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Whistler's year in the arts

A look back at the best art stories of 2011
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Big year The Barenaked Ladies' free concert at Whistler Olympic Plaza was one of the more successful arts events of the year. But they weren't all winners... Photo By Dawn Green

The year started with a surprise set from Gene Simmons at Black's Pub alongside local songstress Rachel Thom. It seemed to set the tone for the rest of the year, in a number of ways — admired institutions trying to nestle a place alongside the malleable landscape of Whistler.

Or, perhaps more appropriately, old ideas confronting newer ones as local decision makers figure out how best to market Whistler's culture.

It was a pivotal year for the arts in Whistler. With the void left by the Olympics, festivals and large events became Whistler's focus. The RMOW had launched its Festival, Events and Animation program, most recognizable under its Whistler Presents brand. The inaugural Jazz on the Mountain at Whistler was a commercial flop, while the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival and Whistler Film Festival each huge years.

It was a year when homogeneity in Whistler was challenged by the cultural tourism development strategy, under the guidance of Steven Thorne, author of the report A Tapestry of Place. Out of this, a new push for a cultural plan began, to the dismay of some.

This year also saw the return of some events and the disintegration of others. Huge acts played for free in the brand new Whistler Olympic Plaza while ticketed events suffered all over town.

It wasn't an easy year for anybody but, hey, it made for some interesting arts coverage

RMI changed face of Whistler culture

It paid for some of the Whistler Olympic Plaza construction, along with all the free concerts in the popular Whistler Presents live concert series.

But even if we put these projects aside, the $7.5 million in Resort Municipality Initiative money is still arguably the most important issue that Whistler arts and culture faced in 2011.

While the projects paid for through RMI funds — including the Rainbow Theatre renovation, the proposed amenity hub and Bayly Park — are not all related specifically to the arts, the impact of the money is shaping the face of Whistler. This, in turn, will affect local culture.

Naturally, anyone who's remotely engaged in local politics had something to say about how the money was spent. It became a pointed election issue, with many of the candidates weighing in via the 2011 Whistler Election Facebook page. What's arisen is not just a shift in the face of Whistler culture, but in its spirit as well, as locals grapple with the constant shifts Whistler faces.

What remains to be seen is how this will shape the aesthetic and artistic feel of the town in the coming years.

Cultural reports were all the rage

After 18 months in the making, Steven Thorne's cultural tourism report A Tapestry of Place was released in March, to mixed reviews. It was hailed by some as the future of Whistler's tourism industry, while others lambasted it as an expensive report with few answers and a pretentious title.

The general consensus, it would seem, lies somewhere in the middle as the need for a cultural plan has been brought up again and again. Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden championed the cause during her election bid and, as the council representative on the Whistler Arts Council board, will likely begin work on the plan in 2012.

Note that the cultural plan and the cultural tourism plan are two different things. The latter is a plan that will map out Whistler's cultural experiences in a way that will drive tourists to town. Thorne's report offered guidance on how Whistler can appeal to the cultural tourist.

What proponents of the cultural plan, including Wilhelm-Morden and WAC executive director Doti Niedermayer, say is Whistler now needs to create a blueprint for the arts and culture in order to nurture and grow the local arts in a way that will appeal to both locals and visitors.

So why did we even bother with the cultural tourism plan? Niedermayer told Pique back in March that Whistler is a tourism economy before anything else.

"The community had to be told that there is an economic benefit to having a cultural plan and to having cultural tourism because our economy is totally based on tourism," she said.

The jazz festival flopped

Jazz on the Mountain at Whistler was perhaps the most hyped up event of the year that resulted in poor tickets sales.

Marred by liquor licensing issues and, according to event founder Arnold Schwisberg, a program of free concerts driven by the RMOW, tickets sales were crushingly low.

"It's pretty obvious that ticket sales were disappointing," Schwisberg said after the festival, which took place over the Labour Day weekend.

Schwisberg blamed both the Whistler Presents free concert series for poor ticket sales and the Liquor Control Licensing Board for draconian regulations that affected the feel of the festival.

Schwisberg, a liquor lawyer by trade, had applied to the BC Liquor Board for a general license for WOP so that festivalgoers could drink alcohol throughout the gated festival grounds without the need for a beer garden, but was denied the license less than two weeks before the event. Schwisberg said in interviews as early as June that his application was being sorted out and that the special license was integral to the festival experience.

Despite the set backs, the festival was a critical success. Schwisberg is intent on bringing the festival back in 2012 but in a way that it can succeed, given the local taste for free concerts and the strict LCLB regulations.

"We do have to reconfigure it on the basis of its economic value, by reason of the (WOP) giving it away for free and for the liquor branch's denial of the license on the terms of which it was filed," Schwisberg said.

Film festival moved on up

It was a banner year for the film festival, which saw new partnerships with Variety magazine and through the Canada China Script Competition. It had by far the best lineup in its 11 years, all of which WFF executive director Shauna Hardy Mishaw said helped raise the festival's profile world wide.

"It secures us an international reputation as an emerging force in the festival circuit," she said earlier this month.

Squamish happened

LIVE at Squamish announced itself as a great new festival, hosting headline acts Metric and Weezer. Having grown considerably from its inaugural year in 2010, there's no doubt that the 2012 version will be bigger and better.

Nearly 17,000 people turned out including, most importantly, managers and label representatives, who were impressed by what they saw. Paul Runnals, president of Brand.LIVE, which organizes LIVE at Squamish, said that the success of the 2011 festival would allow them to build the festival up.

And then there was Bass Coast, the West Coast's own piece of Burning Man, which, by most accounts, was a brilliant display of good cheer, temporary art installations and great electronic music. It established itself as a festival to watch out for in the electronic music festival circuit, bringing some better received attention to Squamish.

Masquerave returns

Rumours that Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne would be making appearances were sadly unfounded but after five years, Whistler's most decadent party returned and it was...decadent. Bearfoot Bistro converted the parking garage below its restaurant into a den of free booze and free food. Nipples were exposed and people wore masks, presumably to hide the fact that they were staring at the nipples.

According to Bearfoot's Marc Des Rosiers, the party was just 67 tickets short of selling out. Everything, from the Cirque du Soleil performers to the ice bar to the blue lighting everywhere made it at least seem like no expense was spared.

Between Shifts attracts Hollywood

But not in a good way. The Squamish theatre troupe held what was probably its best production in March with The Princess Bride. It was well acted, the costumes were highly professional and Princess Buttercup was far more beautiful than I'll ever be. And above all, it was funny — mostly because the entire production was lifted straight from the film script of the 1987 Hollywood production of the film.

Unfortunately, Between Shifts failed to acquire the necessary rights to the script and after three shows 20th Century Fox's lawyers issued a cease and desist order.

"As quickly as we got the letter was as quickly as we closed the show," said Between Shift's Lisa Schaer at the time. "It was quite clear in the letter that we had to close right away," said Between Shift's Lisa Schaer.

Lives music suffered a bad stroke

People just aren't going out like they used to, folks, and it's hurting not only the clubs but the promoters as well, who are putting their skin on the line to bring shows to town. Back in August, we ran a story dissecting the decreased support for live shows and 2011 has been a particularly bad year.

Despite a few very well attended shows — Ghostface Killah earlier this month was a huge draw and Matthew Good's cancelled performance was a few tickets from being sold out — a majority of live concerts were near busts.

Promoter Reggie Tika, who'd been bringing live music to Whistler for years, was forced to quit the promotions game after taking hits on every show in 2011.

"It's a struggle to fill a 200-capacity venue with an internationally known artist? Something's wrong there," Tika said in August.

Mike Wilson, general manager of the GLC, said at the time that the low visitor turnout in the summer might have impacted the amount of money locals had to spend on live shows — no tourists, no cash. But Greg Britnell, owner of Moe Joe's, credited it to the changing demographics (and tastes) of the seasonal residents — Australians and Europeans who are leaning more toward electronic music.

"All those same people are into hip hop or to rock, but it has to be someone big, like a name that they've heard in the mainstream back in their markets," Britnell said.

And let's not forget Poo Font

Precious Poo Font. Whistler's pride and joy. Arne Gutmann's masterpiece made a big splash this year. It graced the pages of this newspaper more times that it probably should have. A little picture book was published that was featured on Urban Rush earlier this year. The stickers of Gutmann's excremental Xs have been posted all over town and are easily one of the more recognizable trademarks of local culture, for better or worse.

And with another self-published book coming out in 2012, Poo Font might just paint the world...brown.