|
As the world braces for a year fraught with economic uncertainty
and an inevitable shift in how we live our lives, one Ontario community
is taking bold steps to protect its cultural heartbeat. The Waterloo
Region is widely regarded as the Silicon Valley of the North, and
a closer look at this vibrant community reveals that the entrepreneurial
spirit that is its cornerstone also fuels one of the most unique
cultural collectives in the country where internationally recognized,
contemporary art flourishes. Through a joint initiative supported
by a motivated group of business and arts leaders, the region which
encompasses Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge, will host a number
of innovative arts events that are expected to draw more than 40,000
arts enthusiasts to the tri-city area over the coming year.
"There is tremendous artistic growth in the region," explains Martin
de Groot, Executive Director of the Waterloo Regional Arts Council.
"We are not unlike other communities across the country who are
adjusting to the changing economic climate, but we as a community
are united in our commitment to foster growth and establish Waterloo
Region’s reputation as a leading centre where innovative, thought-provoking
and significant cultural events take place."
From April 24th through May 3rd, OPEN
EARS FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND SOUND, a cutting edge biennial
music festival, takes to the streets of Waterloo Region with one
of its most daring programs to date. A project of the Kitchener-Waterloo
Symphony, OPEN EARS is one of Canada’s most important
new music festivals. Audiences from across North America flock to
the region to partake in what has come to be known as an eclectic
celebration of listening; with interactive programming such as guided
soundwalks, electroacousitc performance art, sound poetry, as well
as musical performances staged in concert halls and alternative
venues alike. Previous guest composers and performers have included
international artists like Brian Eno, the Bang on a Can
All-Stars, and Canadian R. Murray Schafer. This year’s
program will continue to push the boundaries of the art of sound
with festival highlights that include rare musical pairings such
as Eve Egoyan a and David Rokeby’s debut of a newly
commissioned work for Disklavier and interactive audio and video,
as well as Lou Harrison world premiere of A Word for Music.
Early-Bird passes for the Open Ears Festival are now on sale,
for more information please visit
www.openears.ca.
In its 10-year history CAFKA (Contemporary Art
Forum Kitchener & Area) has grown from a grassroots festival
to a multidisciplinary, tech savvy event featuring groundbreaking
visual art offerings from both local and internationally renowned
contemporary artists. Solidly supported by local galleries, studios
and artist run centres, these dynamic installations are peppered
throughout Waterloo Region’s public spaces in effort to engage and
challenge the arts community and public alike. This year CAFKA calls
on the world’s best installation artists to reflect on Veracity,
an evocative theme which will feature an epic work by
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer housed in the new Waterloo Town Square.
CAFKA 2009: Veracity is sponsored by Waterloo-based
Christie Digital, a world-leader in digital projection technology
whose innovations include the world's brightest true HD video projectors,
and who were largely responsible for the breath-taking multi-media
presentations at the recent Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony.
All 2009 CAFKA programs are offered free to the public from September
through October 2009. To learn more about CAFKA please visit
www.cafka.org.
"One of the most exciting elements of each biennial CAFKA presentation
is its ability to reach across socio-economic barriers and draw
audiences from every spectrum of the community" says Artistic Director
Rob Ring. "Waterloo Region’s urban landscape is an ideal setting
for a multimedia arts festival of this kind, but it is the overwhelming
willingness of our local audiences to embrace new ideas which challenge
contemporary ways of thinking and interacting, that gives this homegrown
event its unique flavour."
IMPACT, a biennial international theatre festival organized
by The MT Space is already making waves in this, its
first time launching a full-fledged festival. Built on The MT Space’s
notoriety for progressive productions, IMPACT will showcase national
and international cultural works that offer less verbal forms of
theatrical performance in the form of physical and dance theatre
or multimedia spectacles. Artistic Director Majdi Bou-Matar’s vision
is to create a festival that will effectively overcome language
barriers and facilitate the communication of cultural, social, philosophical
and artistic concepts. IMPACT 09 takes place from September 24th
through October 3rd, 2009 and offers a unique opportunity
for cultural exchange with a wide network of like-minded events
across the globe. Further details can be found by visiting
www.mtspace.ca.
Renowned for its educational institutions, and widely regarded as
Canada’s technology capital, Waterloo Region offers learning opportunities
beyond the walls of its institutions, through attendance, engagement
and participation in a wide variety of arts and culture events hosted
throughout the region. The growth of art and culture within the
Waterloo Region continues to be a source of pride and inspiration
for many of its citizens. The many cultural events of 2009 mark
a new departure to re-imagine the region as an emerging cultural
contender whose ambition is matched by its phenomenal success in
the technology sector. Through its art, Waterloo Region celebrates
the new, the unexpected, the diverse and the subversive – and is
undoubtedly a forward thinking community poised for transformation.
|
|
