The Allied Arts Council is helping young artists SOAR with a new arts festival taking place downtown, June 3-7.
There is a lot going on for that week as several huge events are taking place that week.
The Allied Arts Council has put out a call for artists including everything from visual art, music, drama and multi-media to participate in the SOAR festival.
The five day multi-disciplinary arts festival for young artists age 18-35 will be based out of CASA and held in conjunction with the Lieutenant Governor Distinguished Artist Awards
Emerging artists are encouraged to submit either brand new or previously existing works for the three day artists showcase portion of the week, June 3-5.
Three cabaret nights take place in CASA’s community room — a black box theatre with basic lighting and sound.
The organizers plan to feature three to five different acts on each night of the cabaret including drama, music, spoken word, performance art and dance.
Visual artists are encouraged to submit their works to CASA curator Darcy Logan who is putting on the Loose Leaves exhibition at CASA, running May 9- June 14, which will also be running during the festival. The theme of the exhibit is exploring the relationship between drawing, presentation and the absence of frame in the gallery context.
“We hope emerging artists will participate,” said Ashley Markus, Allied Arts Council Communications co-ordinator.
“It’s a good opportunity for people to see what emerging artists are creating and for emerging artists to present their works,” she continued adding the deadline for submissions is March 31.
If selected, performance/production space will be provided and the piece will be promoted as part of the festival in the program guide and website. Based on sponsorship and grants artists will receive an honorarium (amounts will be confirmed closer to the date).
There is no cost to submit your works.
She said the application process is simple — just describe your work and say how many people are involved in it as well as any special requirements are needed to put it on.
“ We’re hoping to get submissions from high school students and university students or students considering studying the arts at university or making a living as an artist,” she said.
“ We just want to help them.”
Markus noted not many artists have applied to the festival yet.
In addition to the cabarets, the week will offer seminars on a variety of subjects including tax tips and government grant applications. Calgary based stilt walking theatre troupe The Green Fools will be part of a workshop on arts and practical skills.
Markus estimated there is room for 20 people to attend seminars, though if there are more interested in particular seminars, they will be moved to a bigger room.
“They will be similar to the ED talks from the University of Lethbridge education program,” she said.
There will also be special guests coming to perform including the Green Fools, Calgary based Klezmer/ folk band The Plaid Tongued Devils will be playing the SOAR wrap up party, at 9 p.m. ,June 6 at CASA.
The Lt.
Governors Awards night at the Yates Theatre features a performance by the Green Fools.
“ It should be fun,” said Markus adding they hope to make the SOAR festival an annual event.
“ They can be new works or never seen works. What we’re hoping to accomplish is to give artists the opportunity to expose audiences to their new works,” she continued.
So far very few submissions have been received.
The Allied Arts Council will update their website this week with the schedule of seminars as well as a registration page. But for now, call the Allied Arts Council to register.
It will cost $10 to attend each cabaret.
It will cost $25 to attend the whole weekend’s seminars.
Tickets to the Lt. Governor’s gala at 6 p.m., June 6 at Lethbridge Lodge cost $125, though a limited number of tickets for just the gala will be available for $25.
More information about the SOAR festival is located at (http://artslethbridge.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=02227ce1ee5fec9e975403da2&id=2bbae76ead&e=4ea5ff1f76). The deadline for submissions is March 31.
More details on the CASA Gallery: Loose Leaves exhibition can be found at (http://artslethbridge.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=02227ce1ee5fec9e975403da2&id=6bab1140c9&e=4ea5ff1f76)
The deadline for submissions to Loose Leaves is March 30, 2015.
