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Whistler Arts & Music Festival Preview

Tourism Whistler’s inaugural summer extravaganza launched next weekend

By Shelley Arnusch

The first annual Whistler Arts & Music Festival will launch officially next Friday, July 9 and run through Sunday, July 11.

The Tourism Whistler-sponsored event features live music all weekend long on a Main Stage in the Village Square, plus street entertainers, film and photo events, comedy performances, children’s entertainers, art exhibits and demonstrations.

ArtWalk already up and running

The Whistler Arts Council’s first annual summer ArtWalk will kick off officially on the festival weekend with a series of artist-attended opening receptions on the Friday evening (July 9) from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

"Officially" is a key word. Since the ArtWalk is running throughout the entire month of July, those who want to preview the self-guided tour can already do so.

ArtWalk features 20 artists exhibiting in 17 traditional and non-traditional gallery spaces including cafes, retail outlets and other businesses.

Whistler Arts Council director Doti Niedermayer said the response from artists and volunteer galleries alike was tremendous, considering the event is still unfamiliar in its inaugural year.

The arts council received twice as many artist applications as galleries and due to the fact that the galleries selected their exhibitors, the selection process was unavoidably subjective.

"The artists that were rejected, we basically told them that this has nothing to do with the quality of their work, or the content," explained Niedermayer. "People are basically choosing an artist that looks good in their venue. They have to be able to choose their artists, so they did. There was a huge selection, so I think everyone was really happy with who they chose."

ArtWalk brochures, featuring a map of all venues, are available at the Whistler Activity and Information Centre, Whistler Chamber of Commerce, MY (Millennium) Place, and all ArtWalk venues.

For more information contact the Whistler Arts Council at 604-935-8419.

In addition to the ArtWalk, next weekend’s festival will celebrate the arts with demonstrations by locals Chili Thom (also an ArtWalk exhibitor at Sushi Village), Daniel Poisson, Gavin Livingstone, Scott Johnston, and Wes Nahanee. Renowned chalk artist Brian Major will turn the Village cobblestones into ornate masterpieces. Also in attendance will be caricaturist Mark Siermaczeski and Vania Stager of the Lil’wat Nation, who will teach traditional aboriginal craft making.

Festivals unite for film screenings

Two other prominent local festivals have come on board with the Whistler Arts & Music Festival to present film events next weekend.

The eight finalists from the 2004 Panasonic Filmmaker Showdown at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival will get a free outdoor showing in the Village Square on Friday evening after dark.

The hugely popular contest requires entrants to shoot, edit and produce an entire 3.5 — 4.5 minute film over the course of 72 hours.

The finalists ranged from slapstick comedy to a send up of the arthouse classic 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould – with notorious local ski bum Johnny Thrash substituting for the Canadian classical music virtuoso. In the end it was Lauren Graham and Jackie Cerminara’s Insert Meaning Here , a lyrical, pensive challenge to make the world a better place, that inspired first prize from the judging panel. Also notable was Martin Prihoda and Lorna Carmichael’s entry The Sliding Edge of the Beating Sea , a film with production values rivalling those on the short film reels shown at the major urban film festival circuit.

The Whistler Film Festival Society has also joined the party, co-ordinating the launch of their summer Reel Alternatives outdoor film series at Lost Lake Park to fall next Saturday evening (July 10).

The society will show The Snow Walker , a tale of love and survival in the Canadian north, directed by Charles Martin Smith and based on the Farley Mowatt short story Walk Well My Brother . The film will be preceded with an outdoor picnic featuring food vendors and music by folk trio The Rutherford Creek Collective from 8 to 10 p.m. with the film showing after dark. Tickets for the event are $8 with kids under 12 free. A shuttle from the Gondola Transit exchange will be available for 50 cents each way.

Reel Alternatives will screen 2003 Whistler Film Festival favourites The Delicate Art of Parking on July 28, Seducing Dr. Lewis on Aug. 11 and Go Further on Aug. 25.

The series is not to be confused with Whistler Community Services’ Lunaflicks film screenings at Lost Lake.

For more information on Reel Alternatives go to www.whistlerfilmfestival.com.

Comics confirmed

Also on board with next weekend’s festival is the fledgling Comedy in the Sky – The Whistler Comedy Festival.

Along with free comedy performances on the Village Main Stage throughout the weekend, the one year old comedy festival is presenting ticketed comedy showcase events on the evenings of Friday, July 9 and Saturday, July 10 at MY (Millennium) Place.

Both nights will present shows at 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

The 9:30 p.m. shows will feature comics Brad Muise, Dana Alexander, Toby Hargrave, John Beuhler and Kevin Foxx.

The 11:30 p.m. shows will feature Muise, Hargrave, Beuhler and Foxx along with Patrick Maliha of Vancouver’s Dark and Nasty comedy show (in)fame.

The comics will present different material at each show with the raunchier subject matter restricted to the later events.

Tickets for all shows are $20.

For more information contact MY Place at 604-935-8410.