ZOE SZUCH
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his year's Wild at Art festival was supposed to be the culmination of six years worth of preparation toward the Olympics, but instead it has been dramatically scaled back.
The re-named Spirit of Squamish Festival Wild at Art 2010 is nonetheless a 10-day event that will showcase visual art and performances in various venues around Squamish.
In the past, the festival opened with a glamorous gala at the Railway Heritage Park, also the setting of a gallery, and followed with 10 days of workshops, film screenings, culinary arts displays, contests, visual arts displays in galleries created out of empty store space and live performances under a huge tent on Cleveland Avenue.
This year Wild At Art presents a multi-medium display of artwork at the UpStares Gallery on Cleveland Avenue, one night of live theatre and a series of musical performances around town.
"We scaled it back a little bit because of budget constraints, I guess it has a lot to do with the year that everyone's had," said festival co-ordinator Marcie Gaukrodger.
Even with a scaled-down version, Gaukrodger said lack of sponsors is causing the festival to struggle financially.
"We're struggling just to put music in the venues at this point."
Although the festival did receive grants, it was only a fraction of past budgets. The festival also took a hit when the typical $15,000 district grant did not materialize.
Wild At Art board member Michelle Neilson said board members met with Mayor Greg Gardner several times, but funding support did not materialize.
"There was initially some level of interest on that and then no response - no returned phone calls, no returned emails," she said.
After looking into district records, Gardner said no official request for municipal funding was ever made.
Festival society president Sonja Lebans said organizers knew the festival would be scaled back due to a lack of volunteers last October, and so did not formally request district funds.
However, she said, a request for the district to fund a co-ordinator to liaise with VANOC was not met with enthusiasm by the district and so was not pursued.
The decreased number of volunteers was partially due to burnout, according to visual arts co-ordinator Wanda Doyle.
"The volunteers had been working so hard over the last few years that no one was able to volunteer their time to head up co-ordinating Wild At Art this year," she said.
Event showcases variety of talent
Doyle has organized a large multi-media exhibit showcasing the water-themed work of more than 36 Sea to Sky area artists including painters, photographers and potters.
"We wanted to have a theme that relates to the environment, so we chose water," Doyle said. "There's no life without water. It's just so important. It is a part of everything so it really made it very easy for the artist to interpret the theme as well."
The grand opening of Celebrating Water! H2O will be held at the UpStares Gallery on Thursday Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. with more than 100 pieces on display until March 5 at the gallery. Some artists will also have their work on display at Quest University and at the Squamish Public Library.
The festival is providing entertainment for the Winter Games kick off celebration at Brennan Park on Feb 12.
On Feb. 18, Between Shifts Theatre and Broadway or Bust will perform at Gelato Carina starting at 7:30 p.m.
Between Shifts Theatre will perform The Man With The Bowler Hat, while the youth theatre group will perform a collection of musical numbers.
Starting at 2 p.m. on Feb 21 St. John Anglican Church will host musical performances by Kelly Coubrough, Melissa Braun, Aaron Purdie with accompaniment provided by Erik Mousseau.
Wild At Art is also providing the musical entertainment during the Spirit of Squamish finale, Feb. 27 at Brennan Park. Paul Coulter-Brown kicks of the entertainment at 11 a.m., followed by the Squamish Belly Dancers, The Overcomers, Squamish Bhangra Dancers and Radio Karma.
Between Feb. 12 and Feb. 28, a variety of venues will host such musical acts as: 3rd Octave Down, Cam Salay, Courtney Driver, and Jocelyn Petit Band.
For more information visit www.squamishart.com.
