Kids, arts lovers gearing up for two great spring festivals
by Shari Bishop Bowes
If you're a child, or a child at heart, and if you have a passion for the arts, Canmore has a couple of great spring festivals for you.
The Canmore Children's Festival gets underway on the Friday evening of the Victoria Day long weekend, May 20, and carries on for a full day of family-friendly hijinks at Canmore Collegiate High School on Saturday, May 21.
ArtSPeak, Canmore's 3rd annual arts festival, has a jam-packed weekend of visual arts happenings, workshops, music concerts, gallery tours, comedy acts, street performers, quilting displays and tons more June 10 through 12.
The Canmore Children's Festival, now in its 6th year, keeps getting better and better, with an impressive and lengthy list of performers, workshops and activities for kids of all ages.
Using their imagination to create great works of art!
"We have a lot of new talent this year," says Chris Burr, Children's Festival organizer.
The Silk Road Acrobats are the headliners for this year's Saturday evening concert, which will appeal to all ages. This group is an award-winning acrobatic troupe from China that has performed around the world.
Dressing the part - with faces painted every colour of the rainbow - is just a small bit of the fun in store at Canmore's Children's Festival.
Burr says this new connection with the Silk Road Acrobats is a good one for the Children's Festival, as they are linked to many other talented groups that may find themselves coming to Canmore for future festivals.
"The Silk Road Acrobats run a circus festival every July out of Toronto and bring in performers from all over the world."
Also on the bill this year is Jack Grunsky, a Juno Award-winning children's musician who offers a unique, multicultural approach to music that will appeal to both children and their parents.
The Children's Festival kicks off with a "teens and tweens" dance now known as "Big Friday". Kids 10 and up, along with their "parental units" are in for a big treat, with a creepy "side show" (that's "freak show" for the politically incorrect) featuring a headless woman, a performance by a talented hip hop dancer, and live music with Los Furios, a Vancouver-based band playing a manic and dance-able blend of ska, Latin and punk.
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Comedian Steve Smith, CBC's "Red Green," was a headliner at last year's artSPeak festival.
Families can enjoy tons of activities that take place throughout Saturday, from face painting and crafts to entertainment in the Alberta Centennial Village Square. The outdoor stage here will feature music, dancing, jugging and magic acts performed by high calibre Alberta talent, along with some young up-and-comers.
Little ones will enjoy the Storytellers' Corner, and the Solara LEGO tent, or even adding their talents to the Children's Festival Centennial Quilt.
Just a few weeks later, June 10 to 12, the community pulls out all the stops for the third annual artSPeak - Canmore's arts festival.
"I think what's great is just the fact that there's so many things to choose from, to do over the weekend," says artSPeak organizer Ben Miles.
If your interest is visual arts, you won't be disappointed by the dizzying array of shows and events over the artSPeak weekend. There's an ArtDrive and ArtWalk to take you to a long list of galleries and home studios; there's an ArtFair featuring original works from professional Canmore and Alberta artists; and there's the renowned Quilt Festival, a concurrent event that has attracted hundreds of quilting enthusiasts to Canmore for the past 11 years.
Two new events in the visual arts genre for this year are "Hanging Out Art", and a special exhibition of Artist Trading Cards at the Elevation 1309 gallery. Hanging Out Art is a clothesline art sale in support of building a new cultural centre for Canmore. The Trading Cards display features miniature art works no larger than 3.5"x2.5". This exhibit is complemented by a workshop session with Canadian trading card guru, Don Mabie.
Main stage performances are another huge attraction at artSpeak, beginning with a Friday Night Cabaret, continuing with Saturday evening's Comedy Cabaret, and concluding with two very special events on Sunday. ArtSPeak presents an afternoon opera by Puccini, Suor Angelica Sunday afternoon, followed by a "friendship concert" with a traveling Dutch jazz group that evening. The Rene Van Helsdingen Trio, with special guest Luluk Purwanto, are traveling Canada on a cultural exchange that honours the great friendship that arose between Canadians and people of the Netherlands at the close of WWII.
All told, there are literally dozens of activities to choose from at both of these Canmore spring festivals. Make sure to visit festival websites, listed below, and make a plan for two memorable weekends in your favourite mountain town.
If You Go:
The Canmore Children's Festival is May 20 & 21, with events and activities both indoors and out at Canmore Collegiate High School, 1800 8th Ave., Canmore. Visit www.canmorechildrensfestival.com for event schedule and ticket information.
ArtSpeak 2005 is June 10 through 12, at various venues throughout Canmore. Visit www.artspeakcanmore.com for event schedule and updates and ticket information.
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