help cover the costs of specific expenses associated with professional development workshops for amateur or professional writers/artists/performers; assistance with programming/productions in the performing or literary arts; art exhibitions; purchase of sheet music and other project-related costs (venue/equipment rental, and artist/director/facilitator fees).

Average grants are between $400 and $1,000 per group. The deadline for application is Friday, Sept. 10. For more information on the grant application process, call 604-935-8410.

Another Olympic party on the way?

The provincial government recently announced $3 million in funding for another round of B.C. Spirit Festivals to celebrate the 2010 Olympic Games. The $3 million comes from the 2010 Sports and Arts Legacy organization and will be distributed to 150 communities across the province.

"We created the Legacy to celebrate and renew the pride and excitement British Columbians experienced during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games," Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Kevin Krueger, said in a recent release. "The new B.C. Spirit Festivals program brings together artists, cultural organizations and all British Columbians to celebrate the spirit of B.C. in our communities."

Doti Niedermayer, executive director of the Whistler Arts Council, confirmed that they will be applying for funding to help them put on their annual Celebration 2010 festival, an event they first held in 2003.

"I wasn't sure we were going to have any kind of festival because of the cuts in (provincial) funding, so now it looks like we're able to resurrect this festival," Niedermayer said.

"It was always the intent to continue on in some way, so this will be just a perfect opportunity to do so."

Niedermayer seemed confident that Whistler's application would be successful. Grants will be based on population, with applications vetted by a peer-review panel. Grants could be up to $50,000 to help communities produce their festivals. Whistler's population places it in the up-to-$20,000 range; an amount that Niedermayer said would be insufficient to stage a festival without additional funding from other sources.

"That Celebration 2010 festival always had leveraged funding - it had funding from all kinds of different sources," Niedermayer said. "...So we'll have to do that again, because you can't put on a festival for $20,000."

The Summer of Funny, Part II

The clock is truly ticking for anyone interested in throwing their hat into the ring for the second annual Summer of Funny humour-writing contest sponsored by Pique Newsmagazine .

The inaugural competition in '09 yielded so many quality submissions that Pique staffers simply couldn't agree on a clear winner. So the powers that be decided to divide the $400 prize purse among the eight entries that stood out from the pack.

And since none of the writers complained, Pique has decided to give the contest another whirl this year. The rules are the same - all written submissions will be accepted, from anywhere in Canada, and can be in the form of stories (up to 2,000 words), poems, plays/scripts, or long-format jokes. We'd even accept cartoons. The prize money will be the same, as will the review by Pique writers and staff. If there is a clear winner this year they may receive a larger share of the purse at our discretion, otherwise we may decide to simply run a wide selection of pieces this year and divvy up the prize money equally. Humour is subjective after all, and we'd like to give our readers a chance to decide.

Send all entries to andrew@piquenewsmagazine.com before Monday, Aug. 23.

Comedy for the arts council

If standup is more up your alley than the comedic written word, invest in tickets to the Whistler Improv Comedy Nights, featuring headliner Roman Danylo, the art of CTV's "Comedy Inc."

The comedic star, who will be joined by friends, will put on two back-to-back evenings of stand-up and improvisational comedy that promise to have you in stitches. The event is being hosted by the Player's Chophouse to support the Whistler Arts Council and their roster of community arts programs, like the Whistler Children's Art Festival, ArtWalk and the Whistler Art Workshops on the Lake.

The shows take place on Friday, Aug. 6 and Saturday, Aug. 7, with doors opening at 5 p.m. for dinner seating and 9 p.m. for the show. Tickets are $22 for members of the general public, or $15 for WAC members. Contact MY Millennium Place at 604-935-8410 or the Chophouse at 604-938-1270 for more information or to purchase tickets.