Jessie Award-winning company Realwheels Theatre presents Wheel Voices: Tune In!, a mashup of original scenes, rap, spoken word, and choral pieces presented online in May.
Wheel Voices: Tune In!
When: May 5 & 14, 2021
ASL Interpretation May 5; Audio Description May 14; Captioning May 14
Where: Online
Tickets: Pay what you can, starting at $5 book online
Featuring a cast of fourteen Vancouver-based community artists, this virtual performance weaves personal stories rooted in the disability experience with passionate anthemic scenes, and one hilarious comedic take on revenge fantasy.
Music is a common language; it dissolves barriers and strengthens bonds between people from many walks of life. Realwheels performers will come together in an online collaboration, demonstrating a range of talents across genres. Wheel Voices: Tune In!is edgy, poignant, funny as hell, and full of heart.
Originally scheduled for production in May 2020, but postponed due to the pandemic, get ready to finally enjoy the much-anticipated culmination of online rehearsals, innovation, and tenacity. Each performer brings their originality, heart, and spark to the “stage” – the process supported by a diverse artistic team including Shawn Macdonald (Facilitator), Caitriona Murphy (Musical Director), Kimit Sekhon (Video & Sound Designer), and Rena Cohen (Artistic Director).
Performers include: Amy Amantea, Jochen (Joe) Biertumpel, James Brown, Emily Grace Brook, Amelia Cooper, Kristy Kassie, Greg “Spokes” Labine, Sharon Liu, Laura Mackenrot, Caspar Ryan, Kristina Shelden, Dave Symington, Andrew Vallance, Brandon Wilkinson.
Realwheels creates and produces performances that deepen understanding of the disability experience. We envision full inclusion and integration of disability both on and off Canadian stages; a barrier-free diverse performing arts world that reflects the real world and all of its people.
Designed to virtually connect supporters and amplify community fitness, the initiative challenges individuals of all ages to walk, run, roll, or move in your favourite way, either at home or outdoors, in support of families seeking life-saving medical care for their children.
Since 1983, RMH BC has positively impacted countless families enduring the most difficult time of their lives – travelling to Vancouver for their child’s treatment that may take days, weeks or months to complete. The organization offers these families a home-away-from-home and a community of support.
The state-of-the-art 73-bedroom House, situated on the grounds of BC Children’s Hospital, allows family members to be mere steps away from their children as they receive medical care. More than simply a place to stay, the House welcomes families into a supportive ecosystem that offers amenities such as art and music therapy, as well as comfortable accommodations and healthy meals, among many others. RMH BC is funded by an expansive group of fundraisers and donors whose generosity has allowed RMH BC to continue supporting families for nearly 40 years.
In May, RMH BC will bring back Step Up for Families, a fitness-oriented fundraiser that encourages people everywhere to virtually assemble a squad of family, friends, classmates or co-workers and move a total of 73 kilometres. Donations will support the 2,000 families who stay at RMH BC, and in the dedicated Family Room at Surrey Memorial Hospital, each year. Maintaining a safe social distance, participants can move in their favourite way, whether walking in the park, running on the treadmill or spinning on their bike.
To help participants track their progress, this year, RMH BC has partnered with MoveSpring, an interactive step and activity challenge platform that features a live leaderboard, team chat platform and photo challenges.
How to Step Up for Families
Recruit your team (or tackle the challenge solo)
Register online for free and set up your team or individual fundraising page. Share your link with your team so they can join
Choose an impactful fundraising target (for example, $125 houses a family for one night, $220 provides groceries to a family for a week, $1,500 provides a Family Meal for the entire House)
Conquer 73km in the month of May and collect donations, participate in mini-challenges and win prizes along the way
“We know that exercise and mental wellness have a direct correlation and Step Up for Families is a great way to increase your movement this spring,” says Richard Pass, CEO, RMH BC & Yukon.
“For the 73 families who can stay in the House each night, knowing that people from across the province are participating with them in mind helps to create a sense of community and wellbeing. We are grateful for the support and hope those participating feel energized and accomplished in reaching their goal.”
Share your experience using #StepUpForFamiles on social media and follow Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more info.
The Talking Stick Festival, now in its 20th year, invites you to the warming fire of Spring Awakening. This follows The Winter Lodge: Sitting with our Ancestors – performances and teachings which were presented online from February 18-27, 2021. Now we’re in a season where new ideas bloom, and this is a celebration of Indigenous performance and culture online with music, dance, spoken word, teachings and more.
Talking Stick Festival Spring Awakening
Join Talking Stick around the warming fire of Spring Awakening – a call to the stories, songs, and dances that sustain and renew us, that birth a spirit of hope and healing.
Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 6:00pm (Free, Online) Plant Walk with Cease Wyss and Margo Kane
T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss is an ethno-botanist, media artist, educator, and activist of Skwxwu7mesh/Stó:lō/ Hawaiian/Swiss ancestry who has been traditionally trained by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and Elders. On a recent sunny spring day, she led festival Artistic Managing Director, Margo Kane, on a journey of botanical discovery through Stanley Park. Cease shares her extensive plant and forest knowledge, talks about medicines, traditional teachings and the interconnectedness of nature and the forest.
Friday, April 30, 2021 at 7:00pm (Free, Online) PIQSIQ with special guest Francis Baptiste in concert
Recorded at the Historic Theatre at the Cultch, Inuit-style throat singing sisters Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, the duo PIQSIQ, perform ancient traditional songs along with those taking inspiration from the world around them. It’s a singular singing style born of a hard-won skill perpetually galvanized by the winter darkness and haunting northern beauty of Nunavut and their Yellowknife home, blended with their love of haunting melodies and otherworldly sounds. PIQSIQ performances, in alignment with throat singing’s original and spontaneous form, are truly enthralling and unique to every show.
Opening the concert is Syilx/Okanagan singer-songwriter Francis Baptiste. Currently working on his debut solo album, Francis incorporates his language, N̓syilxčn̓ – currently spoken fluently by only 150 people – into his songwriting. Suzette Amaya, radio host, producer, speaker and role model, is the evening’s MC.
Presented by Talking Stick in partnership with the Vancouver Folk Music Festival
Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 7:00pm (Free, Online) Spring Fling Ab-Cabaret
This lively event, one of the favourite parts of Talking Stick Festivals over the years, features V’ni Dansi, a Vancouver-based traditional Métis and contemporary dance company; up-and-coming Indigenous singer/songwriter, Michelle Heyoka; alternative R&B and soul artist, Zach Saunders, and: Eagle Ex Machina, a local Vancouver alt rock band led by fiddle master Matt Cook-Contois (Cree). The cabaret is hosted by rising Indigiqueer pop artist, Nimkish.
On both Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1, the Talking Stick Industry Series presents a variety of workshops, panels, discussions, videos and teachings on subjects of use and interest to both up-and- coming and veteran Indigenous artists in a range of disciplines. Topics include writing for the stage, artists’ personal and community development-related issues, legacy building, songwriting and music publishing.
BC Youth Week 2021 is packed with events and activities planned for youth, by youth, all across the province May 1-7. This is an internationally celebrated event that aims to recognize the positive contributions youth make in our communities, and to celebrate the valuable work youth do all year round.
Earlier this month, I highlighted some events happening in Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Langley, West Van and Richmond. Now, here are even more activities that youth have planned:
I have been known to enjoy a Trail Hopper IPA on the patio after a walk through my local park’s 20km network of paths so I was excited when I heard that Stanley Park Brewing and the Stanley Park Ecology Society have been teaming up for over a decade!
It’s Vancouver’s most popular natural gem and thanks, in part, to consistent annual funding from Stanley Park Brewing, the Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) is working to conserve Stanley Park’s delicate habitats and biodiversity that are crucial for healthy ecosystems and wildlife. For Earth Day, I caught up with Stanley Park Brewing’s Jeremy Nickel to talk about this important, and natural, partnership.
Stanley Park Brewing and Stanley Park Ecology Society
Miss604: How important is it for Stanley Park Brewing to give back to the community?
SPB: Giving back within Stanley Park and to the broader community are super important to us. Our Brewpub in Stanley Park is frequented by locals and visitors alike, the park itself offers so much to us that we want to do our part to ensure the preservation and prosperity of the park. We also enjoy being a part of the broader sports & leisure communities that enjoy the beauty of the park through events such as the Stanley Park Tennis Open, RunVan Marathons, Scotia Half and others.
