'Upstream Benefits – Rural Art Symposium’
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Oxygen Art Centre 3-320 Vernon St, Enter from Alley, Nelson, British Columbia V1L 4B7
'Upstream Benefits – Rural Art Symposium’ is a 4-day-long symposium that explores and celebrates the role and impact that the arts have in rural communities and will bring into focus artist-run culture in the Kootenays. Symposium programming includes multiple panel discussions, artist talks, literary readings, a night of music and an art exhibition. All symposium programming is free to attend and everyone is welcome! (Donations are appreciated.) The symposium takes place November 23 – 26, 2017 at multiple venues in Nelson, B.C. More info online at www.oxygenartcentre.org
'Upstream Benefits symposium panel and presentation topics include subjects like “Arts as Rural Revitalizer”, that examines the role that the arts play as an economic and social driver from a rural perspective. Julie Fowler, director of ArtsWells Festival, Carla Stephenson, director at Tiny Lights Festival in Ymir and Laura White, Coordinator and instructor at Kootenay Studio Arts at Selkirk College come together for this panel and will share their extensive experience and knowledge about the pros and cons of producing art in a rural context and the value this brings to the community. Guest speakers for “Rural Art and the Institution” panel on Saturday, November 25th at 11am are Sue Donaldson, Program Officer BC Arts Council, Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte, President Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres, Krista Patterson, Executive Director Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance and Julie Fowler, wearing her Vice Chair of Arts BC hat. Please join us in welcoming these experienced representatives of vital arts organizations, who hold a wealth of knowledge about the current climate for art in British Columbia.
The impact place has on rural writers, and the impact that the arts have in rural communities will be explored in a panel discussion and reading Saturday, Nov. 25. Participating in the panel discussion at 2 pm will be 2011-2013 Canadian poet laureate Fred Wah, and University of B.C. Okanagan author, eco-art organizer, and award-winning teacher Nancy Holmes. Wah, a Governor General’s Literary Award winner, taught English and writing in Nelson and Castlegar from 1967 to 1989. Holmes founded Kelowna’s Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre, a joint initiative of UBCO and the Regional District of the Central Okanagan. The panel is entitled “Who Are We? Presenting and Representing Rural Communities” and is moderated by Slocan Valley poet and Oxygen Art Centre co-founder, Tom Wayman. Then at 7 p.m., Wah and Holmes will be joined by Slocan Valley poet Jordan Mounteer, to read from their work and talk about how their creativity is influenced by where they live. The afternoon literary panel discussion and evening reading is co-sponsored by Nelson’s Elephant Mountain Literary Festival.