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Arts News

Arts Council elects new directors

The Whistler Arts Council has a new board of directors.

Five positions on the board were filled at last Wednesday's (June 1) annual general meeting. Former councillor and lawyer Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, Pique publisher Bob Barnett, Adele Campbell Gallery owner Michelle Kirkegaard and artist Chili Thom have been elected for two-year terms. RMOW manager of communications Michele Comeau has been appointed as the municipal staff representative on the board to replace outgoing director Roger Weetman.

Returning directors are president and CEO of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce Fiona Famulak and photographer Leanna Rathkelly. Returning appointees are Councillor Tom Thomson, Sue Adams from Millennium Place, Keith Bennett from the Whistler 2010 Sport Legacies Society, Tourism Whistler president and CEO Barrett Fisher and past WAC Chair Joan Richoz.

A new chair may be appointed at a board meeting at the end of June.

Famulak presented the 2010 financial statement, stating that the WAC earned $1.17 million in revenue and has a $36,103 deficit for 2011. Total assets for 2010 are $136,800.

WAC executive director Doti Niedermayer says that 2010 was an important year for the organization, in part due to its involvement with the 2010 Games as well as its involvement in the Cultural Tourism Development Strategy.

She says WAC is working to ensure that the strategy is at the forefront of municipal planning, adding that the Cultural Tourism Advisory Group is currently revising its make-up to include additional stakeholders from the health and wellness, accommodation, food and beverage, natural history sectors and natural tour operators.

"This indicates the increased role of arts culture and heritage in this community and that we are now such a part of a broader plan in developing tourism and visitors to Whistler," Niedermayer says.

 

Buy Vibe Tickets Now!!

We used the same sub-headline last week but have added an exclamation point because it's even more urgent. Tickets for the Vibe Dance Centre year-end show would be flying off the shelves if they were physically located on shelves. They'd be selling like hotcakes if hotcakes were still a popular item.

Instead, they are disappearing rapidly from whatever box or container they are held in as people purchase them at an astonishing rate from www.artswhistler.com .

This year's show is a spoof on fairy tales entitled "Fairy Rhymes and Nursery Tales." It's loaded with humour and dancing and costumes and toddlers who dance. Buy some tickets people! It'll be like watching a legion of little Michael Jacksons with Heather Thom at the helm. That's a good thing.

 

RMOW calls out to artists

The municipality has placed an open call on a $25,000 commission to artists for a sculpture to grace Village Square.

The Public Art Committee identified the sculpture project as a priority project for 2011.

Kevin McFarland, the Resort Municipality of Whistler's municipal parks planner, says the desire for public art in Village Square was inspired by Robert Tully's Wishbone sculpture in Village Square, which is popular with visitors.

"That one really stuck with the Public Art Committee members, seeing people sitting and just interacting with the art in a way we hadn't seen before in that square, so the idea was to basically (provide) the next version of that," he says.

While the call for submission is wide open in regards to what the sculpture will look like, McFarland says the committee gets very particular once they see the actual proposals.

"We very much want it to be a piece that draws people to gather and possibly sit," he says.

The structure must be able to be moved with municipal equipment due to snow-clearing regulations. McFarland says he expects the artist to have completed the piece and have it installed sometime this fall.

This is the third such project the RMOW has commissioned, the previous two sculptures being the Wishbones and Mike Tyler's bronze bears at Millennium Place.

 

Burlesque life drawing a go

It's official: Whistler has been approved as the latest franchise of the infamous burlesque inspired Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art school. This is exciting news for anyone who's ever dreamt of combining nipple tassels with life-drawing. Hooray!

Dr. Sketchy's was started in December 2005 by a 22 year old art school dropout in a Brooklyn dive bar and since then has drawn the most glamorous burlesque performers in "an atmosphere of boozy conviviality" in over 100 cities across the world. Double hooray!

The first Whistler session will take place June 29 at Millar Creek Cafe at 7 p.m. Fishnet stockings optional.