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The Past Is Prologue
HONOURING ARTS PIONEERS
» Thursday 31 July 2008 | 5 pm (please note new time)
» The Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue
An informal afternoon hour showcasing people and ideas featured in Okanagan ARTS. Join us as Ruth Schiller and Sigrid-Ann Thors takes us on a journey of discovery through the lives and achievements of the women who forged the modern Okanagan arts community.
» This is a free event. Refreshments will be available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Paying Tribute to the Grande Dames of Culture
As the Olympic fever starts to heat up, there are many who believe it's time for the arts to have their own champions. "The arts needs to be like the Olympic torch - it's a sacred trust that needs to be passed on from generation to generation," says Karen Close, who is launching the Okanagan Institute's four-part series of presentations which investigate the history and development of the arts in this region.
Two of those champions were at the forefront of the arts movement in the 1970s, and that's where this series begins.
Eva Cleland and Olive Woodley played critical roles in the establishment of the arts in the BC Interior with the creation of the Okanagan Mainline Regional Arts Council. This council stretched from Vernon to Penticton, and included Kamloops. Eventually it formed the basis for what is now the BC Arts Council.
On Thursday July 31 at Okanagan Institute Express - now being held at its new time of 5 pm at the Bohemian Café - presents The Past Is Prologue: Honouring Arts Pioneers. Ruth Schiller and Sigrid-Ann Thors will tell their stories, taking us on a journey of discovery through the lives and achievements of the women who forged the beginnings of the modern Okanagan arts community.
 Ruth Schiller was involved in the development of Okanagan University College and became a governor. She emigrated from Germany in the 1930s and was appointed to the first-ever BC Arts Board, chairing two of its committees. She also represented BC as a board member of the Canada Council for six years, and in 1996 received the Order of British Columbia for her work as a "tireless advocate for the arts". She lives in Osoyoos.
 Sigrid-Ann Thors is currently president of the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Society. She grew up in Penticton, where she got to know Eva Cleland. A senior industrial consultant for culture at Employment and Immigration Canada in Ottawa, Thors was a member of the last board of governors of Okanagan University College. With her strong professional background in music, she managed the Thirteen Strings in Ottawa, and the Saskatoon and Prince George Symphonies. She lives in Vernon.
"Their message is that you can't legislate the arts - you have to fight for them like they're your children," Close says. "If you want the arts, you need community buy-in - citizens who are willing to be supporters and patrons of the arts and that's what these two women were. They are great models for future generations of arts patrons."
The Past Is Prologue series runs the last Thursday of every month until the end of the year - a fitting anticipation for 2009, when Kelowna and the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan plays host to the Assembly of BC Arts Councils.
"This seems like the right time to review things - what we're doing is celebrating and tracking the generations of the arts with an eye to what we can build on as we create the future."
The Past Is Prologue: Honouring Arts Pioneers is a free event, and takes place at the Bohemian Café. This marks the 51st event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in July 2007. Since that time, the series has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, architect Jim Meiklejohn, and others from a variety of creative fields.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE
Where Enquiring Minds Gather. Okanagan Institute at the Bohemian Café A hearty feast of lectures, presentations, workshops and showcases celebrating our culture and community. Produced by the Okanagan Institute in association with Wheat King Publishing magazines: Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home. Express is sponsored in part by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Publishing, UBCO-FCCS, and in support of Project Literacy Kelowna.
The Okanagan Institute is a group of creative professionals that have gathered around the goal of providing events, publications and services of interest to enquiring minds in the Okanagan. We partner with individuals, organizations, institutions and businesses to achieve optimal creative and social impact.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.
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