The Surrey Art Gallery is partnering with Rungh Magazine to increase the representation of women and non-binary artists on Wikipedia by hosting an in-person and virtual Art and Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on March 12th.

Art and Feminism at Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Surrey Art Gallery

• When: Saturday, March 12, 2022 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm
• Where: Surrey Art Gallery (13750 88 Ave) & on Microsoft Team (virtual)
• Registration: Free (proof of vaccination required in-person)

There is a significant gender gap on Wikipedia. Studies estimate that fewer than 15% of contributors identify as women. Gender inequities on Wikipedia contribute to a bias in content and language, as well as the erasure of knowledges and histories.

Surrey Art Gallery and Rungh Magazine would like to help address this gap and are inviting people of all gender identities and expressions to make an impact and support women, gender equality, feminism, and the arts on one of the world’s most popular sites. Learn how to research, create a user account, publish Wikipedia pages, and edit and maintain entries.

Join in-person at the Gallery or remotely from your home as participants edit and research together. Participants are welcome to come to the in-person and virtual gathering with ideas for entries that need updating or creating. Pre-researched artists and artworks from Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection will also be available for entry.

No prior knowledge or practice of editing Wikipedia is required. However, to create new entries, participants must be registered Wikipedia users and have made ten previous edits on existing pages.

The virtual gathering will take place through Microsoft Teams. No Teams account is necessary to participate. A link to join will be shared prior to the event and posted on the gallery’s Facebook event page and website.

About Rungh Magazine: Rungh is a Canadian multidisciplinary space for creative explorations, featuring work by Indigenous, Black, and people of colour artists. Consisting of a magazine, programming, archive, advocacy and more, Rungh is committed to Canada-wide conversations by and about people of colour. Rungh questions and challenges ideas about diversity in the Canadian cultural landscape.

After being on hold since 2020, BC Distilled returns for its seventh annual event. This year’s event will feature two smaller capacity tasting sessions (one in the afternoon, one in the evening) in order to keep the space less crowded and put its distillers, volunteers, and guests at more ease.

BC Distilled Returns for 2022

In addition to many veteran participants, several new distilleries will be joining the event this year to pour samples of their locally made spirits. The main festival will take place on Saturday, April 9 at the Croatian Cultural Centre (3250 Commercial Drive, Vancouver). Early bird tickets are on sale now for $59.99.

Participating Distilleries:

In addition to the main tasting event, there are two other opportunities to engage with BC’s local distilling community:

April 6, 2022 at Copperpenny Distillery in North Vancouver
BC Whisky Tasting hosted by Davin de Kergommeaux
BC Distilled is proud to host a BC whisky tasting led by Davin de Kergommeaux, a drinks writer, public speaker and spirits judge, who is recognized as the world expert on Canadian whisky. Each attendee will get a signed copy of The Definitive Guide to Canadian Distilleries (co-written with Blair Phillips).

April 8, 2022 at Forage in Downtown Vancouver
Distillers Dinner at Forage
Executive Chef Welbert Choi will feature five cocktail and spirit samples from BC distilleries, paired with five terroir-based courses. An optional cocktail reception preceding the dinner will be hosted at next door’s BeSide, with a sixth distillery providing cocktails.

BC Distilled continues its partnership with Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS), who will be at the show with dogs and puppies for attendees to interact with. The festival will feature a silent auction generously supported by the exhibitors, as well as a 50/50 draw.

After a successful online event in 2021, the 33^rd edition of Festival du Bois returns live to Mackin Park in Coquitlam for a weekend of folk, roots, global and Québécois music from French Canada and beyond.

Not only does the festival present some of Canada’s finest music artists at a very affordable ticket price, it offers engaging entertainment especially for kids and families, on-site performers, workshops, fabulous food, a market area, and a wealth of bon esprits.

Friday’s Free Preview

A special Festival du Bois kick-off event with BC fiddling dynamo Jocelyn Petit and her band followed by the popular Friday Night Contra Dance featuring live music by the Sybaritic String Band with caller Maureen Collier.

Weekend Festivities

Performances from: Le Diable à Cinq, The Mcdades, Le Winston Band, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Collage Trad, Métis Jiggers, Locarno, North Shore Celtic Ensemble.

In the Children’s Tent (Petit Chapiteau), kids and families can delight to the sing-along tunes and stories of the popular Will’s Jams, the West African rhythms and tales of Yoro Noukoussi, the bilingual family folk of Ginalina, and the engaging interactive activities of Angèle Verrier from Les Petits Matins.

While in Mackin Park, festival-goers can participate in a variety of fun activities. There are roving performers that astound and delight, traditional and popular French Canadian food – including maple taffy on snow from the Cabane à Sucre André Beauregard Sugar Shack, the Métis Experience, crankies, unique shopping, interesting exhibits, and more.

Festival du Bois in Coquitlam

• When: April 1-3, 2022
• Where: Mackin Park (1046 Brunette Ave, Coquitlam)
• Tickets: Free on Friday night (register online). Buy weekend tickets online in advance to save! $20 adults, $13 students & seniors, $8 kids ages 5-12, free for kids 5 and under. Single day family packages are $50. Prices change if purchased in-person on the day of the event.
  • Sunday Pancake Breakfast tickets $5 (children), $10 (adults) will be made available only at the door on the morning of April 3rd. 

Visit Maillardville, the cradle of francophone culture in BC, to experience a taste of the community’s rich roots and traditions, and experience the community’s reputation for warmly welcoming folks of all ages from near and far for yourself.

Variety – the Children’s Charity and Global BC are thrilled to announce that this year’s Variety Show of Hearts raised $6,936,621 to support children with special needs!

Variety Show of Hearts Raises Over $6.9 Million

During the first two days of the three-day event on Thursday, February 24 & Friday, February 25, Global News viewers were introduced to just some of the amazing kids who were helped by Variety in 2021. The inspiring stories continued on Global BC’s broadcast of the 56^th Annual Variety Show of Hearts Telethon which aired on Saturday, February 26 from 1:00pm to 5:30pm.

“I’m once again left speechless by the unbelievable generosity of our donors and supporters,” said Cally Wesson, Variety BC CEO. “Realizing how challenging the past two years has been for all of us, it’s extremely heartwarming to see that British Columbians will still band together during the toughest of times to ensure that we’ll always be here for BC’s kids. It’s absolutely overwhelming.”

Global BC’s Chris Gailus, Sophie Lui, Kristi Gordon, Neetu Garcha, Paul Haysom and Jay Janower returned as Telethon hosts along with 980 CKNW’s Jody Vance who was joined by Show of Hearts favourites Howard Blank, Alvin Law & Marco Pasqua and Variety Youth Champions Esabella Strickland and Janelle Milne. Making their Show of Hearts debut were actor & parent advocate, Bethel Lee and local singer-songwriter, Seven Taviss.

Viewers also got to see their donor dollars in action when they were treated to updates on the kids who they met during Global BC’s Variety Week. Saturday’s telecast also featured performances by musical guests David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Colin James, Serena Ryder and William Prince along with Penticton’s spoken word poet, Shane Koyczan and Canadian violinist, Adrian Anantawan.

Donations to the Variety Show of Hearts Telethon can still be made by calling toll-free at 310-KIDS and also online or by texting “KIDS” to 45678 to make an automatic $20 contribution.

Miss604 is the proud sponsor of the #ShowOfHearts Social Lounge since 2016

March is the final month of TransLink’s Tap in to Win Sweepstakes, where registered Compass Card users can enter to win a $10,000 travel voucher. Each trip they take on transit counts as an entry.

TransLink’s Tap in to Win Sweepstakes

All customers have to do to participate is enter their Compass Card number on the Tap In to Win website, and then use transit. The campaign launched in November, 2021 and has awarded prizes including a range of travel and transportation-related items (stays at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, JW Marriott Parq Vancouver, a RadRunner eBike, a Compass Card loaded with fare for a year, and more!

TransLink launched the sweepstakes to thank customers, help boost economic recovery in the region and rebuild transit ridership. Ridership was 56% of pre-pandemic levels in October, and it has been over 60% so far in February.

“While we hope this contest encourages people to come back to transit, this is also our way of saying thank you to our customers,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. “We are continually grateful to our customers for how they have stuck with us through the challenges of the last 18 months. We also want to welcome new customers and encourage people to once again choose transit, knowing that it is a safe, efficient, and greener way of moving around our region.”

Tap in to Win closes March 31, 2022 at 11:59pm. View full contest rules and regulations, along with the March, 2022 prizes on the campaign website.