Back in January, you were asked to nominate your favourite small businesses, and the support has been overwhelming for the Small Business BC Awards. They’re going to be hosting SBBC Awards Week May 3-6, 2021 to reveal the winners in each category every night for a weeklong celebration of entrepreneurship and resiliency.
Small Business BC Awards Week
With over 50,000 votes, 937 nominations, and an intense Dragon’s Den style pitching round, the top 5 finalists are ready to hear who has won, and so are all of us! Tickets for this multi-day extravaganza are free and you can tune in as much as you like throughout the week after you register once.
Each day, watch inspiring short films about each of the finalists; get to know the passion behind why they started their own business, the challenges they’ve overcome (including COVID-19) and why small businesses are so important to our province.
Day 1: Monday, May 3rd (6:00pm to 7:30pm)
Launch night! Meet the finalists, network for prizes, listen to a panel and hear from some special guests.
Day 2: Tuesday, May 4th (1:00pm to 1:40pm)
Watch the first of SBBC’s short films – as we get to know the finalists, hear their stories while the first two winners are announced:
The Awards week’s finale – featuring guest speakers: the Honourable Mélanie Joly, and the Honourable Ravi Kahlon, as the final two small business winners are revealed:
Best Innovation Award (sponsored by Western Economic Diversification Canada)
Nominees: CORE Landscape Products, Courtenay; MisMacK Clean Cosmetics, Canoe; Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery, Courtenay; Big Bold Brand Inc., North Vancouver; Matidor, Vancouver
Premier’s People’s Choice Award (sponsored by the Province of British Columbia)
Get your free ticket here. I will update this post next week to highlight each of the winners. Thank you for supporting local this year, and hats off to these incredibly resilient entrepreneurs!
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the DOXA Documentary Film Festival will be taking the show on the road, literally, with DOXA drive-in movies at the PNE grounds in May.
DOXA Drive-In Movies at the PNE
When: May 13-15, 2021 Where: PNE Amphitheatre Grounds Tickets: Purchase online in advance. Screenings will go ahead rain or shine, with tickets priced at $50 per carload, per film, and a limit of six passengers to a car. Guests are asked not to leave their vehicle during screenings except for restroom access, and strict COVID-19 health and safety protocols will be in place throughout the event to ensure the safety of attendees and staff.
This is DOXA’s most exciting innovation for 2021, and a chance for you and the members of your bubble to see a few of this year’s standout films in a venue where documentaries rarely make it onto the bill.
Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:30pm Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery The 2018 death of Gerald Cotten, CEO of Canada’s largest Bitcoin exchange, reads like something out of a paperback mystery. When Cotten died suddenly in India at age 30, he took with him the secret to accessing $215 million in crypto-currency, setting off a mad search by reporters, regulators and former customers for the missing funds. What they uncovered only raised more questions, including the biggest one of all: Did Gerald Cotten really die, or did he fake his death and walk away with all the money?
9:00pm The Gig is Up Despite its utopian potential, the reality of the gig economy is something far less auspicious. Work conditions are frequently dangerous, pay often fluctuates with-out notice, and workers can effectively be fired at the push of a button. In The Gig is Up, Vancouver-based director Shannon Walsh offers an unflinching look at the impact gig work is having around the world. Spanning global networks from rural Florida to Lagos, Nigeria (with many ride shares and food services in between), gig workers of all backgrounds share their stories through candid interviews, while tech experts and academics provide critical commentary on an industry now worth over 5 trillion USD—and growing.
Friday, May 14, 2021 5:30pm Someone Like Me Tasked with a year-long commitment as Drake’s primary support network, a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community unite under the banner of Rainbow Refugee, a non-profit that connects LGBTQ+ asylum claimants with sponsors. In the months following Drake’s arrival from Uganda, facets of his turbulent experiences and day-to-day challenges begin to parallel those of certain group members: Marlon also moved cities in order to live his life openly as a gay Black man; David struggles to find job security after grad school; and Kay’s gender transition presents a long and emotional road to personal freedom.
9:00pm Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy Filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) invites viewers to witness the collective work of her community as it faces radical transformation. Surrounded by tall prairie grass gently swaying in the wind, Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, a family doctor, community harm-reduction advocate, and Elle-Máijá’s mother, stands strong. She embraces the Blackfoot teaching of Kímmapiiyipitssini: “Kímmapiiyipitssini means compassion…” she says. “In our way of believing, if you help people out then you are blessed to continue to do that, and so our People are supposed to give what they have or what they can to help.”
Saturday, May 15, 2021 1:00pm In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland In the wake of recent news stories announcing the targeted assassination of female media workers in Afghanistan, In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland provides a sharp look into Zan TV, Kabul’s female-operated, female-oriented news agency. Filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed, herself a trained journalist with credits from Langara College and Simon Fraser University, returns to Afghanistan to document this simultaneously harrowing and inspiring work environment. The film’s intimate cinematography deftly yet quietly reveals the daily, sometimes deadly hurdles faced by Afghan reporters and media staff.
5:30pm FANNY: The Right to Rock Hard rock was on the rise in the late 60s, and Fanny, a California group that included Filipina-American sisters, impressed everyone with their heavy beats and blistering musical chops. They possessed musicianship, ambition and a major label record deal. So why did they end up on so many lists of the “best forgotten bands,” including that of David Bowie? FANNY: The Right to Rock tells the story of a 70s rock band like no other—all-female, with Asian-American and LGBTQ+ members—who struggled to overcome the limitations of an industry and a society hellbent on painting them into a hyper-sexualized corner.
9:00pm Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché Poly Styrene was the first Black woman in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements. But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an influential cultural footprint; she is survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of both her mother’s legacy and her demons. Misogyny, racism and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while the lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship.
DOXA Documentary Film Festival
When: May 6-16, 2021 Where: Online Tickets: $7-10 sliding scale per individual virtual ticket; Early Bird Festival Passes: $60; Regular Festival Passes: $75; Anniversary Festival Pass + Package: $200
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.
