The BreakFest Blog
News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.
Skateway ‘shacks’ go upscale
New $750,000 shelters in place along Rideau Canal
OTTAWA — At $750,000 apiece, the new shelters on the Rideau Canal Skateway may cost the same as a house, but they’re not built like one.
For starters, the skateway receives up to a million local and international visitors a year. The structures are designed to be welcoming, durable and in keeping with their high public profile.
“That’s a hefty price tag but it’s not surprising,” said Carleton University architecture professor Yvan Cazabon. “Structurally they’re more involved than your average little shack. It has to be hoisted. There’s a lot of custom building. It’s not a Home Depot kit of parts.”
The National Capital Commission has installed seven new chalets — four change rooms and three washrooms — to replace battered wood structures used since the 1970s.
The total cost was $5.24-million, or about $750,000 per shelter. The project was paid for by the federal government’s $4-billion infrastructure stimulus fund, created to fight the recession.
Capital BIXI Season Coming to an End
Returning next year on April 15, 2012
[NCC press release]
Canada’s Capital Region — With winter fast approaching, November 15 at 10 am will mark the end of the first season of the Capital BIXI bike share service. After this time, users will still be able to return their BIXI bike back to a station, but it will no longer be possible to rent one. The NCC also plans to remove all ten BIXI stations on November 15 for winter storage.
The NCC thanks all Capital BIXI users for contributing to making the bike sharing system a valuable transportation alternative in the region. The use of active modes of transportation has a positive impact on public health, the environment and transportation costs while enhancing the vibrancy of the Capital Region.
From May 18 to November 13, 2011, the Capital BIXI service generated 21,658 cycling trips stemming from 173 monthly and yearly subscribers and 7,384 distinct occasional users.
Capital BIXI Key ― Members can keep their Capital BIXI key for the 2012 season as it can be reactivated for upcoming seasons.
VIA Rail ― Members can also choose VIA Rail for their next trip in Canada and take advantage of a 10% discount on VIA’s best rate. To reserve your trip, visit your personal space at https://capital.bixi.com.
A BIXI for Christmas ― Gift certificates for yearly and monthly memberships are available online at http://boutique.bixi.com/.
The Farm Family Project – More Than Just Pretty Faces
We’d like to share some information that was sent to us:
Artist: Rob Macinnis
Artist’s Talk: Friday November 25th, 2011, 19:00
Vernissage: Friday, November 18th, 2011, 18:00 – 21:00
On View: November 18th, 2011 – December 17th, 2011
Mon – Fri 10:00 -18:00, Sat 10:00-15:00
MORE THAN JUST PRETTY FACES
In The Farm Family Project, photo-based artist Rob Macinnis employs animals as portrait subjects in what began as an examination of fashion photography and the balance of power between humans and animals. The artist describes his early process:
“I began photographing farm animals because I was interested in using them as a metaphor for the fashion model, I wanted to draw parallels between literally consuming them, which we do everyday, and the way the photograph ‘consumes’ its subject.”
The faces of sheep, pigs, and other barnyard beasts gaze out from his large colour prints created in a variety of formats over a five-year period. They appear by turns sentient, expressive and humbled, inciting a host of reactions in the viewer including compassion and empathy that cross the species barrier.
From its beginnings, drawing parallels between the consumption of animals and the fashion world’s consumption of the body, The Farm Family Project has evolved into a broader critique of photography’s role in society. In the artist’s words:
“I wanted to explore more how the camera manipulates its subject and constructs a reality, more than learn anything directly specific about the animals.”
SPAO Open House 2011
We’d like to share some information that was sent to us:
Participating Level 1, 2 and 3 SPAO Portfolio Program Students: Eric Anderson, Sarah Anderson, Matthew Bula, Mitchell Burton, Jessika Brunet, Shannon Delmonico, Danielle Denis, Rachel Gaboury, Steve Gaydos, Treawna Harvey, April Hewens, Josh Hotz, Olivia Johnston, Michael Marquette, Stephanie Masters, Valérie Mercier, Zachary Pantalone, Jessie Park-Wheeler, Dante Penman, Vera Saltzman, Blair Smith, Saman Soleimani-Deilamani, Jenifer Szadkowski, Caroline Tallmadge, Angela Walker, and Nicholas Wojtas
Date: Friday, November 4th, 2011
Time: 15:00-21:00
Free Admission
Our house is open, come see what we’re about at SPAO
The School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa will be opening its doors to the public for its annual Open House event. People attending this free event will be able to tour the darkroom, computer lab, and studio spaces of SPAO. Visitors will also be able to participate in demonstrations and live shoots and check out student work for sale.
SPAO has both the SPAO Portfolio Program and the Part-Time Studies Program and displays and slide shows on view on Friday will reveal aspects of the photographic processes they teach, as well as the imagery that inspires the students and faculty of the school.
Turkish Earthquake Relief Fund
[Source: Ottawa Turkish Festival]
Tune in to Ebru TV this Thursday at 8:00PM (EST) for a special Live Donation Drive for the earthquake victims in the Ercis/Van area in southeastern Turkiye.
On Thursday, November 3rd, 2011, at 8:00PM (EST), Ebru TV will broadcast a live telethon to collect donations towards relief, aid and rebuilding efforts for the victims of the recent earthquake that took place in southeastern Turkiye. Donors will be able to call-in at anytime between 8:00 and 10:00 PM (EST) to make a pledge. All received donations will be collected by Helping Hands Relief Foundation and immediately utilized for the on-going relief efforts in Van/Ercis and the surrounding areas.
To make a pledge call Ebru TV anytime during the show (8-10PM EST) at: 732-560-0800
- Fundraising brought to you live by Ebru TV
- Donation organization by Helping Hands Relief Foundation
Mayor, Senators get behind I-love-Ottawa rap video: update
The Ottawa Citizen
In order to be a great city, songs must be written about you. Peter Joynt’s new song about Ottawa may not be so famous as New York, New York or Chicago (My Kind of Town), but he loves his hometown and is singing — or rapping, that is — its praises.
Joynt, an Ottawa musican, posted his new hip hop song Capcity on youtube, and during the four-minute video he raps in front of many of the city’s more recognizable sites – Parliament, Scotiabank Place — and gives shout-outs to what makes the city “Capcity.”
A few choice rhymes . . .
Cause, we got it made in the o-double-t/ where the tax payer’s dollars stretch as far as you can see . . .
This Capcity – so green, so clean, so small/ where crossing over rivers makes the drinking age fall. . .
Spend a little money and your dollar goes far/ still afford a house with a nice backyard/ and for all the time and money that you still got left/ how about pick any place and pick any top chef . . .
Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: Senators get behind I-love-Ottawa rap video: update
Ottawa Tea Festival
We’d like to share some information that was provided to us:
The Ottawa Tea Festival will be celebrating its debut in the Nation’s capital, Ottawa on the weekend of the 5th & 6th of November 2011. We will be having Tea’rrific events and activities where you can try the best teas in town, whilst raising funds for a good cause.
The countdown has begun before over 400 visitors are anticipated to attend this unforgettable weekend tea extravaganza. Festival attendees can taste complimentary teas from around the world, attend tea ceremonies, enjoy traditional dance performances from Sri Lanka, as well as India and explore different exhibitors booths and buy their favourite teas.
The festival runs from 11 am to 6pm at the City Hall on the 5th of November 2011. Advance tickets are $15 each for the 5th of November. Tickets are available at the Singing Pebble Bookstore 220a Main street, Maison Chaloin on 256 Dalhousie, online at www.ottawateafestival.com or call 613-612-5464.
Savour Ottawa brings farmers, chefs and retailers together Nov. 7
Sixth annual Networking Summit builds business and celebrates successes
[Source: Savour Ottawa press release]
OTTAWA, November 1, 2011—Local farmers, chefs, retailers and organizations will gather at the sixth annual Savour Ottawa Networking Summit on Monday, November 7 starting at 1:00 p.m. at the Restaurant International at Algonquin College’s School of Hospitality and Tourism.
This free event will kick off with a one-hour meet & greet event showcasing local farm products to chefs and retailers. The goal of this culinary speed dating is for chefs and retailers to order products for late 2011 and early 2012 at the event. A similar Meet & Greet event has been held in late winter for the past 5 years—participants asked for a second yearly event.
Attendees at this business-to-business event (not open to the public) will review Savour Ottawa’s 2011 successes, including
- The integration of seven retailer members into the program
- The opening of the Savour Ottawa Field House at the Parkdale Market, a cooperative of 10 Savour Ottawa farmers
- The Savour Ottawa promotions campaign, including videos, ads and @SavourOttawa Twitter feed
- Savour Ottawa’s first-ever public event, the Harvest Table, held on August 28, 2011.
- The inclusion of Savour Ottawa programming in the upcoming Ottawa Wine and Food Festival including a farm tour
- Significant media coverage of the initiative at home and around theworld
Take a stroll through literary Ottawa
From Parliament Hill to Poet’s Hill, it’s a city of letters
Peter Johansen, The Ottawa Citizen
What did you do?
I meandered through Ottawa searching for the city’s literary past.
What literary past?
The one stretching back to French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who wrote about the area in bestselling travelogues in the early 1600s. That tradition remains alive. Margaret Atwood was born here; Elizabeth Hay and Frances Itani still live here. But my literary sleuthing focused on the late 19th century, when many expected Ottawa to become a cultural hot spot.
How did you know where to go?
I didn’t. That’s why I called on Steven Artelle – by day, an analyst at Library and Archives Canada; the rest of the time, a student of local literary culture. He did his PhD on the subject and occasionally leads tours for groups such as literature classes and writing clubs. I joined his fascinating trek from Parliament Hill to Beechwood Cemetery, with a few stops in between.
Parliament Hill? The words there may be loud, but I never found them especially literary.
Perhaps. But Artelle says he begins all his tours there, to gaze upon the river where our earliest writers drew their inspiration. “In fact,” he says, “the Chaudière Falls were so inspiring that it was said even atheists found God there.” But Parliament Hill also signals early efforts to build Ottawa into a cultural capital.
Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: Take a stroll through literary Ottawa
Ottawa Nuit Blanche push gathers steam
Peter Simpson, The Ottawa Citizen
The truest thing said at La Nouvelle Scène on Tuesday night was this: “Ottawa deserves a Nuit Blanche.”
And it does. Ottawa is all grown up now when it comes to visual arts, not as grown up as New York City or Paris or Florence, admittedly, but grown up nonetheless. It has a base of national institutions – the National Gallery, the Museum of Civilization, the War Museum and the National Portrait Gallery (ha! Just kidding, Stephen Harper, go back to your cutting).
Ottawa has a determined if ill-housed city art gallery, and – this perhaps most significant – it now has at least three clearly defined art districts, those clusters of smaller, private galleries that have popped up organically wherever the growing conditions are best, specifically the By-Ward Market, Hintonburg-Wellington-Westboro and Bank Street in Centretown.
Ottawa also has established, annual events that draw attention to visual arts of various types, most notably Festival X, the photography biennial. There are smaller events, such as Chinatown Remixed, the weekend of art installations in that neighbourhood, or the monthly First Thursdays gallery hop in West Wellington, or the formerly named Art in the Park in the Glebe (a neighbourhood that, despite its affluence and education, has seen all of its art galleries/shops close in the past two years).
Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: Ottawa Nuit Blanche push gathers steam
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