Applications are now being accepted for BCMA micro-grants for emerging and diverse professionals. Due to COVID-19, the BC Museums Association (“BCMA”) has been unable to deliver its regular regional workshops around the province and they are using this opportunity to reallocate funding to support museum professionals with diverse experiences and ideas to create new online resources, workshops, and networking events.
Deadline is September 18, 2020. Once accepted, proposals must be carried out before March 31, 2021.
Through these micro-grants, BCMA hopes to encourage new voices and ideas by supporting content proposals from diverse and emerging museum professionals.
These proposals can range from webinar presentations (view BCMA YouTube Channel for examples of recent webinars), networking ideas (like Watercooler Wednesday or the BCMA trivia night), written resources (view the BCMA BRAIN for examples), or other ideas for online content that would support members across the province.
BCMA encourages proposals from emerging museum professionals and diverse professionals (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and those with disabilities).
They also encourage submissions from museum professionals who have been laid off, furloughed, or have had their employment impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding Available
The Association has allocated $4,000 to support the creation of new online resources and events and will offer two types of micro-grants:
$500.00 “short” proposals
“Short” proposals are for activities that take between 10-20 hours to plan and deliver, this could include webinars, blog post-style resources, one-off networking events, etc.
$1,000.00 “medium” proposals
“Medium” proposals are for activities that take between 20-40 hours to plan and deliver, this could include a brief webinar series, longer-form written resources, multi-part networking events, etc.
Priority will be given to emerging professionals, professionals with diverse lived experiences, and professionals whose employment has been impacted by COVID-19. Through these micro-grants, the Association hopes to support voices who are not typically heard, so preference will be given to applicants who are working with the BCMA for the first time and applicants from parts of the province that are typically underrepresented. Find more information and a contact here.
The Firehall Arts Centre is hosting Music in the Courtyard on weekends throughout the months of August and September.
Music in the Courtyard
Music in the Courtyard Latin Jazz Night: John Korsrud, Niho Takase, Ronny Swirl, Raphael Geronimo, and Chris Couto
When: Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm (with the exception of the performance on Sunday, September 13, which will take place at 7:00pm).
Tickets: $20 available online. A limited number is available in order to comply with COVID safety protocols.
Lineup
Thursday, August 27 at 7:00pm Elle Wolf Friday, August 28 at 7:00pm The Patsy Klein/Tony Wilson Band Saturday, August 29 at 7:00pm Waxwing Sunday, August 30 at 3:00pm The Anti-Fogmatics Friday, September 4 & Saturday, September 5 at 7:00pm | Sunday, September 6 at 3:00pm Small Town Artillery Friday, September 11 at 7:00pm Gord Grdina Trio Saturday, September 12 at 7:00pm Itamar Erez Trio Sunday, September 13 at 7:00pm Sitka String Quartet Friday, September 18 at 7:00pm Paul Pigat Saturday, September 19 at 7:00pm Ruby & Smith Sunday, September 20 at 3:00pm Laura Crema Quartet Friday, September 25 at 7:00pm Triology Saturday, September 26 at 7:00pm Microcosmos Sunday, September 27 at 3:00pm Van Django
“When planning this music series with Diane Kadota and John Korsrud, I wanted to offer a place where audiences could sit back, relax, and enjoy music from some of BC’s finest musicians, and to provide a little joy to people’s COVID lives,” says Artistic Producer, Donna Spencer.
The events are designed for limited audiences, who are all encouraged to wear face masks and to follow the COVID-19 Health and Safety Protocols the Firehall staff had put in place. For more info, follow the Firehall Arts Centre on Facebook.
Gastown Unplugged is a new, free music series that will be set in four different neighbourhood locations, entertaining patio guests and the general public from now until October.
Gastown Unplugged
Locations include Water St. at Richards St. and Cambie St., Abbott St, and in the new Maple Tree Square Pop-Up Plaza.
The initiative, led by the Gastown BIA, follows the success of Patiotown (announced last month) as a way to support local artists that are no longer booking indoor gigs. Through a collaborative effort, businesses are now scheduling several musicians per week to take over public spaces throughout summer and fall.
Happy Day, All Day Happy Hour
Gastown also announces Happy Day, a community-wide all day happy hour, running every Thursday throughout August and September. All day specials can be enjoyed at more than 30 retail and hospitality locations. A full list of participating venues can be found here.
And it’s not just limited to food venues, Happy Day participants include @coastalpeoplesgallery (10% off your purchase), @a_plus.cleaning (20 % discount on your first cleaning when you sign up for a 6-month contract for recurring cleaning services), @makegastown (10% off regular priced products) and more.
Follow the Gastown BIA on Instagram for the latest schedule and info.
My timelines are full of memories of the last Hip show, four years ago when they took to the stage in Kingston for one final act. Forever in our hearts, and on our radios, Canada’s band, The Tragically Hip continue to support their community this time with the new Courage Masks. All proceeds from these will go directly to the Unison Benevolent Fund – an assistance program that provides discreet relief to music industry professionals in times of crisis.
The Tragically Hip Courage Masks
“Dear all, by popular demand and sad necessity we want to introduce the new Courage Mask,” says The Tragically Hip. “All proceeds from sales will go directly to the Unison Benevolent Fund. Formed over ten years ago, the Unison Fund provides emergency financial assistance to musicians and their crew members during their time of need. With venues shuttered and tours cancelled for the foreseeable future, the need has never been greater. Please spare a thought and prayer for all folks in the arts during these difficult times. Thanks for the support and thanks for wearing a mask! Stay safe.”
The reusable non-medical cloth masks are available for purchase for $15 via The Hip’s online store.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Unison has received an overwhelming number of requests for assistance from the music community, seeing an over 5,500% increase in applications.
Do a kind act, protect those around you, and support a great cause!
Unison Benevolent Fund is a non-profit, registered charity that provides counselling and emergency relief services to the Canadian music community. We are here to help professional music makers in times of hardship, illness or economic difficulties. Unison Benevolent Fund is an assistance program – created and administered for the music community, by the music community – designed to provide discreet relief to music industry professionals in times of crisis through financial assistance and counselling and health solutions.
Distance: 4.9km at once or you can piece the tour into mini-episodes.
When You’ll Need: A mobile device with data/WiFi, headphones
Where: The journey begins at the Devonian Harbour park at the corner of Georgia and Denman Streets.
With local writer, historian, and musician Aaron Chapman as your host, you can follow a self-guided tour through the West End, presented as a part of Car Free Day Vancouver’s expanded initiatives.
Aaron is joined by special guests: Squamish Elder Dennis Joseph, Journalist/Broadcaster and CBC Radio documentarian Pamela Post, writer, poet, podcast host and otter enthusiast Dina Del Bucchia, and beloved author and long-time West End resident Bill Richardson.
The tour is intended to be listened to from special viewing spots in the West End that the storytellers would like to share with you. Suggested walking route maps can be found here.
Once you arrive at each story point just use your phone’s browser to find the tour page and access the audio segments and maps. Use it in landscape mode for the best look. This tour is also very bike-able. The pedestrian and biking path run next to each other all the way to English Bay.
Follow Car Free Day Vancouver on Facebook to discover more ways to enjoy the city on foot.
