Rather than support the National Historic Site application, the BC Provincial Government will produce a “Heritage Conservation Plan” for Riverview, which includes a public survey to learn what we value about the Riverview Lands & why. The responses will be used to inform a Land Use Plan for Riverview that may appear within a year.
It is important that each of us express our opinion now - while critical decisions are still to be made. Once again, we need to declare that the Riverview lands, trees and buildings should remain public, accessible, and dedicated to the needs of the mentally ill.

Visit: Riverview Horticultural Centre

         Tri-City News

         The Province for more information.

There is a questionnaire to understand what people value about the Riverview Lands and why. Multiple choice, open ended questions and opportunities to share stories through the questionnaire will assist in the understanding of the heritage values of the Lands.

All questionnaires are due July 31st!

To complete the questionnaire, please follow the link on this page to do so:

Riverveiw Questionnaire

Please also pass this message on to your networks!

Copyright © 2012 Riverview Heritage Values 2012, All rights reserved.

On October 25, 2011, ArtsConnect held its first Regional Summit. It was a great day, and many ideas were exchanged. We’ve compiled a report of the events and discussion that took place. If you’d like to see what’s going on with the arts in the region, and get some ideas for how to move forward, you’ll want to check it out. Download it here.

If you weren’t able to attend our first summit, you’ll be glad to hear that we’re planning to run another one this coming fall. Stay tuned to our website for details, as they become available.

Linda Arkelian is a local artist and past presenter at PechaKucha Night Coquitlam. Here’s an excerpt from the bio that she submitted for that event:

Linda is a multi-disciplinary artist. As a professional dancer she spent her career performing in Canada and internationally with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Theatre Ballet of Canada, Anna Wyman Dance Theatre and the Judith Marcuse Dance Company. She has worked in television and film and is featured as the female lead in Daniel Conrad’s award winning film Second Nature for the National Film Board of Canada.

In addition to the performing arts Linda is an active visual artist in the community. She is known for her independent design commissions and Creative Artist in the Schools projects in which she uses art to educate students about environmental issues and endangered species in British Columbia. She is the resident illustrator of Artsforum Magazine. Her art has been exhibited in Coquitlam and at the Port Moody City Hall. She is the designated Banner artist for the City of Port Moody. Her BC salmon banner design adorns the streets of Port Moody.

Recently, in cooperation with David Cooper, Linda created the video hands. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, and we wanted to share it with you:

Hands from David Cooper on Vimeo.

Vanessa LeBourdais of DreamRider Theatre was featured in The Vancouver Sun recently, in an article and video titled “Actor gets down to business”. It tells the story of how LeBourdais grew tired of being a starving artist, and how she found financial support in unlikely places - municipal waste departments.

Today, working with the departments, DreamRider creates theatre for elementary school children with an environmental message. Last year, gross revenue climbed to $280,000 and DreamRider’s shows reached 65,000 children.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“For years I was really good at getting up after failing,” LeBourdais said. “Now it’s like, ‘Oh everything is going really well and the demands are coming at me and when do I get to do my art?’ It’s a nice problem to have. I’ll figure it out.”

As everyone in arts and culture struggles to pay their bills, it’s great to hear about a local success story. Well done, Vanessa and DreamRider!

Are you ready for some family fun, francophone style? Festival du Bois runs this weekend (March 3 and 4( at Mackin Park in Coquitlam Maillardville’s annual music festival features Quebecois, Acadian, Celtic and World Music, plus story-telling, great food, and a whole lot more.

There’s a jam-packed music schedule, filling three stages over two days. The Main Tent is the centrepiece of the festival. The young and young-at-heart will enjoy the performances in the Children’s Tent. And artists will get up close and personal in the Workshop Tent.

In past years, the festival site was closed for dinner on Saturday, and re-opened for an evening concert with a separate ticket. Things have changed for 2012. Experience Festival du Bois from 11:00am - 8:00pm on Saturday, March 3 and 10:00am - 4:30pm on Sunday, March 4. Come any time during the day, stay for dinner and thrill to the music of Tanga and La Ligue du Bonheur in the early evening with your day-long admission.

The festival isn’t all about music - there’s some really great food, too. There aren’t many sugar shacks here in BC, but you’ll find one at Festival du Bois. Stop by for some maple taffy on snow. There are lots of other authentic French-Canadian treats on offer too, like tourtière, poutine and maple sugar pie. If you’re looking for breakfast, Sunday kicks off with pancakes and maple syrup for only $3 (children) or $6 (adults), all served in the Main Tent.

There’s no parking onsite, so organizers are encouraging you to use public transit. Alternatively, there’s free parking at the IKEA, and free shuttle bus service runs between the parking lot and the site from 10:30am to 8:00pm on Saturday and from 8:30am to 5:00pm on Sunday.