The RBC JCC Sports Dinner, virtual edition, is just weeks away and the exciting silent auction is now live online! Event tickets are going fast, but you can still get in on all the action and enjoy an exciting evening on March 3 with the remarkable Keynote Speaker, Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Hosted by the voice of the Canucks at Rogers Arena, Al Murdock, tickets are only $36. Each ticket enters you in a chance to win an autographed framed photograph of Magic. The evening is full of fun, live auctions and an exclusive interview with the legendary keynote.
I am very excited to share a new campaign that I have joined that will make a big impact in my hometown of Surrey, BC. For its 50th Anniversary, Options Community Services has united 50 influential South Fraser women — the Women of Options — to help raise 1.5 million dollars in support of a new affordable housing build in Surrey.
50 Women of Options
For 50 years, Options has worked as a registered charity to provide essential social services in Surrey, Delta, White Rock/South Surrey and Langley. Last year alone, their 500 plus staff, and over 80 programs, assisted more than 100,000 people within these communities
The 50 participating women have offered to help by joining the campaign to raise $25,000 each in support of this project. Options board members and staff have also contributed to the cause and the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society has contributed $250,000.
The $1.5 million raised through Options will go towards a 100-unit complex at 8135, 8123, and 8109 King George Boulevard. Of these 100 units, 30 will be market rentals (still targeted to vulnerable populations, as not all vulnerability is financial), while the remaining 70 will be well below market rates —designated as affordable housing, with rent starting as low as $375 per month.
“We need to have housing options that are available to all income segments to live, learn, work, and play in our own city.” – Anita Huberman, Surrey Board of Trade CEO and one of the 50 Women.
The new build will also host community services such as Early Years, mental health outreach, and family services. With occupancy slated for mid-2023, this project expands Options’ capacity to provide community support and to add affordable housing to the City of Surrey.
A list of all 50 participants can be found on the Women of Options website, and you can find my personal donation page here. Stay tuned for a special fundraiser coming from Miss604, and in the meantime follow Options Community Services on Facebook to learn more.
Heritage Week is celebrated across Canada and this year’s Vancouver Heritage Week (on now, February 15 to 21, 2021) includes virtual, community events, workshop and strolls.
Join the Vancouver Heritage Foundation (“VHF”) for storytelling and a look at the first 10 years of the Places That Matter project. The program includes: Musqueam Welcome with Alec Guerin and the story of Musqueam with Mack Paul, Heritage Proclamation by Deputy Mayor, Councillor Carr, stories directly from Collingwood Neighbourhood House, the family of Nellie Yip Quong and family-owned East India Carpets about the First Sikh Gurdwara on West 2nd Avenue.
Urban Sketching Workshop When: Thursday, February 18, 2021 12:00pm to 1:00pm Where: Online Tickets:Register for $15
Learn how to sketch with confidence with Emma FitzGerald, author and illustrator of Hand Drawn Vancouver. Explore how drawings can be a prompt for storytelling and get inspired to go outside to sketch your favourite neighbourhood spots or local heritage buildings and places! Emma will also share tips for drawing on location, including intimidating architecture.
Discovering Heritage Places: A Virtual Stroll When: Saturday, February 20, 2021 10:00am to 11:00am Where: Online Tickets: Register for $12
Heritage is all around us – sometimes you just need to look closely! Join local historian, author and seasoned walking tour guide, John Atkin, as he explores some of Vancouver’s lesser-known heritage spots and shares the history of some of the buildings that make our neighbourhoods unique on this virtual walk.
Zee Zee Theatre presents the world premiere of Virtual Humanity, streaming online from March 6 to 28, 2021. The deeply personal, one-on-one experience adapts the company’s annual Human Library project into the digital space, where participants can ‘check out’ a human for a candid conversation about their life experiences, culture and beliefs—including such titles as Porn Actor, Two-Spirit Foster Child, The Taxidermist’s Son, and more.
Virtual Humanity Illustration by Isa Rodrigues
Zee Zee Theatre Presents Virtual Humanity
When: Over four weekends, March 6 to 28, 2021 Where: Online Tickets:Purchase a day pass for $5, with a subsequent “Pay What It’s Worth” option after the show. The full roster of titles available each day for bookings will be announced the morning of through a secret portal on the Zee Zee Theatre website, accessed after reservations have been secured.
Co-curated by Sam Chimes and Bunny (Daisy Joe), the online edition will feature an array of new and returning ‘Virtual Humans’—with a particular emphasis on representation from BIPOC individuals—available for 20-minute loans over the course of four weekends.
“Virtual Humanity creates a digital space that allows for a kind of open conversation and learning,” says Producer Jordy Matheson. “The kind which can be difficult to come by in the intense and polarized online world. A great deal of division is created from people not engaging with each other and really listening.”
Human Library began in 2000 in Copenhagen by a collective called Stop the Violence and since then, the hugely popular “open source” project has popped up in more than 70 countries. The original Human Library project was ignited by a brutal hate crime perpetrated against a friend—and this act of healing for four people became a global movement. It was a commitment to end violence—one person at a time—by narrowing the ideological gaps that divide us.
In the past eight years of Zee Zee’s edition of Human Library, public response has been tremendous, creating lasting memories, relationships, and shifting people’s understanding of otherness and difference. This new digital pivot becomes an opportunity to welcome those outside of the Lower Mainland to participate as virtual humans and audience, and become part of the broader conversation on challenging prejudice.
In Virtual Humanity audience members will select a title from the collection of 20+ ‘Virtual Humans’—something that intrigues or confounds them. They will then proceed into a one-one-one digital conversation over Zoom with their Virtual Human, a person who will share their true personal story that is reflected in their title, over the course of 20 minutes.
As with Human Library, the project is designed to shatter preconceived notions about otherhood, to challenge our biases and misunderstandings and to put a human face to difference as a means to foster empathy. The breadth of individuals extends from Zee Zee Theatre’s core philosophy: everyone has a story worth sharing, if we simply take the time to sit down and listen to them.
About the Curators
Bunny (Daisy Joe) is a 2 spirit indigenous award-winning musician from the Stl’atl’imx and Gitxsan Nations. They are a vocalist with The Spiritual Warriors, recipients of Best World Recording at the 2019 Native American Music Awards, a co-creator of the Stl’atl’imx Friends singing group, who were awarded the 2019 Best Historical Linguistics from the NAMA’s for the album “The Kindness Project.” Bunny applies storytelling through song to address topics such as decolonization, indigenous empowerment, and to advocate for the revitalization of language through music.
Sam Chimes is a multi-talented individual, expressing his talents as a sound technician in film, a DJ, and a music producer and performer. Born in Africa, Chimes lived in Brunei and South East Asia before coming to reside in Canada. With his jazzy, soulful vibes, he uses a looper and a microkorg synthesizer to create instrumentals on the spot, layers his voice, and performs for his audience. Chimes has performed in eight countries outside of Canada and recently came back from his second world tour, performing at showcases in Australia, and street performing in between.
LunarFest Vancouver is celebrating the Year of the Ox with an array of visual arts programming February 11 to 28, 2021. From lanterns in the city, to crafts at home, and a ballet performance, the theme of this year’s event series is Family.
LunarFest Vancouver
Whispers of the Soul – Coastal Ballet Free, online, February 22, 2021 Choreographed by Justine Fraser, performed by Coastal City Ballet. “Whispers of the Soul” is a story about a young girl who goes on a magical adventure, learning both the importance of respecting values and honouring all communities.
Lunar Craft Studio: Watch online instructions for creating ox footprints, knitted tangerines, paper fire-breathing dragon, hanging stars, flower petal lanterns and a zodiac board game at home. There’s also a paper firecracker workshop for schools, and registration is now closed.
Ox-picious Lanterns: Taiwanese artist Yen-Chun Lu returns with another paper-art mastery in the Ox-Picious Lanterns. Co-organized by SWACT, Ox-Picious Lanterns have an AR element. Download the UniteAR app, available on iOs and Android, and share your photos and #yearoftheox with the Ox-Picious lanterns to be part of a virtual lantern parade.
Pick up your lantern at select Xing-Fu Tang and Shoppers Drug Mart locations while supplies last.
Coming soon online:
The Bullish Future fortune telling: Get a reading of the fortune designed by TAIWANfest artist Kuan-Chih Su for the year to come whether it is for love, career, health or wealth.
