The Wild About Vancouver Outdoor Education Festival kicks off a week of free, public events today that offer practical ways to get children (and adults) outdoors more regularly. Running from April 16th to April 22nd, events include beach walks, workshops, gardening sessions, kite flying, farm tours and more.
Wild About Vancouver aims to unite and create long-term sustainable Outdoor and Experiential Learning (“OEL”) networks for organizations, schools, youth programs, and the broader citizenry, including youth and First Nations, of Vancouver. It is organized by a collective of volunteers passionate about improving children’s lives and building supportive communities through OEL. Follow Wild About Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
Record Store Day is a unique celebration of independent businesses that reaches every single continent (except Antarctica) bringing together nearly 1,400 record stores around the world with the people who love them. On Saturday, April 18, 2015, many Vancouver area record stores will participate in this global event.
This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store—the staff, the customers, and the artists—to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.
While there’s only one Record Store Day a year, the organization works throughout the year to create contests, special releases and promotions in order to spotlight these special stores on the other 364 days of the year. These include the Adapter Prize—which honors releases chosen as “The Best” by store staff and customers and Back To Black Friday which gives record stores exclusive releases as part of the attempt to redirect the focus of the biggest shopping day of the year to the desirable, special things to be found at local stores.
Record Store Day 2015 in Vancouver
On Record Store Day all vinyl lovers can enjoy special releases, sales, in-store events and performances, and record shopping until you drop. Participating record stores in Vancouver:
Gateway Theatre presents Out of a Dream, a new revue with songs from all 11 Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals including The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, The King and I, Carousel, South Pacific and Cinderella from April 9th to April 25th.
Eva Tavares, Peter Jorgensen, Katie Murphy, Jenny Anderson. Photo credit Emily Cooper.
In association with Patrick Street Productions, these fresh faces and refreshing arrangements are tickling audiences with their exciting perspective on the Rodgers and Hammerstein hits we all know and love.
The cast includes Jennifer Andersen, Peter Jorgensen, Katie Murphy, Sayer Roberts, and Eva Tavares. The creative team is Peter Jorgensen, Director & Choreographer; Nico Rhodes, Musical Director & Orchestrations; Chris Allan, Assistant Director; Kayla Dunbar, Assistant Choreographer; Amir Ofek, Set Designer; Jessica Bayntun, Costume Designer; Jeff Harrison, Lighting Designer; Andrew Pye, Assistant Lighting Designer; Brad Danyluk, Sound Designer; Anne Taylor, Stage Manager.
Win Tickets to Rodgers and Hammerstein Out of a Dream
Out of a Dream opened on April 9th and I have a pair of tickets to give away to any remaining performance next week (except closing night, April 25th). Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment naming a Rodgers and Hammerstein song or work, from film, TV, or theatre (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win tickets to #RHOutOfADream at @Gateway_Theatre from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/LExf1
Gateway Theatre is located at 6500 Gilbert Road, Richmond BC. Follow the company on Facebook and Twitter for more information. I will draw one winner at random at 12:00pm on Saturday, April 18, 2015.
The District of Squamish, BC is the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada and one of the most beautiful corners of the “604” region. From the estuary and river channels to slick rocky cliffs, glacial mountain peaks and an incredible gondola, this community embodies the Sea to Sky spirit and is truly a playground for those who love nature – and rockin’ summer musicfestivals.
April is Autism Awareness Month and Central City Brewers + Distillers has launched their annual IPA for Autism fundraising initiative for Simon Fraser University’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) research for children with autism.
Red Racer IPA for Autism
Throughout the month of April, Central City will donate $2 from every 6-pack of 355ml cans and $0.25 from every 473ml cans of specially marked Red Racer IPAs to autism research. In addition, $0.25 from every pint of IPA sold at participating BC restaurants and pubs will also be donated.
Red Racer IPA is Central City’s best selling craft beer and is available in most Canadian provinces. Since 2012, Central City has raised a total of $175,000 for autism research.
Autism now affects 1 in 68 children: 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls, a 30 per cent increase over the last survey released in 2012 when it was 1 in 88 children. While currently there is no cure for autism, research has shown that early intervention treatments can improve a child’s development. Early and encouraging results suggest that one treatment in particular, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), can improve communication and behavior in children with autism. Further research, however, is needed to conclusively establish if HBOT is an effective treatment for autism.
The autism HBOT-MEG study at SFU is the first in Canada that specifically studies the effectiveness of using hyperbaric oxygen therapy on children with autism. Included in the research is the use of MEG neuroimaging to evaluate whether HBOT can positively impact brain activity underlying cognition and behaviour in children with autism.
The team of SFU researchers includes Dr. Ryan D’Arcy, one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists, and Sherri Ferguson, Director of SFU’s Environmental Medicine and Physiology Unit (EMPU), home to Canada’s only civilian research hyper/hypobaric chamber.
On top of the IPA for Autism campaign, Central City Brewers + Distillers and Simon Fraser University will soon announce a black-tie evening with both live and silent auctions in support of the program. Follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more information.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
