The NightHawk Aboriginal Arts and Music Festival is the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts contribution to Bright Light, the City of Vancouver’s Olympic and Paralympic public art program.

Bright Light brings together the creative energy of fourteen arts organizations in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to animate the historical heart of the city with outdoor performances, video projections, urban planning demonstrations, social events and a parade.

For more information
http://bright-light.ca

As part of the World Tea Party Celebration, the Arty World Tea Party Live and Silent Auction will be an exciting and fun evening featuring exceptional pieces of art including jewelry, ceramics, paintings, indigenous art, spa packages and more.

A sampling of some of the art

Live reading by David J Adams, best selling author of Good Night Vancouver

Award-winning chef Karen Barnaby offers a private cooking class and a signed cook book

Beautiful jewelry by local jewelers such as Christi York, Bernie Williams and Silver Blue Trading Company

International indigenous artist April White’s beautiful art work and a Skype interview with her during the evening

Pat Bruderer’s now-famous birch-bark bitings and a demonstration/lesson to the winning bidder

Woodscraftsman Doug Fleming’s exceptional Charlie Parker CD cabinet

You’ll find all this and more at the Arty World Tea Party Live and silent Auction.

Hope to see you there.

Click here for the story – PDF

The Independent Times is a monthly publication dedicated to promoting the active lifestyles of today’s retiring baby boomers in Metro Vancouver and to providing topics of interest and importance to the 55 Plus Lifestyle. You can explore and download the Independent Times at

www.theindependenttimes.com

Evening Events

January 19
To Honour Our Mother: Do Our Stories Lie with Farley Mowat
Matriarch and elder Ilse Schweder Bruderer Clements joins with her daughters and grandchildren to tell their stories and explore the consequences of story and historical manipulation and exploitation, with particular focus on the stories of Farley Mowat as they pertain to them. This is about setting the record straight in art and history.

January 20
Opening Night: Bruderer Fashion Show – Musical Performances
Indigenous inspired fashions by Sandra and Pat Bruderer, as well as up and coming designer, 19 year old Heather Williams. Musical performances by Tara Willard and Camillia.

January 21
Birch Bark Biting: One of the Rarest and most threatened Indigenous art forms.
Pat Bruderer is one of the last remaining practitioners of this art form, bringing it to a level of articulation never before witnessed in history. Single layers of bark are painstakingly harvested, then folded and bitten with the teeth to produce elaborate stories and patterns. Discussions about history, traditional uses, as well as participatory demonstrations.

January 22
Hereditary and Traditional Perspective: Conversations on issues of the day
Come listen and participate in conversation with traditional peoples and spiritual leaders about the issues facing us all.

January 23
She Keeps The Door – Sandra Bruderer & Splitting The Sky with John Boncore
In Conversation
This dynamic couple will be presenting their views and current work, including Splitting the Sky’s upcoming historic court case pertaining to the war crimes of George W. Bush, as well as readings from their book.

January 27
Make it Real: Authenticating and protecting indigenous art forms
Conversations with people involved in the indigenous arts movement discussing the recognition, authenticating, and support of First Nations arts and crafts. Panelists include Pat Bruderer, who as worked on this issue for years, and guest keynote presenters working on behalf of Norval Morrisseau, including: Gabe Vadas (Weekan) who was Norvals agent for 20 years; Bryant Ross of Coghlan Art who continues to represent Norval for over 20 years; and Mark Anthony Jacobson.

January 28
Food, Clothing, Shelter, Youth, Art
What does our future look like? Conversations surrounding our collective future, with particular focus on the necessities of life and the plight of today’s youth, finding our way back to a meaningful existence. Jadeon Rathgeber will discuss his experiences and perspective from his own life, and will be joined by Thom Evans with analysis of the big picture.

January 29
Five Ring Circus: The Olympics portraying a false image of indigenous reality
Conversations exploring false images in promotion and culture, with particular focus on the Olympics and the realities facing indigenous peoples

January 30
INDN ART ‘N ACTION FINAL SALE AND AUCTION
Includes art by Mark Anthony Jacobson, Pat Amos, Jadeon Rathgerber, Cyrile Derrick

All events take place at the InterUrban Gallery at One East Hastings at 7:30 p.m

For more information, please contact the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts and Dalannah Gail Bowen at 604-689-2787 or dalannah@decentreforthearts.com or Thom Evans at 604-999-2182 or symmetryasmagic@yahoo.ca.

As we enter the holiday season, I would like to express gratitude on behalf of the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts for your encouragement, advice and support.

We have now completed our first six months of pilot programming, making great strides in our development of our arts programming and our intention to partner with community organizations; both within the downtown eastside as well as the broader Vancouver community.

Our two community-based programs, the Fabric Arts Program and the Seniors Move It program, have both re-iterated what we believed to be true; that there is a great need for accessible arts programs in the Downtown Eastside.

We are very proud of what we, along with your support, have accomplished in our first six months and now are making plans for the future.

We are also very proud of what we have done with very little financial means. We work with an essential staff base with the result being a very efficient use of our funds focusing on the programming.

I, personally, after my homelessness and experience with addiction and subsequent recovery, made a commitment to work for a year in service to the community. I have six months completed and will work until May of 2010 in a volunteer capacity.

This letter is a request for your financial support of the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts. We ask that you consider a donation to an alternative approach to the well-being of the downtown eastside community that has the potential to engage, encourage and enrich.

If you would like to designate your funds to a specific program or review our accomplishments to date, please review the following pages.

Please send your donation to:

The Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts
C/O 902-239 E Georgia St .
Vancouver, BC V6A 4J7

If you would like an official tax receipt for 2009, please make your check payable to the Community Arts Council of Vancouver. If you do not require a tax receipt for this year, please make your check payable to the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts.

We thank you in advance for your support and wish each and every one of you health & happiness in the coming year.

In Gratitude,

Dalannah Gail Bowen & the staff:
Lisa, Sarah, Jackie, the board and volunteers.

Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts six-month report highlights

• secured agreement with Community Arts Council of Vancouver to house the Downtown Eastside Centre For The Arts for charitable tax purposes
• secured sponsorship for program and office space through Portland Hotel Society
• hired Lisa Fox Valdes as part-time administrative coordinator
• presented the Fabric Arts Program every Monday & Tuesday facilitated by fabric artist Sarah Turner
• Presented the highly- successful Community Quilt Exhibit which featured 102 participants in the creation of 30 quilts including organizations and individuals from across the Lower Mainland.
• Presented the successful Community Quilt Live & Silent Auction
  Secured presenting partnership with Joe Ink Dance Company to present the Seniors Move It Program every Wednesday
• Through an invitation from the Chinatown Merchants Association and sponsorship from the Chinatown Night Market Association and VanCity, the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts represented 12 aboriginal artists’ art for the duration of the summer Chinatown Night Market.
• Successful bid to present the Nighthawk Aboriginal Arts & Music Festival which will take place on March 21 at Crab park
• In partnership with the City Of Vancouver , coordinated opening of Pigeon Park December 15, 2009
• Presented The Ephemeral Outside Sharon Burns photography exhibit
• In partnership with the UBC Music Program and the Carnegie Community Centre presented the four-day Gamelan Music Project
• Partnered to develop programming with and for the In The Heart Of The City Festival.

Upcoming Highlights

• DECA Children’s Art Christmas Party Sunday December 20, 2009 1:00p.m

• Indian Art N’ Action: aboriginal art, art demonstrations, music and more

• January 7-29, 2010 Interurban Gallery

• The World Tea Party: Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts

• Art Fundraiser March 18, 2010 Centre A

• Nighthawk Aboriginal Arts & Music Festival March 21, 2010 Crab Park

Please note: the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts will be closed from December 23-Janaury 4, 2010.

Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts Programs

Currently Running

Fabric Arts Program
From quilting to fabric painting this program explores the world of working with fabric to create art and community connections.

Seniors Move It
A physical movement program in partnership with Joe Ink Dance Company for community members with low mobility and social mobility issues.

We will be expanding this program in the new year to include all adults to be more inclusive.

New Program

The Aboriginal Song Circle
Commencing January 25, 2010

Programs that we would like to initiate in the spring

Children’s Art Program
Afternoon arts program for children in the community (focus is on low- income single parent)

Mondays from 4-5:00 p.m.

Funding required: $4,000.00 to run this program for one year.

StreetArts Program
Evening-based program that provides mentored sessions, art supplies for painting, carving to those living in high-risk and more during

the most difficult time of the day in our community Mondays 6:30-9:30.

Funding required: $10,000.00 to run this program for a year.

Music of the Returning Journey
A music project that rekindles collaboration between black and the North American Indians’, high-risk youth and professionals, this project combines pow wow drums with blues music.

Funding required: $10,000.00 to run this program for a year combined with other confirmed funding.

Current community partners

A Stitch For Social Change Atex Fabrics
Atira
CBC Radio
CBC Television
Club Femminile Italiano from The Italian Cultural Centre
Centre A
Chinatown Night Market
Chinatown Merchants Association
City Of Vancouver
Community Arts Council of Vancouver
Coyote Comforts Quilting Project
DGB Productions
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre
Dussa’s Han & Cheese
Elizabeth Fry Society
Fabricland
Georgia Straight
Joe Ink “Move It’ Dance Company
Kermodi Living Art
Living Through Loss Counseling Society of BC
Maxwell Fabrics
Opus Art & Design Media
P.A.C.E
Packaging Alternatives Inc.
Patchwork & Arts Quilts
Philippine Women’s Centre Of BC
Portland Hotel Society
Potluck Café Society
Print Time Digital Centre
Stock Designer Bags
St. James Community Square
UBC Music Program
VanCity
Vancouver Courier
Vancouver Christian School
Vancouver Resource Society Day Program
W T Lynch Foods
Zara’s Deli

If you or your company would like to support the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts in a more specific way, please contact Dalannah at dalannah@decentreforthearts.com or at 604-689-2787.

The Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts Christmas Party.
For single parents and their children younger than eight years.
Lunch, Performances, Storytelling – 20 tickets only – first come, first served

Click here for PDF of Poster

CELEBRATING 24 YEARS OF
BLUES FOR CHRISTMAS

Blues For Christmas, one of Vancouver’s best Christmas parties, is back for another year. Join us at the fabulous Yale Hotel on Sunday December 27 and , Monday December 28, 2009 for a spectacular line up that will include many musical stars such as Jerry Doucette, Dalannah Gail Bowen and Straight-up, Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, and many more! This is the best blues line-up that Vancouver has to offer

The longest-running musical benefit in Vancouver, Blues For Christmas, has been popular with Vancouver audiences since 1986. Always sold-out, the annual Christmas gala brings together some of Vancouver’s finest blues bands, numerous volunteers, and the business community,

This year’s Blues For Christmas will feature Jerry Doucette. Kenny Wayne,
Dalannah Gail Bowen & Straight-Up, Billy Dixon’s Soul Train Express and many more.

This year proceeds from Blues For Christmas will go to the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts, a new innovative and alternative approach to supporting the Downtown Eastside. You can check out their website at www.decentreforthearts.com. We also will be collecting food for the Vancouver Food Bank

Sunday December 27
Monday December 28, 2009

Doors: 7:00 pm
Music 8:00 pm

Tickets are available at The Yale December 8 and are $20.00 in advance or $25.00 at the door. All proceeds go to the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts. Please bring a non-perishable food item for the Vancouver Food Bank with your ticket.

www.theyale.ca

The Ephemeral Outside is an exhibition of photographs by Sharon Burns. The work focuses on the Downtown Eastside’s disappearing street aesthetic while paying tribute to the often unnamed artist and to the power of outsider art.

With the exception of several years spent exploring other parts of the planet, I have lived my life in Vancouver where I was born.

Travel inspired my early interest in photography and video and led me to work in Vancouver’s film and television industry. Photography and video are now the basis of my art practice.

As a long time resident of the Downtown Eastside, I have witnessed the neighbourhood change rapidly over the last decade and I have dedicated myself to documenting our community as it transforms.

I am a collective member of Gallery Gachet and have participated in Gachet group shows since 2006, as well as many other local creative and critical arts initiatives including Fearless Media, Fearless TV, the Heart of the City Festival, the Poverty Olympics and the LifeSkills Film and Video Group.

I have also exhibited at Exposure Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Interurban Gallery, the JEM Gallery and the
Iron Works Gallery.

Sharon Burns

Sponsored by the Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grants Program, a pilot project of the Vancouver Foundation and the Carnegie Community Centre funded by Vancouver Foundation donors.

The program awards Downtown Eastside artists up to $1000 toward developing their craft and is designed to help showcase the talent of artists in all practices and move their careers forward.

The Community Quilt Auction
October 24, 2009

The Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts invites you to see the Community Quilt Exhibit and come to the Live and Silent Auction of the Community Quilts on October 24, 2009, at the Interurban Gallery.

The Community Quilt Project and Exhibit will give everyone a better understanding of our community and of the work and contribution of the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts.

Community Quilt Exhibition
October 14 to October 24, 2009
Wednesdays to Saturdays
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Community Quilt Live and Silent Auction
October 24, 2009, 7:00 pm

Interurban Gallery
One East Hastings

You are invited to explore the community quilts
and the quilt stories and add your own

All proceeds will go to create opportunities for more people to create, communicate, and connect, and to benefit the community groups who created and contributed their quilts

Click here for Community Quilt Stories

Advance bidding will be available on line on Friday, October 16

The Community Quilt is our first Fabric Arts Project

Fabric arts provide opportunities for everyone to participate in creating community using fabric as the medium. Connections are created through these collaborative artistic endeavors between different communities in the neighborhood. The foundation of the Fabric Arts program is quilting.

The Community Quilt

The Community Quilt, a project of the Fabric Arts Program, which began in May 2009, was inspired by the treasured Women’s Memorial Quilt. Residents, cultural groups, and community groups were invited to contribute a square for a community quilt or create a quilt with their group. The quilts are exhibited for the community to enjoy and then auctioned to raise money for the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts and the community groups who contributed.

The Community Quilt Story

Community quilting excites personal expression, connects people, and creates community. The Community Quilt project gave people from different communities with different life experiences the opportunity to learn an ancient craft, to create together in an open and encouraging environment, and to connect and come to know one another better in the process. Quilters had the opportunity to tell their story and talk about their work.

Creating community with opportunities
to experience personal creative expression
and the creative expression of our community

A project of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver