I am constantly amazed by the quantity and variety of arts and culture events that we residents of the Prince George district have at our disposal.
And now that our 2016-2017 season has kicked off, it is incredibly easy to find an exciting event to attend nearly every day of the week. There are a number of online means of keeping track of the steady stream of shows, concerts, exhibits and events coming up. The Tourism PG site has a multi-category event calendar at tourismpg.com as does wiifu.ca (What's in it For You Prince George) and of course the Community Arts Council ticket centre at studio2880.com.
Friday night is the night for one of Prince George's most exciting annual arts event, with the fourth annual edition of Art Battle taking place at 7 p.m. at Hub Space located at 1299 Third Ave. The battle lines have been drawn between local Prince George artists Mandy Paavola, Trevor C Stanley, Perry Melenka, Erin Stagg, Lisa Marie Tosoff, Christina Harmer-Watts, Michael Rees, Carla Joseph and Shae Morin.
Competitors will be given 20 minutes to create their finest masterpiece to win this people's choice event. The structure is a round-robin event with a final round to determine the winner.
Art Battle is hosted by hundreds of communities across Canada, with local, regional and national winners. There is a cash prize of $500 and a spot in the regionals in Vancouver will be awarded. Tickets will be available at the door so I hope to see you there.
For other aspiring local artists, I encourage you to check out the Studio 2880 Artists Workshops that provide an introduction to various media and art forms.
The dedicated group of individuals behind these workshops have some great programming in the hopper. During October, a session on charcoal will be offered by Kristin Vignal and a session entitled Photographing your Art will be delivered by Philomena Hughes. The drop-in fee is only $10 per session.
More information on the Artists Workshops can be found at pgartistsworkshop.ca.
For families and parents looking to engage in a fun artistic endeavour with their children, I hope you can make it out to The Exploration Place this weekend.
On Saturday, an interactive exhibit entitled KEVA Planks is opening. KEVA planks are changing the lives of children and adults all over the world.
Children discover the joy of creating original works of art or cleverly designed contraptions. At the same time, future architects and engineers are discovering their aptitude for building at an early age.
KEVA enthusiasts range from toddlers to adults because everyone can enjoy building at their own skill level. For more information, visit theexplorationplace.com.
With our local performing arts organizations gearing up for their current season offerings, I do encourage folks to support these great institutions by securing their annual subscriptions to the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and Theatre NorthWest.
The PGSO will be having a special subscribers-only concert featuring the music of Mozart on Saturday, Oct. 15th and there are several subscription packages available to suit your individual needs. Tickets for PGSO concerts are available from www.centralinteriortickets.com, and tickets for Theatre NorthWest shows can be purchased via www.theatrenorthwest.com
So enjoy your week and I hope you take advantage of all the great offerings of the local Prince George arts and culture scene.
Sean Farrell is the executive director of the Prince George & District Community Arts Council and Studio 2880.
