West Kootenay Regional Arts Council

Cabaret
2023-01-13 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-12-31 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Edmonton) | Key City Theatre, 20 14th Avenue North, Cranbrook, BC, V1C 6H4, Canada
Nothing feels quite so good as the return of the January musical production to Key City Theatre. Featuring the best of the best of our homegrown talent, the January musicals have become a core, beloved part of our season. This year will take things to a whole new level, with the production of Cabaret.Daring, provocative and exuberantly entertaining, Cabaret explores the dark and heady life of Bohemian Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.Featuring a timeless musical score with songs such as Wilkommen, Don’t Tell Mama and of course, Cabaret, audiences will enjoy a multi layered story packed full of allure, seduction, romance, hope and heartbreak as the characters come together in the last golden hours before the devastating dawn of a new world war.Ring in the New year with the Cast and Crew of Cabaret during our New Year’s Eve Gala on December 31st at 7:30 PM with a catered reception and lots of fun activities and door prizes!
Regular show dates: January 13, 14, 19-21 at 7:30 PM MST, Matinee show on January 15 at 3:00 pm MST.

Grant-writing workshop
2023-01-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Vancouver) | Online
Kimberly Olson: Peace Prevails
REGISTER NOW!
Do you have an idea for a project that focuses on arts and culture? Grants from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (CKCA) could help.
These grants—funded by Columbia Basin Trust and overseen by the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council—are available for all art disciplines, for both individuals and arts and culture organizations in the Columbia Basin.
To learn more about these grants and how to apply, attend this FREE grant-writing workshop.
This session is primarily for questions and discussion. Before you attend the session, WATCH THIS VIDEO, as the information in it will only be covered briefly during the session. Then come to the session with your questions.

Thursday, January 12, 2023: Zoom, at noon Pacific / 1 p.m. Mountain.

REGISTER NOW!
To view other possible sessions, click here.
If you have questions about your specific project, rather than the programs themselves, contact us directly instead of asking them during a session.

Exhibition Opening Celebration | RVAC
2023-01-05 17:00 - 20:00 (America/Vancouver) | Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, 320 Wilson Street, Revelstoke, V0E 2S0
Start your year with art and friendly faces! The first exhibition for 2023 opens Thursday, January the 5th at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre. Join us in the gallery, 5pm – 8pm as we celebrate the five incredibly talented artists who have worked so hard to bring brand new exhibitions to Revelstoke. Historically the gallery has been closed during the winter months so this will be a big first for the centre, why not come and celebrate with us!Daniel Stewart | InfraRAD@danielstewart_photoJamie Kroeger | A Part of Place@oldsoulrevolutionSab Curtis | Rewired@sabcurtisJenny Liski & Susie Kathol | Echo Lake@scoutpaper @susiekatholceramicsJanuary 5th, 5pm – 8pm320 Wilson St$5 Admission at the door, or free entry to our membersCash and card accepted at the barExhibition runs January 5th – 29thAbsolutely everyone is welcome to this public opening. There will be reasonably priced refreshments, live music, and of course, four brand new solo exhibitions.Photo by Daniel Stewart

Grant-writing workshop
2023-01-04 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Vancouver) | Online
Kimberly Olson: Peace Prevails
REGISTER NOW!
Do you have an idea for a project that focuses on arts and culture? Grants from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (CKCA) could help.
These grants—funded by Columbia Basin Trust and overseen by the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council—are available for all art disciplines, for both individuals and arts and culture organizations in the Columbia Basin.
To learn more about these grants and how to apply, attend this FREE grant-writing workshop.
This session will include an explanation of all CKCA programs, plus a short period for questions and answers:

Wednesday, January 4, 2023: Zoom, at noon Pacific / 1 p.m. Mountain.

REGISTER NOW!
To view other possible sessions, click here.
If you have questions about your specific project, rather than the programs themselves, contact us directly instead of asking them during a session.

Shifting Design
2023-01-03 11:00 - 2023-01-10 15:00 (America/Vancouver) | The Capitol Theatre, 421 Victoria Street, Nelson, British Columbia, V1L 5R2, Canada
JAN 7Shifting Design…Tickets for Gala Evening: $10The Capitol Theatre is transformed into an art gallery!Designer, David Dobie, has amassed his career’s work and created an art exhibition which will be open to the public daily from Jan. 3 – 10 between 11 am and 3pm. Admission is by donation.The Gala Evening on Saturday, January 7th will include a time to wander through the exhibition, an artist’s talk, and a performance by Juno Award nominated vocalist, Melody Diachun; bassist, Doug Stephenson; and Juno Award winnng guitarist, Mike Rud.About the exhibition –David Dobie’s design career started in 1980 as a designer-builder in a small office in Nelson. His practice spanned the range of commercial buildings, retreat centres, restaurants, stores, and professional offices, but private residences were at the core of his practice until retirement in 2021.This installation is not about the many hundreds of his built projects that grace this region. Rather, it is a celebration and acknowledgement of all of the hard work and inspiration that went into these projects. Not just hard work, but work with a high purpose, done with pen and pencil on paper.Architectural drawing of this sort is a vanishing art. The design profession has embraced the (sometimes-illusory) promise of technology, and few people still draw by hand. In David’s practice, ideas emerge and are recorded in drawing, then are refined in a process where a new sheet of translucent paper is laid on the old, and the better ideas are brought to the fore to form the starting point for the new drawing. Layer after layer, trying new things, honing, refining, eliminating the extraneous, tightening the precision, conforming to the known qualities of materials, giving form to the ideas, and creating instructions for others to make them real.Building is a collaborative act; there are many pitfalls on the road to getting a project built, many opportunities for the original intentions to be lost. The design sketches represent the purest essence of the project, the least compromise, the greatest potential for integrity and harmony.Thus, the years passed and the drawings of each year accumulated, became substantial in their abundance, were absorbed into the body of work. Forty years, hundreds of homes and buildings, countless thousands of decisions, millions of lines.Such architectural lines convey many meanings, and are part of a symbolic language that spans from dreams and the most subtle of gestures to the definitive solidity of stone, wood and steel. Lines represent surfaces, the boundaries of spaces, the edges of solids, openings for movement and light, structure, the earth.This exhibition is an act of letting go, of letting the ideas that were brought to an acute focus and coherence on the drafting board and in the built projects dissolve back into the place they came from. Separated from the projects that they were created for and shifted, rotated or reversed, layered with other unrelated drawings, only their lines are recognizable, but as pure shapes, no longer visible as design ideas.We are accustomed to thinking about architecture as buildings, as shelter or as art. This installation invites us to go behind the façade and encounter the visions, the false starts, the trial and error, the calculations, the intentions, the intricately rendered details that, given skill and care, might have ended up in someone’s house, but also might not. It is a celebration of process rather than product. It seeks to embody in physical form that which is ephemeral and insubstantial, but without which great buildings are not possible.– John Gower, Designer

Neal Panton: Sense of Place
2023-01-03 - 2023-01-28 | Centre 64, Kimberley
How do we experience and make meaning of a particular place? For me I use my camera lens to create connections to a place.
Photography nurtures my feeling of belonging in this world. It is this deeper emotional connection that makes these places worth caring about, and that encourages my ongoing stewardship to my natural surroundings.
This collection represents my own sense of place.
Neal Panton is a fine art photographer who specializes primarily in landscapes. He favours large-format prints and panoramas. Neal has been photographing since 1984 exhibiting since 1992 and is primarily self-taught. He has won or been nominated for over a dozen awards, some in the Columbia Basin region, others from Europe and the USA.He has worked as a photojournalist for Reuters, taught photography and visual literacy, been published in over 25 countries, had 16 solo exhibits and 59 group exhibits in Canada, Europe, the United States, and South America, and self-published eight books showcasing his images. Neal is represented by Turning Art and Glasshouse Images in the USA. In Canada Neal is represented by Art Gallery Kimberley at The Laundromat.

Objects in the Landscape
2022-12-29 - 2023-01-22 | The Arts Station, Fernie
This show of paintings, collage and photos is a play on object-oriented programming. It (0) models the real world by defining objects, then (1) makes the objects interact to create a response. You, the viewer, are invited to run the “program”. Approach the canvas as browser window, decide if the interaction of human and natural objects in the landscape models the “real” world.
The artist, Beth Gallup, is fascinated by the way we train ourselves to ignore functional, utilitarian objects in the world around us. Look past them to magnify whatever natural beauty we can find beyond, above or around.
Objects in the Landscape opens December 29, 2022 at The Art Station in Fernie, BC. It runs through January 23, 2023.

Building your digital toolbox for LGBTQ2S+ artists
2022-12-19 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Vancouver) | Online
VIEW THE RECORDING.

This fall, the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council is hosting a series of workshops to help you effectively showcase your creative work and build a more sustainable practice.

Join Heidi Nagtegaal and Jenny Lee Craig* for a conversation about the top online tools that can help your artistic business flourish. This workshop will cover setting up successful social media channels, strategies for audience engagement and managing your digital to-do list. This is an all-abilities-friendly session that will leave you with greater confidence when selling your work online, even if capitalism makes you cringe.

This event is free and takes place virtually on Monday, December 19 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Pacific / 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mountain.

*Centre Center is an umbrella organization that is owned by no one, but tended by Jenny Lee Craig and Heidi Nagtegaal, focusing on third spaces, underground spaces and the alternative arts spaces outside of the artist-run-centre model.
We’re not looking to create something new because other things are bad. We want to make kinder networks, supportive networks and resources for sharing, to activate our collective strength. We want to overlap with things that are already in action because we are stronger together.
Drawing from nature, Centre Center sees the arts as a form of an ecological intersection from all kinds of cultural spaces, classes, experiences, lifestyles and ways of being. Oftentimes, our artistic experience is separated by these differences, and Centre Center aims to be a support network to bridge the gaps between organizations, people and culture.
You can’t build culture past what you have, and to work with different people and different ways of being is the way to move forward, and to build more than what you could bring on your own. Diversity and inclusivity are the only generative way forward, and that means opening up to ideas and ways of being that may seem foreign to you.

Note: Resources and materials from this session will be made available to the public on this website. To learn when these are available, follow us on Facebook or Instagram or sign up for our newsletter.

Cottonwood Singers presents Vivaldi's 'Gloria' Copy
2022-12-18 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | St. Andrew’s United Church, 500 4th St., Kaslo
Cottonwood Singers, under the direction of Noémi Kiss, invite you to start the holiday season with a celebration of great music with Vivaldi’s Gloria, to be performed at at 2 pm on December 18th in Kaslo at St. Andrew’s United Church. This beautiful, joyous choral work was written in 1715, and remains one of the most popular pieces from the baroque era. Soloists Kathleen Neudorf and Tamara SunSong will join Noémi Kiss in singing medieval and contemporary pieces that will compliment Vivaldi’s composition. Singer Dawn Madu will also join Cottonwood as a soloist.The Gloria will be accompanied by a small orchestra of Nelson’s finest musicians, including instrumentalists Martine DenBok, Natasha Hall, Miranda Hughes, Jeffrey Faragher, Catherine MacKinnon, Dave Satanov, and Maureen Lewis.Tickets are $20, available at Sunnyside Naturals, 404 Front Street, Kaslo and at the door.

Cottonwood Singers presents Vivaldi's 'Gloria' Copy
2022-12-17 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Vancouver) | St. Savior’s Anglican Church, 701 Ward St., Nelson
Cottonwood Singers, under the direction of Noémi Kiss, invite you to start the holiday season with a celebration of great music with Vivaldi’s Gloria, to be performed at 7:30 pm on December 17th at Nelson’s St. Saviours Anglican Church. This beautiful, joyous choral work was written in 1715, and remains one of the most popular pieces from the baroque era. Soloists Kathleen Neudorf and Tamara SunSong will join Noémi Kiss in singing medieval and contemporary pieces that will compliment Vivaldi’s composition. Singer Dawn Madu will also join Cottonwood as a soloist.The Gloria will be accompanied by a small orchestra of Nelson’s finest musicians, including instrumentalists Martine DenBok, Natasha Hall, Miranda Hughes, Jeffrey Faragher, Catherine MacKinnon, Dave Satanov, and Maureen Lewis.Tickets are $20, available at Eddy Music, 580 Baker Street, and at the door.

Cottonwood Singers presents Vivaldi's 'Gloria'
2022-12-16 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Vancouver) | St. Savior’s Anglican Church, 701 Ward St., Nelson
Cottonwood Singers, under the direction of Noémi Kiss, invite you to start the holiday season with a celebration of great music with Vivaldi’s Gloria, to be performed at 7:30 pm on December 16th at Nelson’s St. Saviours Anglican Church. This beautiful, joyous choral work was written in 1715, and remains one of the most popular pieces from the baroque era. Soloists Kathleen Neudorf and Tamara SunSong will join Noémi Kiss in singing medieval and contemporary pieces that will compliment Vivaldi’s composition. Singer Dawn Madu will also join Cottonwood as a soloist.The Gloria will be accompanied by a small orchestra of Nelson’s finest musicians, including instrumentalists Martine DenBok, Natasha Hall, Miranda Hughes, Jeffrey Faragher, Catherine MacKinnon, Dave Satanov, and Maureen Lewis.Tickets are $20, available at Eddy Music, 580 Baker Street, and at the door.

REVY.Live | Swan Lake Circus
2022-12-10 19:30 - 21:00, 2022-12-10 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre, 1007 Vernon Ave, Revelstoke
Swan Lake Circus is a CircusWest reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s timeless love story, blending circus, dance, and romance. Under a magician’s spell, a lovely princess must spend her days as a swan swimming on a lake of tears and her nights in her beautiful human form. Her suitor, a Prince immediately falls in love but struggles to deal with her plight. The show really takes flight with aerial silks, dance trapeze and aerial bungee as the Swan Princess edges towards her freedom from the spell and a new life with her Prince.There are two performances for Swan Lake Circus on December 10; a 3:00 PM matinee and a 7:30 PM evening performance.

Creating With Respect: Cultural Appropriation Education for Artists
2022-12-10 09:00 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | Zoom
The Nelson & District Arts Council is so excited to host a fantastic lineup of educators this weekend to dive into cultural appropriation and privilege in the arts!Each session will have a different focus: visual arts, dance, writing, arts presenters / festivals / venues, and music.The sessions are virtual (through Zoom) and are FREE! We will not be offering recordings of these sessions; they will only be available in real-time.Registration is available here: https://www.ndac.ca/artist-education/

Acorn+oak indigenous winter market
2022-12-10 08:30 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | 318 Anderson, Nelson
Our cozy café has gathered some brilliant Indigenous creators to share their gifts and talents with the Kootenays. Fry bread, beading, leather, textiles and one of the oldest known traditional arts, each piece unique and used to tell a story, birch bark biting…and lots more.

Big Eddy Glass Works Winter Market
2022-12-09 16:00 - 21:00 (America/Vancouver) | 1741 Celgar Road, Revelstoke
An outdoor event where you can finish your holiday shopping, support local artists, and dance all at the same time! Big Eddy Glass Works is hosting our third annual Winter Market! There will be local makers, DJ’s, mulled wine, beer, glass blowing demonstrations, and door prizes! Come on out to Big Eddy Glass Works for the best party market in Revelstoke.

Moonlight Madness
2022-12-08 17:00 - 21:00 (America/Edmonton) | Elkford Community Conference Centre, Elkford
I’m selling my blown glass ornaments, pendants and small bowls at this event, and there are many other craft vendors such as pottery and painting and woodworking and sewing, as well as baked goods and all the things!

BDBha Heritage Committee Christmas Concert
2022-12-03 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | Balfour – St Michaels and All Angels Chapel and Performance Center, 8551 Busk Rd, Balfour
40 minutes of music intermission with refreshments and 40 minutes of music and singing by accomplished musicians from the Selkirk College Music Department

Ricky Diamonds: Ricky in the Rough
2022-12-02 20:30 (America/Edmonton) | Online
THE RICKY DIAMONDS MOVIE: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF RICKY DIAMONDS

He’s washed up, banished from Vegas and desperately needs a martini…and some therapy.
This short film follows this exiled Las Vegas lounge singer as he plots his crooning career comeback from a small Canadian mountain town.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER…
Set in an era where he doesn’t have the clout he once did in the cutthroat world of lounge-singing, we will follow Ricky through a series of comedic vignettes providing a glimpse into the strange and oftentimes outlandish world of Ricky Diamonds.
Short satires play out such as: Will Ricky’s car make it through the mountain pass to get to the gig? What happens when Ricky gets a haircut, calls a community Bingo, sings the national anthem at a hockey game?

Artisans at Work Pop up Christmas Market
2022-12-02 16:00 - 20:00 (America/Vancouver) | Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op, 377 Baker St., Nelson
Pick up a Christmas Gift and meet with Nelson’s Artisans at Work: Lillie & Cohoe [hat making ÉCONOMUSÉE®] , The Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op [bread making ÉCONOMUSÉE®] and D. E. Walters EARTh Studios [ceramic artist ÉCONOMUSÉE®]. This is a great opportunity to explore and support your local community!The Kootenay Bakery Cafe Co-op’s artisan baker will be there discussing all things bread!Live music by Véronique Trudel.

Christmas with Buzz Brass
2022-12-01 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Vancouver) | The Griff at The Bailey Theatre, 1501 Cedar Ave., Trail
The Trail & District Arts Council opens their new classical series with Christmas with Buzz Brass on December 1st. Enjoy a glass of wine as you enjoy an intimate salon style experience where you will be up close with these talented Canadian artists.For the holidays, the Buzz Brass quintet offers a concert embodying all of the festive season’s magic, combining emotion with a touch of humour. The show includes classics such as Tchaikovsky’s ”Nutcracker” suite and “Silent Night”, as well as more modern repertoire like “Sleigh Ride” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. A concert for the entire family to enjoy!Get a mini burst of Christmas good cheer in the trailer. https://youtu.be/Hta5ha4ysKE.Since 2002, Buzz Brass quintet has been travelling all over the globe to captivate classical music lovers. Buzz Brass has earned numerous awards and distinctions over the years (Opus, ADISQ, and Trille Or) that attest to both the quality and the relevance of its musical performances. Its latest productions have seen them collaborate with established symphony orchestras including those of Gatineau, Winnipeg and Quebec City, as well as with Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra.Buzz Brass Musicians: Sylvain Lapointe (founder/trumpet), Frédéric Gagnon (solo trumpet), Pascal Lafrenière (horn), Jason de Carufel (trombone), Sylvain Arseneau (bass trombone).“A first-class brass quintet, with a likeable flair for humour and for pleasing a crowd without uttering a word.” — Three Weeks Edinburgh Newspaper (Scotland)“An astonishing combination of musical virtuosity and humour.” – Montreal’s daily La Presse“The music is skillful and so engagingly played as to be worth recommending to all ages.” – The List“These five musicians are fearless! The Montreal quintet tackles major works and its rendition gives the impression they have been written for its two trombones, two trumpets and horn.” – Montreal’s VoirOnly 100 tickets available. Get your tickets now!Individual Adult Ticket: $30.00. Tickets for 2 Classical Series shows are $50. General Admission. Two 45 minute sets. Licensed event.Regular tickets can be purchased online or by phone at 250-368-9669, and in person at the Bailey Box Office at 1501 Cedar Ave., Trail. Two show for $50 tickets can only be purchased through the box office in person or by phone.The other show in our classical series is Nicolas Ellis and The Agora Quartet on March 18, 2023. Nature’s Folk Songs is a vibrant, energetic chamber music concert that features works inspired by folk and nature from composers Ernest MacMillan, Lili Boulanger, Ann Southam, Marcus Goddard and Dvořák. The Agora String Quartet is composed of young and talented professional musicians from the Orchestre de l’Agora, accompanied by pianist and conductor Nicolas Ellis.The classical series is supported by the BC Arts Council, the BC Touring Council, the Government of British Columbia and South Kootenay Tourism. This series is funded [in part] by the Government of Canada. / Ce projet est financé [en partie] par le gouvernement du Canada.

The Pied Piper of Nelsondorf
2022-12-01 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | Capitol Theatre Nelson, 421 Victoria Street, Nelson
Join the gang at Nelsondorf’s premier Kombucha club for mystery, hijinks, song and dance in the Capitol Theatre’s 33rd Annual Pantomime!

Pastel and Oil Painting Exhibit at Cowan’s
2022-12-01 - 2022-12-31 | Cowan’s Office Supplies, 517 Victoria St., Nelson
Fresh and original scenic landscapes of Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, Nordic Ski trails and other highlights of the Nelson area created by artist Kate Anderson of Nelson. Kate uses a soft pastel on hand painted board which gives her artwork an interesting depth of colour and perspective. You can find her work on Instagram at kate_anderson_paintings to view all recent work. Thank you to Cowan’s Office Supplies for showing some of my art. The exhibit is available to see for the month of December.
Paintings are framed, matted and come in different sizes and formats.

Alternative revenue streams for LGBTQ2S+ artists
2022-11-30 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | Online
VIEW THE RECORDING.

This fall, the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council is hosting a series of workshops to help you effectively showcase your creative work and build a more sustainable practice.

We tend to tie up creative success with financial success, but even the most accomplished artists generate income from multiple sources. Hear from LGBTQ2S+ artists who are using tools like Patreon to reach audiences and customers in new ways, and creative makers who manage portfolio careers composed of teaching, activism, content creation and more! Step away from this panel with new ideas for how to structure your paid activities in a way that works for you.

Join moderator Samonte Cruz—metalsmith, artist and educator—to hear from these panelists:

Hana Shafi, a writer, illustrator and Patreon user based in Toronto
Syrus Marcus Ware, a visual artist, curator, educator and activist based in Toronto
Kimmortal, a Filipinx artist, musician and writer based in Vancouver
Brianne Huntswoman, a designing and creative consultant based in New York and Salt Lake City.

This event is free and takes place virtually on Wednesday, November 30 at 6 p.m. Pacific / 7 p.m. Mountain.

Note: Resources and materials from this session will be made available to the public on this website. To learn when these are available, follow us on Facebook or Instagram or sign up for our newsletter.

Rural Artist Support Weekend
2022-11-27 12:00 - 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | Online
The Nelson & District Arts Council’s annual Rural Artist Support Weekend returns in 2023 with another series of FREE professional development workshops for artists! Sessions will be held over Zoom on Sunday, November 27 between 12:00pm-4:00pm PST and are open to everyone. Topics this year include accessing grants as a rural artist, graphic design, social media marketing, and Amplify BC funding programs. Registration is required: https://www.ndac.ca/rasw/

REVY.Live | Mînowin - Dancers of Damelahamid
2022-11-26 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Vancouver) | Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre, 1007 Vernon Ave, Revelstoke
Indigenous Arts, Dance, Damelahamid: Minowin, Dress Rehearsal, Banff Centre, 2019, Do not use these photos until after October 1, 2019
Mînowin is a new multimedia dance work that integrates narrative, movement, song, performance, and multimedia design, connecting to landscapes from contemporary perspectives of customary Indigenous dance forms. Mînowin describes how we clarify direction, as we recover and reinterpret the teachings that define and redefine who we are, and that are accessed through story, dance and song.

The Way They Came: A One-Woman Show that Breaks Water!
2022-11-26 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Edmonton) | Taghum Community Hall, Taghum
Ellie Reynolds’ second one-woman show is coming to the beautiful Taghum Hall‘Midwifed’ by Nelson Artist Bessie Wapp, this show has toured all over the Kootenays and to the Vancouver Fringe Festival and now finally, a Nelson-area show…You are warmly invited to an evening of intimate theatre that dares to tell the messy truth about the wild ride of bringing life into the world.A brief blurb“Two is the right number of children to have; hospitals are to be avoided, and IUDs are 99% effective. So believes Ellie. But her scheming uterus has other plans and suddenly there’s a third pregnancy on the table, changing everything.This autobiographical solo show, an intimate and brave dramedy about the way we arrive earthside, spotlights the experience of birth, from the ecstatic to the surgical, and, along the way takes in life, death, sex, family, and the perils of home renovation.”

Paper trails: An introduction to contracts and invoicing
2022-11-23 12:00 (America/Vancouver) | Online
VIEW THE RECORDING.

This fall, the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council is hosting a series of workshops to help you effectively showcase your creative work and build a more sustainable practice.

While it can be intimidating to ask your artistic collaborators to sign onto a contract, it’s a critical tool to ensure that deliverables, timelines and payment terms are clearly outlined and agreed to at the start of your next project. Learn the basics of building a contract and how to draft an invoice with all the information needed to ensure you get paid accurately and on time. Presented by Jessica Wadsworth and Victor Tran of CADA/West.

This session is free and open to all; however, the discussion will be geared toward early career artists. It takes place virtually on Wednesday, November 23 at noon Pacific / 1 p.m. Mountain.

Note: The event will be recorded and shared to the public on this website. To learn when the recording is available, follow us on Facebook or Instagram or sign up for our newsletter.

Begonia
2022-11-22 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | Capitol Theatre Nelson, 421 Victoria Street, Nelson
Begonia’s Alexa Dirks has never been able to fit into the box of being a “conventional woman”. “I’m loud, I’m awkward and I’ve always taken up space. I’ve done things my whole life that some people would tell me weren’t appropriate ‘for a girl’.” That narrative that once tore Dirks down is now what empowers her to take charge of her own story, in her own way.The Winnipeg-based Dirks is a Juno Award winner with her former group Chic Gamine. While she thrived off of the collaboration, once the band broke up she knew she was ready to go solo. Even though she was terrified to go out on her own, that feeling was a fundamental factor to positively reinforce that the path she was on was the correct one. As Begonia, Dirks is bold, brazen with her florid, surprising pop that is tempered with sensitivity and wisdom. Dirks’ first solo output with her 2017 debut EP, Lady in Mind, was well-received, being listed on NPR’s 10 Artists You Need To Know in 2017 and “Juniper” reached #1 on the CBC Music Charts in 2017. Noisey wrote that, “Begonia has one of Canada’s most extraordinary voices, and thankfully she uses it to obliterate the misery from this world one live performance at a time.” NPR wrote that Begonia is “the place where where synth-pop meets old soul and scrappy meets sexy.”Begonia’s songwriting style is largely autobiographical. “There’s always some element of me in these songs whether I like it or not,” she says bluntly. She gets to the heart of her subject matter, whether it’s learning to come into her own or confronting and processing a brutal heartbreak. Dirks’ intimate lyrics and audacious pop style sound allows for her audience to relate to the messiness of life with an honesty that is refreshing.With Begonia’s debut full length album entitled ‘Fear’ expected next year, Dirks’ leans hard into a sense of arrival. Dirks wrote and co-produced the record with a familiar team: Matt Schellenberg and Matt Petters of Royal Canoe, along with Marcus Paquin, who has previously worked with The National, Stars, Arcade Fire, Local Natives, to name a few.Begonia forms a special kind of musical translucence. A transparency of learning to unlearn some of the parts Dirks didn’t care to have, the ones she wanted to hold onto and nourish, and how that relationship can inform her music. On her latest single “The Light,” Dirks sings over soulful swells, her vocals curving around the notes of the song and making them explode as she bluntly tells us “hang up the phone and scream your name/ again, again/but I like the pain.” Who among us hasn’t wanted to rage and yell and yet curl into and find comfort in the things that brought us pain? Begonia explores the nuances of such heartfelt emotional experiences.Looking back doesn’t often mean regret or remorse; mourning the version of you that’s no longer there. It may mean paying tribute to the mistakes, failures, and triumphs. Begonia is a celebration for the arrival of the person Dirks has become both personally and professionally; showing that some things can’t be contained, no matter how much, and that fundamentally they shouldn’t be either.This show is also one of our ENHANCED EXPERIENCES!Here is your chance to get creative with the option to dress up with a botanical accent for this show. Floral tie, daisy print dress, garden-themed shirt, rose-coloured glasses: Wear your favourite flower-inspired outfit to BEGONIA! Prizes from local businesses for the best 3 costumes of the night.
