Douglas College gets classier than ever
By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor
Another semester is upon us, and with that comes another slew of arts events happening in and around the college. As students, we are entitled to a number of (largely free) presentations throughout the year, and these next few will be the majority of what’s coming our way from now through till April.
First off are the Arts at One concerts put on each Thursday at 1 p.m. in the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre on the fourth floor of the New West campus. The first concert already occurred last week with a showcase entitled The Baroque Saxophone: Music from the 17th Century Venice. Throughout the semester, performances will include those put on by artists from around Canada, by faculty, and even students. Every concert is different, with some focusing on vocalizations while others focus on a specific instrument such as the guitar or piano. These concerts provide a nice, relaxing break in-between the days and weeks of stressing about deadlines and such; they’re here to brighten up everybody’s day.
There will also be several musical events outside of the Arts at One concerts, such as the Community Music School presentation of A Sentimental Journey on February 17. There will also be school-organized performances such as the Music Technology Program’s Current Sound Waves II (happening April 6) and An Evening of Jazz (happening two days later on April 8).
This semester will also see a delightful influx of Literature Alive events, in which Canadian writers come into the school and give insightful talks on their careers and works up until this point. The first Literature Alive event will be happening February 22 at the Coquitlam campus, and will feature Wendy Phillips, a previous winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. Then another two will be happening on March 11 and 13 at the New West campus, featuring poet Billeh Nickerson on the 11 and multi-talented writer Brad Cran on the 13.
There will also be a new edition of Pearls coming out this March. The book launch will be taking place in the Studio Theatre at the New West campus on March 22, hosted by the Department of Creative Writing. Readings, discussion, and snacking shall take place as folks lit it up that evening.
As for the Amelia Douglas Art Gallery, also located on the fourth floor of the New West campus, there will only be two exhibits happening this semester. Although the number is a touch smaller than in previous years, these are still exhibits to get excited about. The first, entitled Greenlinks 2013: UNIBUG will be opening this Thursday afternoon, with an Artist’s Talk following the next morning where the artists Mikki Herbold and Ewan McNeil will get to discuss the exhibit. Then on February 28 we’ll be getting Clay Symposium: Formed Earth, Earth Formed which will feature works by Judy Weeden and Ronald T. Crawford.
Finally, we have the much anticipated and always entertaining Theatre and Stagecraft performances, operated and performed by Douglas College’s immensely talented and hard working theatre students. The first show this semester is Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, and will be directed by Claire Fogal and run from March 8 to 16. Then from March 15 to 23 we’ll have the Deborah Neville-directed Blue Window by Craig Lucas. The theatre performances are the only events listed that cost students money, with student prices coming to a mere $8 per person.
Be sure to keep an eye out for each of these events as they happen throughout the semester, and remember that each of these presentations, exhibits, and performances are put on with us students in mind.
