UBC’s Department of Creative Studies head Neil Cadger, left, and Rotary Centre for the Arts General Manager Patrick LeBlanc, on stage following the announcement of a partnership between the university and theatre.
Central Okanagan residents can expect to spend more time at the Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA), now that UBC has signed on as a partner providing expanded community programming.
This new arrangement will see more public speakers, stage performances, exhibits, and community dialogues organized by UBC’s Okanagan campus using the Rotary Centre for the Arts’ Mary Irwin Theatre, Atrium and other spaces.
“Each year our faculty and students organize dozens of public events at the RCA and at other venues in Kelowna’s downtown, and we want to do even more,” says Deborah Buszard, UBC deputy vice-chancellor and principal of the Okanagan campus. “Through this new arrangement, we are raising our visibility downtown while contributing to the cultural and social life of our community in exciting new ways.”
New UBC signage will soon appear outside the building, drawing attention to the university’s programming presence at the RCA. But the real impact of the agreement is a wider array of events offered by UBC inside the building.
Here is a sample of some of the events planned for the RCA:
Nov. 26 – UBC’s Faculty of Management presents a talk by Russell Belk, Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing at York University’s Schulich School of Business. His 7 p.m. talk, entitled The extended self in a digital world, will focus on online identities and behaviours, and how it is still possible to have fun while managing our digital selves. (Note: seats at this free event can be reserved on Eventbrite at vssbelk.eventbrite.com).
December 2 – UBC’s Faculty of Health and Social Development presents a public education lecture by visiting scholar Daniel J. Green. A professor at the University of Western Australia, Prof. Green considers 400 years of medical science and patterns emerging from Nobel Prize-winning studies to address the questions: Where do paradigm shifting ideas come from and where should we look next?
Free registration is available for his 7 p.m. talk at ubcoprofessorgreen.eventbrite.ca
UBC’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies has developed a major performance series which will see four of its seven productions take place at the Mary Irwin Theatre this season:
- Nov. 29 and 30 (8 p.m. both nights) — The Wonderheads, from Seattle, with a show entitled Loon.
- Jan. 17 and 18 — contemporary shadow play and puppetry brought to the stage by Clea Minaker, from Montreal, with The Book of THEL
- March 6 and 7— SNAFU Dance Theatre Company’s Little Orange Man (Vancouver)
- Apr. 3 and 4 — Why Not Theatre and Theatrerun Productions, from Toronto, Spent.
- These productions are in addition to three events in the series at UBC’s Okanagan campus University Theatre 026 (Improv’s The Sunday Service was Sept. 4 and 5; Monster Theatre performed The Shakespeare Show Oct. 18 and 19; and Mind of a Snail will be presented at the on-campus theatre Feb. 14 and 15). On December 12 & 13 at diverse times, battery opera will perform M/Hotel at the Royal Anne Hotel.
UBC is also working with other faculties and community partners to develop new public discussion panels and dialogues, which will be hosted at the RCA.
“We have been working with UBC since the university opened in Kelowna, and this deepening of our relationship is great for our community,” says Patrick LeBlanc, general manager of the Rotary Centre for the Arts. “The Rotary Centre for the Arts has so much to offer, and we will be working with UBC to bring more public education, discussion and performance events downtown.”
For the latest UBC public events on campus or at the Rotary Centre for the Arts, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna Public Library, Laurel Packinghouse and other venues, visit UBC’s online events calendar at ok.ubc.ca/events.
UBC’s community connections growing at Woodhaven
Another unique partnership expanding UBC’s community connections was announced Oct. 29 by the Regional District of Central Okanagan and the UBC Okanagan Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.
The two have teamed up through a Memorandum of Understanding and Lease Agreement to use a portion of the recently expanded Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park to implement a unique Eco-Art program on the new park property.
The formation of the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre builds on a highly successful Eco-Art project that was held in the main part of the park during 2010. It saw student artists from UBC Okanagan create multiple works of Eco-Art within the park.
More about the Woodhaven Eco-Art Partnership
http://www.regionaldistrict.com/media/110959/RD_UBCOEcoArtMOU_Oct13.pdf
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