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Arts, Heritage And Culture Guide September-December 2007 Find out about the latest arts, heritage and cultural events happening in Victoria - view the PDF guide.

Self Guided Heritage Walks Of Victoria
Take a walk and discover the wonderful and mysterious secrets that are part of Victoria's hidden history with this series of four self-guided walks.

Events
Homechild - The Belfry Theatre
September 18 - October 21, 2007
Homechild by Joan MacLeod Between 1860 and 1930 over 100,000 children from England and Scotland were sent to Canada with the hope of a better life. Local playwright Joan MacLeod, one of Canada’s most gifted storytellers, focuses on the life of one home child, Alistair, a tenacious and fearless farmer, who left Scotland 70 years ago, and the search for his sister Katie. Homechild is a wonderful, touching tale of family secrets, lineage and the endurance of love.

Capital Arts Festival
October 1 - 31, 2007
The Capital Arts Festival 2007 is a showcase of regional professional arts events—produced by our member participants—in dance, music, literary, performing and visual arts. This year’s regional festival comprises 17 member participants and represents more than 750 practicing professional artists.

Glamorgans Last Stand - Halloween Event by Nightmares Entertainment
October 10 - 31, 2007
If you are looking for a really scary Halloween thrill do not miss Nightmare's Entertainment's Haunted House Spectacular, Glamorgan's Last Stand, which will be held October 10 - 13, 17 - 20 and 24 - 31. Please check the website for more details and note that this show will be most suited for teenaged children and adults.

Ghost Tours at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia
October 19 - 28, 2007
October 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28. Creepy tales of ghost ships, cursed vessels, and real accounts of ghostly activity are all on the schedule for the Maritime Museum’s October ghost tours. There are stories of keys being torn from someone’s hands and thrown across the room, a model ship floating through the air before crashing to the gift shop floor and a photocopier starting all by itself. The ghost tours explore the historical development of Victoria and Bastion Square.

The Ghosts of Victoria Festival 2007
October 19 - 31, 2007
The Ghosts of Victoria Festival is an annual event featuring spooky activities throughout the city. The events are separately conducted by many groups at different locations. Victoria is British Columbia’s most haunted place. Ghosts and goblins abound in the capital city – and not just at Halloween. If you want a “spirited” visit to Victoria at any time of the year, there are many attractions to see. As Halloween approaches, the Ghosts of Victoria Festival provides even more ghostly activities. Book your Ghost Bus Tour online now!

The Sinister Secret of Hatley Castle - A Halloween Mystery Dinner Theatre Event
October 27, 2007
The Sinister Secret of Hatley Castle is set in the late 1930's, on the brink of Canada's involvement in the Second World War. This gourmet espionage thriller will serve up a bevy of Halloween guests, including move stars, secret agents, foreign spies, swashbuckling heroes, and the hysterical spirits of Hatley Park's past. Please note that early registration is recommended due to limited seating at this event.

Oktoberfest at the Victoria Edelweiss Club
October 27, 2007
Come and enjoy the fun atmosphere, contests and dancing to the sound of the Rheinlanders.

An intimate evening with Arthur Vickers at Queenswood Centre
October 27, 2007
This is an opportunity to enjoy a conversation with Arthur Vickers. Although his work is featured in private collections throughout the world, little is known about the man. He is completely self-taught, humble and is said to be “the artists’ artist”. The art of Arthur Vickers speaks as much to 19 year old new collectors as to experienced and sophisticated collectors. To many, Arthur Vickers is known “ as a National Treasure in the art world”. Arthur Vickers has receive an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria for his extraordinary gifts and his service to others. It has been said that he is an artist in the fullest sense of the word. Join Arthur as he shares the stories behind his creations and as he provides us with the motivations and inspirations that have led him to the creation of his works of art. Drawing from his lineage of the Heiltsuk and Tsimshian people he captures the stories of his past for future generations and inspires us to see the beauty that surrounds us.

Fall Lecture Series at Abkhazi Garden: Style and Fashion - Reflections on Culture in the Built Environment
October 31, 2007
Style and Fashion. Reflections on culture in the built environment. Speaker: Alan Hodgson This conversation with Alan Hodgson will be illustrated with examples of signature buildings and influences from his personal slide collection.

The Ski & Outdoor Adventure Show & Sale
November 3 , 2007
Come and join us for all your ski, snowboard and outdoor needs at our 11th annual Ski & Outdoor Adventure Show & Sale, featuring over 25 special exhibitors including major retail stores, and representatives from mountain resorts. Public consignment sales of snowboards, alpine and cross country skis, boots, kayaks, tents, mountain bikes are welcome. Please drop off your items to sell at G. R. Pearkes Recreation Centre between 6:00pm - 8:00pm, Friday November 2 or 8:30am - 9:30am on November 3. A 15% commission charge will go to G. R. Pearkes Recreation Centre and $2.00 per item handling charge. No poles or clothing will be accepted. Enter to win one of many prizes. Proceeds will benefit Saanich Youth programs.

Glorious - At the Belfry Theatre
November 6 - December 9, 2007
Nicola Cavendish, Canada’s funniest stage actress, returns as the “diva of din,” Florence Foster Jenkins, the worst singer in the world. This true and very hilarious story follows Florence as her fan base grows from a spattering of well-meaning but horrified friends to a sold out show for adoring fans at Carnegie Hall in 1944. This terrific story of a gloriously tone-deaf diva is a lavish and moving tribute to those courageous enough to follow their dreams. The Sunday Times has described Glorious! as a "Lunatically funny comedy".

Culinary Treats
Bread and Wheat Festival
October 27, 2007
Come and support Canada's first Bread and Wheat Festival (bringing 'culture' and 'celebration' back to local food production). The Bread and Wheat Festival is celebrating 170 years of ‘Red Fife’ wheat. This old variety is the foundation of many modern wheat varieties. Originating in the Ukraine and arriving in Canada in 1840, ‘Red Fife’ fed Canadians coast to coast from 1860-1900 and was noted as a superior baking and milling wheat. Rediscovered in the 1990s and 2000s, it is adapting to growing conditions and fields across the country and is being enjoyed in a diversity of baked goods. “Farmer” and “variety” identification on the grain and a ‘story’ are adding value to this tasty part of Canada’s heritage.

Exhibits
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition
April 14 - October 14, 2007
This travelling exhibition features more than 275 artifacts recovered from Titanic’s undersea resting place in a series of galleries that trace the life of the “unsinkable” ship – from its design and construction through to its discovery, recovery and conservation. As visitors climb the gangplank, boarding passes in hand, they become immersed in the passenger experience. Authentically recreated first- and third-class corridors and cabins, outdoor café and boiler room are appointed with artifacts recovered from the shipwreck site 3,800 metres below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean. Please note that the Royal BC Museum will be open until 10:00 p.m., on Fridays and Saturdays, from June 8 to Sept. 29, with admission tickets being sold until 9:00 p.m. Certain exception dates do apply. Regular hours will be in effect June 29, July 20, August 10 and Sept. 8.
For more information and to book your Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition package go to www.tourismvictoria.com/titanic

P.O.S.H. - Port Outbound; Starboard Home - Summer Exhibit at the Maritime Museum of BC
May 25, 2007 - November 18, 2007
P.O.S.H., the Maritime Museum's Summer exhibit, presents the human face of travel along British Columbia's coast during the provinces early years. The acronym stands for Port Outbound; Starboard Home, denoting the desirable cabin location for those travelling in the southern seas. The exhibit will focus on the west coast steamship trade, which included ships from about six companies, that provided transportation along the entire west coast of North America, from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. These companies were integral to the development of British Columbia. For many isolated coastal communities, accessible only by sea, the ships, with their deliveries and pickups of goods, mail and passengers, represented the residents only connection to the larger world. A second major theme of the exhibit will be the early beginnings of the Alaska cruise ship trade. Guest curator, Jacques Marc, executive director of the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia, will provide his own collection of early cruise-ship china and dinnerware for display, to demonstrate the style in which privileged, or P.O.S.H. passengers travelled.

Robert Youds: Beautiful Beautiful Artificial Field - Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
August 16 - October 21, 2007
Paintings in light reflect meditations on the world. Driven by a fascination with systems of perception, space, colour, light, representation and abstraction, Robert Youds has explored a multitude of forms of practice throughout his career, which predominately revolves around discourses on painting, sculpture, and perception. The show will present works from the past 10 years of Youds' production, and include a new site-specific installation, drawing on the explorations of Youds' recent light works.

Folk Yarns: Japanese Textiles at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
August 20 - November 11, 2007
Folk Tales: Japanese Textiles consists of a large collection of stunning folk textiles about the everyday lives of the humble classes of Japan during the 19th and 20th centuries.

In Living Colour: The Art Gallery in 360 Degrees
September 21 - November 11, 2007
Victoria based artist Chris Gillespie undertakes an anthropological examination of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria through a multidirectional video tour. Jon Blair, the Gallery’s Senior Security Technician provides the narration for Gillespie’s film. The work, presented in the Lab as a four part projection, builds on connections to historic documentary films that focus on the everyday event to capture an understanding of reality. Gillespie uses all aspects of the site as a subject. “It is in the gaps or spaces that the viewer has the ability to engage with the work and it is here that discovery seems possible,” states Gillespie. “This will also challenge our ways of seeing. In most instances in life and film, we are given one perspective of any given space,” says Gillespie. Gillespie lives and works in Victoria, and has exhibited work in and throughout Canada and the United States. His media ranges ranges from video to painting, sculpture, drawing and writing. Gillespie graduated from UVIC, MFA in 2000 and from UBC, BFA in 1997. Chris Gillespie will be available to speak about his work for an Artist’s Talk, Thursday, September 20th at 7:30pm. An opening reception will follow.

Kiyoshi Saito: the Woodblock Prints
September 14 - November 19, 2007
Kiyoshi Saito was the first modern Japanese printmaker to become popular in the West and is credited with being one of the main reasons why modern Japanese prints became a major success the world over. In tracing the evolution of Saito’s style one clearly sees evidence of the strong relationship the artist had with the West, combined with the subtleties and richness of his own traditions. The impact of Saito's creativity on Western printmakers is evident both in looking at the work of his contemporaries and is further underlined by the awards he has received internationally. His strongest influences were European Impressionists and Post Impressionists like Edward Munch and Paul Gauguin. His approach to the imagery he chooses, draws from the influence of art in Western Europe, yet he combines the subtleties and richness of his own traditions and community. The exhibition includes approximately eighty prints from the Gallery’s collection of one hundred and seventeen works by Kiyoshi Saito.

Concerts
Rumba de l Habana featuring Yoruba Andabo
October 25 - 26, 2007
Dance Victoria presents Grammy award winning Yoruba Andabo, direct from Havana, in a live performance that is sure to burn up the stage at the McPherson Playhouse. This folkloric dance is accompanied by percussion and song in a production that captures all the heat of Cuba. Vibrant costumes, traditional dances and driving rhythm!

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