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Arts news: WSSF wants volunteers, teams for 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown

April's ski and snowboard festival the largest in North America
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The World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF) is still accepting submissions for the Olympus 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown.

WSSF is the largest annual winter sports and music festival in North America. It takes place from April 11 to 20, 2014.

The Olympus 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown is open to anyone who would like to compete. Filmmakers are required to shoot, edit and produce a three- to five-minute short film within 100km of Whistler over a 72-hour period. Prizes include $10,000 for the overall winner and a $5,000 prize for the Best of Show film shot on Olympus gear.

For more information visit www.wssf.com.

The deadline for the Olympus Pro Photo Showdown, a signature event for WSSF, State of Art, and Intersection, have already passed.

As well, volunteers are wanted for events from the photo, film and art galas in the Whistler Conference Centre, to the Outdoor Concert Series at the Main Stage in Skiers Plaza. Volunteers are also needed for on-mountain ski and snowboard events.

Those interested can visit www.wssf.com/volunteering, or volunteers can sign up at a recruitment night at the Garibaldi Lift Company on March 19 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Whistler Community Band seeks youth band interest

Organizers of the Whistler Community Band are holding a public meeting to gauge how interested parents and teachers in the Sea to Sky region are in creating a youth band program.

The meeting takes place at Millennium Place in Whistler at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 9.

The Whistler Community Band started three-and-a-half years ago and has players from teenage to adult age. Players of all abilities are welcome.

Band administrator Judy Shaw said they had contacted all Pemberton and Whistler teachers, parents and students. Young wannabe musicians would learn to play music and be part of the band. The aim, Shaw added, was to teach young musicians since schools no longer provide this kind of program in Whistler and Pemberton.

"We want to provide an opportunity for the youth of Whistler and Pemberton to develop their love of music through learning to play a musical instrument," Shaw said.

"I don't believe a youth band has been tried in the past and as the school system does not provide it in the Whistler community... we thought Whistler is lacking in that respect, in giving the children an opportunity to learn to play. There have been parents who have approached (music teacher and community band co-founder) Alison Hunter and showed their interest now."

Co-founder of the Whistler Community Band, Randy Shaw, would conduct the youth band.

A band program exists in Squamish schools, but interested participants from the town are also welcome, Judy Shaw added.

Poet's Pause competition call for entries to be shown at Alta Lake

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is inviting poets to get their quills out (or their laptops) and write original poems for the Poet's Pause Poetry Competition.

Winning poems are commissioned for display at the two Poet's Pause sculpture sites in Alta Lake Park and, as part of The Mayor's Poetry Challenge, will be read at a municipal council meeting in April to celebrate National Poetry Month.

Poets can submit poems for display at one or both display sites. The poems should correspond to the themes for each: the north side theme is listening and the south site theme is togetherness.

In 2013, Trish Belsham of Pemberton won for her poem, "Let Birds Fly," and Whistler resident Joan Baron won for her poem "Your Turn." Twenty poems were submitted in all.

The deadline for submissions is Monday, March 31. For more information visit www.whistler.ca.

Quest University arts series brings modern dance, opera

Squamish's Quest University Canada is continuing its arts series with two performances, contemporary dance and tragic love in opera.

Re-Marks on Source Material is a "highly physical" dance work that explores the complexities of belonging. The audience is taken on a roller coaster of emotions. Conceived and directed by Daisy Thompson (U.K. and Vancouver), it takes place at the Quest campus in Garibaldi Highlands on Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Love and Death in Opera with Andrew Haringer on piano and mezzo-soprano Karen Simring will explore some of opera's greatest arias about tragic love. Recital selections include pieces by Wagner, Mozart, Verdi, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky and more. It takes place at Quest on Sunday, March 16 at 4 p.m.

All Quest Arts Series events are free and open to the public. More information on the series can be found at www.questu.ca/news_and_events/public_events.php.

Summer street entertainment applications open

The Whistler Arts Council is opening applications for the Whistler Street Entertainment (WSE) program on March 10.

The program presents free, family-oriented attractions and performances in Whistler Village from May to September, mainly from Fridays to Mondays. Live music, dance, clowning, arts and crafts for children, sports shows and live art displays applications are welcomed.

For local and touring artists and performers, WSE is an opportunity to get paid to showcase their talents.

More information, visit www.artswhistler.com on March 10, and go to the drop-down menu Events and Programs.

Information for Whistler's 2014 ArtWalk will also be posted on the same website in March.

Empty Bowls raises $3,700 for food banks

Whistler Pottery Club's first Empty Bowls fundraiser, which sold soup made by local chefs in bowls made by the pottery club's members, has raised $3,700 for Sea to Sky food banks in Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton.

The event took place at the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre on Feb. 21. Participating chefs included Tory Martindale, head chef at The Four Seasons, who provided Thai Coconut Butternut Squash soup, executive sous chef Elliot Brass of Grill & Vine, who made Mushroom Veloute and Spicy Padrone Pepper, Gone Bakery, which made both Mexican Beef and Bean, and Broccoli Cheddar, and the Alta Bistro provided Thai Crab Bisque.

The club said it is already planning the 2015 events, along with the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, which hosted the event.

Organizer Margaret Forbes said 35 extra bowls were made on top of the 100 sold because of the enthusiasm of the local potters.