Week in Review: March 31
Vancouver Fooled
This year, April Fools’ Day rocked Vancouver with creative pranks from top-ranking organizations across Metro Vancouver and beyond. Highlights included the proposed Vancouver City Hall relocation to a futuristic-looking 43-floor building at Waterfront Station, SFU’s Semester in Space program, and HootSuite’s Oculus Rift integration – a make-believe dive into virtual reality.
Lions Rampaged
An iconic piece of Vancouver art was defaced this weekend, when vandals took chisels to two of Stanley Park’s stone lions. The statues are located near the south end of the bridge on the overpass above the causeway.
Comings & Goings
David Letterman announcing his departure from The Late Show rocked the international entertainment industry this week, while closer to home Vancouverites were trying to imagine what the Arts Club will look like without Howard Jang. Having been Executive Director for the past 14 years, and lead the organization through a transformative time period, Jang leaves for a prominent position with SFU.
It wasn’t all departures this week however, as the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival announced that Roxanne Duncan would depart Toronto’s Theatre Centre to take the reins from Minna Schendlinger, who announced her planned departure as Managing Director last November.
Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations
Iconic Choreographer Crystal Pite is set to collaborate with Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre for the world premiere of Betroffenheit (working title), a comment on post-traumatic stress disorder.
Following its premiere at Panamania, the 35-day arts festival running parallel with the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, this performance already has plans to embark on an international tour.
Pite and Electric Company Theatre last collaborated on Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge which premiered in Vancouver in 2006.
Pemberton Counts Down
The Pemberton Music Festival continues to tease us and face backlash on social media in anticipation of their line-up announcement. Their Twitter feed has come alive with daily postings of numbers leading up to the big day. They’ll certainly have to pull out some big names to compete with this year’s Squamish Valley Music Festival.
CBC Enters the Summer Music Festival Market
CBC Music came out of left field with the announcement that they’ll be hosting a music festival of their own this summer. The one day event takes place in beautiful Deer Lake Park on June 14 and features Tegan and Sara, Spoon, Arkells, and Chad VanGaalen.
Categories: MPMG