Every year at this time, I get out my files and browse back through the year that’s coming to an end. And every year, it’s a reminder of just how many amazing people and groups there are in this community, bringing the arts to life in every conceivable way.
As has become my tradition, I’m looking back over some of the highlights of the past year to bestow my annual “awards” on the people and groups who helped to shape our city’s arts and cultural scene in 2016.
To these, and to all who create and perform art in our city, I offer my thanks and the warmest blessings of the season.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
In a city full of incredible artists and hard-working arts groups, I rarely like to single out one for mention as the “most valuable.”
This year, I’m making an exception, because there’s a group of people in Burnaby who’ve been quiet, unsung heroes for a long time (for nearly 50 years, in fact) – and I want to sing about them for a change.
To all the folks at the Burnaby Arts Council, I’m looking at you. It’s been one helluva year on the arts scene in Burnaby, and your efforts have been a gigantic part of the reason why.
There’s your passionate dedication to the quest for a new art gallery. Your willingness to push artistic boundaries with sometimes challenging, sometimes controversial installations (see the Art Is Politics award below). There’s your incredible success with drawing thousands of art lovers to Burnaby to experience the magic that was Luminescence back in March. There’s Deer Lake Gallery, with its array of diverse exhibitions and special events throughout the year.
And, of course, there’s your consistent commitment to backing the artists and arts groups of this community and to ensuring that the importance of arts and culture is never overlooked in our rapidly growing, fast-changing city.
For everything you have done – this year and for every year since 1967 – I salute you. And I hand you my invisible trophy as this year’s MVP.
THE ART IS POLITICS AWARD
Holy HarperCat, what a hullabaloo.
Local sculptor Ron Simmer has to get a special nod this year for his HarperCat creation – a sculptor that morphed the face of former prime minister Stephen Harper onto the body of a wildcat (with fangs dripping blood and all). It was on display at Deer Lake Gallery as part of the Burnaby Arts Council’s Moved by Portraits exhibition.
After it appeared on our front page in January, a storm erupted – with readers calling the sculpture “sick,” “tasteless,” “trash,” and “a piece of dirt,” amongst other criticisms.
On the other side, however, were an equally large number of people who stuck up for the artist’s right to say whatever he wanted – and an artist who was relatively unperturbed by the whole thing.
“I think it’s water under the bridge,” he said, arguing that his art piece was his personal statement about the previous Conservative government – which had since been voted out of office.
For Simmer, for reminding us of the value of expression through art, we offer this salute.
ONES TO WATCH
Every year, I am amazed by the amount of young, emerging talent in Burnaby – young stars on the rise who may not yet have been discovered by the world at large but whose passion, enthusiasm and talent know no bounds.
This past year was no exception.
After the year we’ve had, I couldn’t possibly pick just one winner for this nod. So it goes as a group to all the amazing young talents I’ve had the pleasure to cross paths with in 2016:
- To Ali Watson, Darren Adams and Kurtis D’Aoust, for their star turns in URP’s Rent
- To Arthi Chandra, for her star turn in Cariboo Hill Secondary’s I Hate You on Mondays, her winning of a Michael J. Fox Scholarship and her appearance in the Alchemy Theatre/Vagabond Players production of The Taming of the Shrew.
- To Caleb Lagayan, Damon Jang and Kai Bradbury, for their boundless enthusiasm in the roles of the Sharks in West Side Story – and added mention to Damon for being a prolific performer and director. His appearance in Threepenny Opera and his direction of Cinderella at Byrne Creek were but two of his multiple endeavours in 2016.
- To Frankie Cena, the Burnaby Mountain alumnus and debating coach who’s making waves in the entertainment world. Among his stories this year were a benefit concert for the B.C. Boys’ Choir and his casting as a member of the NSYNC boy band in a biopic about Britney Spears. (And did I mention he also appeared on Canada’s Smartest Person?)
- To Ann-Marie Zak, whose stage appearances included star turns in Opera Mariposa’s musical revue People Like Us and Stage 43’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
- To the sister act of Avery and Veronica Amores, who stole the show and captured the Burnaby’s Got Talent title and released a Christmas album with their Smile Band.
To these and all the immensely talented up-and-coming performers and artists in the city, my thanks. You remind me, every day, that this world is in good hands with your generation.
BEST COMMUNITY BUILDER
There are so many excellent events in Burnaby that it’s hard to pick just one – but I’d be remiss not to single out Living Room Art in the Heights, yet again, for its third annual success story.
There’s something extra-special about this event, in the way it brings together artists, business owners, community members as neighbours and collaborators in a night of arts, entertainment and culture that’s made accessible to everyone. Bringing art out of galleries and out of the hands of the “elite” and opening it up to absolutely everyone is a laudable goal – and each year, it achieves that goal and then some.
It’s hard to imagine how this event is going to keep topping its own success. But I have a feeling that, in the hands of Yunuen Perez Vertti and a host of volunteers and artists, it will just keep getting bigger and better.
For your success in bringing art to everyone, I offer up my sincerest thanks and admiration.
THE WE KNEW HIM WHEN AWARD
He may not be the most famous megastar to call Burnaby home – it’s pretty hard to top Michael J. Fox and Michael Bublé on that front – but he’s no slouch in the star power department.
I speak, of course, of Murray SawChuck, the celebrity magician with the shock of blond hair who keeps finding new ways to make headlines and win fans.
He’s now based in Las Vegas, but he’s been appearing in the Burnaby NOW for many years and on Burnaby stages for even longer. SawChuck, who got his start at the Cavalcade of Stars talent show when he was a student at Burnaby Central Secondary, was a headliner in the Burnaby Now way back in 2006 when he finished up a three-month tour of Korea and was heading off to headline his first magic show in Vegas.
Since then he’s hit the limelight with a host of high-profile appearances – including, most recently, the new season of CW’s Masters of Illusion and a headline show at Planet Hollywood in Vegas.
With family still in town, SawChuck does make returns to the city – so keep your eyes open for him.
Thanks, Murray, for continuing to put Burnaby on the map.
THE MOST PROMISING FUTURE AWARD
It’s not an easy job to run a theatre company. In a region packed full of offerings, how do you stand out from the crowd and make people want to spend their money on your shows?
I don’t have the answer to that question, but apparently Align Entertainment does.
The theatre company launched in 2014 with its production of Shrek the Musical at the Michael J. Fox Theatre in 2014, and it’s gone on to success after success, with Ovation Awards and crowd-pleasing musical productions every year since: The Addams Family in February 2015, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in February 2016, and, this past fall, its first-ever fall production: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in November.
In fact, the company has embarked on its first two-production season, so get ready for The Little Mermaid in February.
To see a company not just surviving but thriving in today’s tough and competitive world is heartening – and most definitely worthy of a nod as one of the highlights of the arts scene in 2016.
Of course, any list of highlights inevitably leaves off more people than it includes. Rest assured, if you are an artist or an arts group who I dealt with over the past year, your contributions to our city have been seen and appreciated.
To all of the above folks, and to all of the unsung heroes who are quietly making our city a better place to live, my sincere thanks.
Here’s to a 2017 full of creativity and an explosion of culture.
Do you have a favourite arts moment or memorable artist from 2016? Share your ideas with Julie, [email protected].
