Festival Updates and News
News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.
Concert to Launch Ottawa Irish Festival Tonight (Mar. 10) – Reminder
A “Proclamation Concert” will officially launch the Ottawa Irish Festival (March 10-17/10). Taking place on March 10, from 7-9:30 p.m., at St. Brigid’s Centre, the evening starts with a proclamation by Mayor Larry O’Brien of “Irish Week” in the City of Ottawa. This will be followed by a musical concert with live entertainment. Kurt Stoodley of A Channel will emcee the event.
ADMISSION: “FREE – with donations”
DOORS open at 6:30 pm. CASH BAR
*** Everyone welcome ***
St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts and Humanities
Home of the National Irish Canadian Culture Centre
(Kildare Room, Lower Level)
310 St. Patrick Street
Ottawa, ON K1N 5K5
Magnetic North Theatre Festival Pitch Sessions – Call for Submissions
Call for Submissions: Pitch Sessions, Magnetic North
March 8, 2010 — TAPA
Magnetic North Industry Series 2010
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
Magnetic North Theatre Festival – June 9 – 19, 2010
The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is the premiere festival of contemporary Canadian theatre in English. Moving between Ottawa and another Canadian city in alternating years, we will celebrate our 8th festival in Kitchener-Waterloo. We will host 9 professional productions from across the country, a student show from Toronto, and myriad ancillary events to enrich your experience. The productions range tremendously in scale and address an array of subjects, in many different styles. What they share is the ability and desire to tour, a notion that is at the very core of Magnetic North.
Pitch Session - Wednesday, June 16, 1pm – 3pm
The Pitch Session is an ideal opportunity for artists to take their project to the next level, find new collaborators and extend touring opportunities, by presenting their shows, or their ideas in development, to producers, artistic directors, festival curators, presenters and other cultural industry representatives. The pitches take place in a theatrical setting, this year at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts. We encourage theatricality in your presentation, though it is not mandatory. The rehearsal the day before the actual event will allow for feedback and revisions if you so require.
For a list of Pitch Selection Criteria and Submission Guidelines, see Call for Submissions: Pitch Sessions.
The deadline to submit your completed application is March 29, 2010.
Successful applicants will be notified by April 5, 2010.
For more information, contact Naomi at 416 703 5491 or naomic@interlog.com.
Volunteer for the Canadian Tulip Festival – Portez-vous bénévole pour le Festival Canadien des Tulipes
Volunteer!
Volunteer for the Canadian Tulip Festival – Portez-vous bénévole pour le Festival Canadien des Tulipes
The Canadian Tulip Festival is the LARGEST festival of its kind in the WORLD!
Join us at the 2010 Canadian Tulip Festival and be part of this year’s 65th Anniversary Liberation edition.
It is the most spectacular springtime explosion of color you will see in Canada’s Capital.
Volunteer positions include: Backstage; International Pavilion; Information Agent (bilingual); Logistics; Security; Décor; and many more!
Please visit our website for a list of all available positions and the online application form or contact us at one of the following:
Website/site web: http://www.tulipfestival.ca
Email/courriel: volunteer@tulipfestival.ca
Phone/téléphone: (613) 567-5757 ext. /poste 231
Soyez Bénévoles!
Le Festival Canadien des Tulipes est le PLUS GRAND festival de tulipes au MONDE!
Joignez-vous au Festival Canadien des Tulipes 2010 et faites partis de l’édition Libération pour le 65e Anniversaire du festival.
Vous pourriez travailler à l’arrière scène, au Pavillon International, en logistique, en sécurité, en décor et encore plus!
S’il vous plait, visitez notre site web pour une liste des positions disponibles et pour notre formulaire d’application enligne ou contactez nous par le prochain :
Website/site web: http://www.tulipfestival.ca
Email/courriel: volunteer@tulipfestival.ca
Phone/téléphone: (613) 567-5757 ext. /poste 231
Carnival of Cultures – Call for Submissions from Performers
The application form for dance groups/dance performers at Ottawa’s Carnival of Cultures can be accessed by visiting Carnival of Cultures. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, March 30, 2010.
Ottawa Storytellers March Performances Begin with Story Swap Open Stage
Ottawa Storytellers present the following performances for March 2010:
Ottawa StoryTellers Story Swap: Open Stage Night
Thursday, March, 4, 7:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Room 156
Free admission
Ottawa StoryTellers offers Story Swap, an open stage night, on the first Thursday of every month at Library and Archives Canada (Room 156). This is an opportunity to experience the art of storytelling for the first time or for new storytellers to practice before an audience. The evenings also include stories by experienced tellers so that new tellers can learn the art.
People are welcome to come and listen, but anyone wishing to tell a storyshould register on arrival with the evening’s host, and s/he will be given a time slot. Stories should be no longer than ten minutes and must be told, not read. They may be traditional stories, folk tales, literary stories, or personal stories.
March 9
Tales from Northern Lands
Anne Nagy and Karen Niven
Stories and Tea
The Tea Party, 119 York St.
7pm-8:45pm
Pay what you can
March 18
A Thousand Welcomes: Stories of Ireland
Mike Burns
NAC 4th Stage, 7:30pm
With the stories he heard as a child and has polished over decades of telling, Mike Burns will bring you to the place that still haunts him though he has been more than Twenty years in Canada. It is a land of fogs and rugged cliffs, farming and fishing, evenings warmed by whiskey and turf and stories. You will know the glimmer of the embers in the hearth, and the old stories that have lived in the place names and in the minds and hearts of the people of the wild western coast of Ireland – the next parish to America, as it is sometimes called. These are stories of love, lust and lies; bright blue spears and little folk; magic and mayhem; wise men and cruel kings; havoc and hunting; laughter and tears.
Tickets are $15, $12 seniors & students and are available at the NAC box office or Ticketmaster.ca 613.755.1111. Package prices are available, 4 shows for $50
March 20
World Storytelling Day Concert
7:30-9:30pm
Children’s Room, Sandy Hill Community Centre
250 Somerset Street East, Ottawa
Come and hear stories from around the world to celebrate World Storytelling Day! This event will feature stories from far and near and an “after dinner potluck” of savoury snacks and desserts. Admission is free.
March 23
Keep Your Hair On! Tales of Bobs, Beards, and Bouffants
Mary Wiggin and Kim Kilpatrick
Stories and Tea
The Tea Party, 119 York St.
7pm-8:45pm
Pay what you can
For more information, visit Ottawa Storytellers.
TD Jazz Youth Summit @ Ottawa Int’l Jazz Festival – Call for Applications
TD Jazz Youth Summit
For the 6th consecutive year, the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival is pleased to invite young jazz musicians between the ages of 17 and 22 to participate in a jazz intensive workshop during the 2010 Festival from June 24 to July 4. The results from the week long summit will be showcased during a special Canada Day presentation on July 1, and again on July 4 on the Festival’s Main Stage in Confederation Park. All eligible young jazz musicians may apply for this exciting musical adventure by March 30th, 2010.
Jim Lewis, the director of this intensive summit, is a renowned jazz professor at Humber College and the University of Toronto. He will select 15 – 20 young musicians from across Canada to participate in this event, consisting of daily 4-hour work sessions, visits from Festival headliners, and other workshop guests.
All Summit participants will receive:
- all access pass to all concerts during the 11-day TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival
- all travel and accommodation expenses for out of town participants (Summit participants are responsible for their own food and beverages)
- a guided tour of Ottawa provided by the National Capital Commission
- eligibility to be selected for a $2,000 scholarship donated by the Festival, and a $1,000 scholarship donated by Harvey Glatt through Rogers
Applications must be received by March 30th, 2010.
Contact Catherine O’Grady at 613.241.2633 or 1-888-226-4495 for detailed information.
March 10 Proclamation Concert to Launch Ottawa Irish Festival
A “Proclamation Concert” will officially launch the Ottawa Irish Festival (March 10-17/10). Taking place on March 10, from 7-9:30 p.m., at St. Brigid’s Centre, the evening starts with a proclamation by Mayor Larry O’Brien of “Irish Week” in the City of Ottawa. This will be followed by a musical concert with live entertainment. Kurt Stoodley of A Channel will emcee the event.
ADMISSION: “FREE – with donations”
DOORS open at 6:30 pm. CASH BAR
*** Everyone welcome ***
St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts and Humanities
Home of the National Irish Canadian Culture Centre
(Kildare Room, Lower Level)
310 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 5K5
Ana Miura to Headline Acoustic Waves at GCTC
Ottawa Folk Festival, in partnership with the GCTC is pleased to present the fourth of five shows in the 2009-10 Acoustic Waves concert series on March 14th, 2010 featuring hometown darling Ana Miura, a mainstay of the Ottawa music scene.
Well-known on Ottawa’s festival stages, Miura was invited by Bruce Cockburn to share the stage with him, Joel Plaskett, & Steven Page as last summer’s Ottawa Folk Festival, and has also opened for Sarah Harmer and Jeremy Fisher.
Her new album, “The Kindness of Years” is her first full-length recording, a much-anticipated follow-up to her debut EP “Tenacious Heart” in 2005 and limited release “Mercury Rising” in 2007.
This time out, Miura was recorded and produced by Ross Murray (Mighty Popo, Lynn Miles, Lynne Hanson), whom she describes as a brilliant mindreader. “Ross created the sound I always heard in my head but never knew how to express,” says Miura. “He took my songs and shaped them into a sonic picture.”
Miura’s “folky style is reminiscent of artists such as Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell and Jewel,” writes Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen music critic. “At each performance, [she] charms a few more people with the delicate power of her songs. She specializes in bittersweet love songs, singing them in a voice that shimmers with cool beauty and accompanying herself with a sure hand on acoustic guitar.”
Miura recently took on a new role as General Manager of the Ottawa Folk Festival, but continues as Chair of Babes for Breasts, an organization she founded that takes female singer-songwriters across Canada to raise money for breast cancer charities. To date, the “Babes” have raised more than $45,000 dollars.
The diminutive singer-songwriter with the big voice and even bigger heart will take to the stage of the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre (1233 Wellington, at Holland) at 8 pm on Sunday, March 14th. Tickets are $22 and available at the GCTC box office. The fifth show in the series will be James Hill and Anne Davison on April 25th.
Thousands of area students looking forward to Blues in the Schools
The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest organization will launch the 12th edition of their long-standing Blues in the Schools program on Monday, March 1. The two-week residency program, which sees professional artists/educators visit 18 area schools this year, will run through March 12.
The program begins with a series of assembly-like presentations. A variety of musicians visit two schools per day, performing a total of 72 presentations over the course of four days. The following phase involves classroom-size core groups, with students enjoying a more formal workshop approach. These sessions include a look at the heritage of blues music while examining its influence on other genres. Song writing, singing, and exploring various instruments is also involved. The workshop phase culminates with students performing for their families, teachers and peers. Ultimately these students are offered an opportunity to perform at the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, during the festival’s Blues in the Schools day.
Initiated in two Ottawa-area schools in 1999, Blues in the Schools has seen tremendous growth. This year, visiting artists/educators and local musicians will deliver the program to more than 7,000 students in Ottawa-area schools. “The intent of the program,” says Bluesfest executive director, Mark Monahan,” is to expose students from all backgrounds to music and to encourage them to use music as a positive outlet in dealing with the world around them.”
Blues in the Schools is a charitable undertaking, which is financially supported by the not-for-profit Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest organization, with essential support from its private-sector partners: Holiday Inn© Hotel & Suites; Steve’s Music Store; and the Ottawa Citizen.
For more on the Ottawa Bluesfest’s community initiatives, please visit www.ottawabluesfest.ca
LE 32e BAL DE NEIGE CONNAÎT UN SUCCÈS RETENTISSANT : Les plaisirs de l’hiver canadien font sortir les foules
La Commission de la capitale nationale (CCN) est heureuse d’annoncer que le 32e Bal de Neige, la fête de l’hiver canadien, a connu un succès retentissant. Bien qu’aucun sondage officiel n’ait eu lieu cette année, les organisateurs estiment que plus de 600 000 visiteurs ont profité les sites officiels au cours des trois week-ends du Bal de Neige, qui s’est déroulé du 5 au 21 février 2010.
« Le Bal de Neige offre l’occasion aux résidants et aux visiteurs du monde entier de vivre une expérience nordique typiquement canadienne. La CCN est fière de contribuer au rayonnement de la région de la capitale du Canada, dans tout le pays et ailleurs dans le monde », a déclaré M. Jean François Trépanier, vice-président administratif des opérations de la CCN, lors de l’au revoir aux glamottes, la cérémonie de clôture du Bal de Neige.
Le Bal de Neige 2010 a souligné la 40e saison de patinage sur le canal Rideau, les Jeux olympiques d’hiver et notre solidarité envers Haïti grâce au projet spécial avec la Croix-Rouge.
Lancement officiel du Bal de Neige American ExpressMD
Le lancement officiel du Bal de Neige American ExpressMD, au Musée canadien des civilisations et au parc Major’s Hill, a été couronné de succès. Plus de 25 000 personnes ont assisté aux prestations sportives et culturelles et au spectacle pyrotechnique éblouissant.
De plus en plus, la CCN désire s’associer des partenaires fédéraux pour offrir une programmation culturelle diversifiée qui met en valeur les richesses des institutions fédérales de la région de la capitale du Canada. Le partenariat avec le Musée canadien des civilisations confirme que cette formule est garante de succès.
Patinoire du canal Rideau
La patinoire du canal Rideau, la plus grande surface de glace naturelle du monde, a été ouverte du Centre national des Arts au lac Dows pendant les trois week-ends du Bal de Neige. La qualité de la glace a été particulièrement favorable à la tenue d’activités le long du canal. Aujourd’hui, marque le 23e jour consécutif de patinage sur la patinoire du canal Rideau et la 40e saison se poursuivra tant que les conditions le permettent.
L’exposition Art urbain, qui exprime la vision qu’ont les jeunes graffiteurs de la patinoire du canal Rideau, a attiré beaucoup de gens à la galerie extérieure du lac Dows. Ces œuvres d’art seront exposées pendant toute la saison de patinage.
Les festivaliers ont pu profiter des plaisirs de l’hiver et s’initier aux traditions canadiennes lors d’activités comme la classique canadienne de hockey sur étang Beaver Cup, la course de lits Bedzzz, les leçons de patinage SubwayMD et l’exposition des portraits d’athlètes olympiques et paralympiques présentés par le Musée du portrait.
Reflets de glace Rogers au parc de la Confédération
Les Reflets de glace Rogers ont émerveillé des milliers de visiteurs et d’amateurs de sculpture sur glace au cours des trois week ends du Bal de Neige.
Le 23e Concours international de sculpture sur glace Rogers, auquel participaient 38 sculpteurs professionnels de 13 pays, a lancé les nombreuses compétitions qui ont suivi au parc de la Confédération. La réplique du NCSM Sackville, une majestueuse sculpture soulignant le 100e anniversaire de la Marine canadienne, et l’imposante sculpture de six tonnes du projet Ours polaire sur glace éphémère, ont été appréciés des visiteurs.
Également, le lounge de cristal Rogers a été le lieu de rassemblement des amateurs de soirées DJ. Celle du renommé DJ Dan Desnoyers a attiré les foules.
Domaine des flocons Sun Life
Le Domaine des flocons Sun Life, au parc Jacques-Cartier à Gatineau, a été le paradis des jeunes et des familles. Des milliers de festivaliers se sont amusés en dévalant les 30 glissoires, en parcourant le labyrinthe de neige qui rendait hommage aux sports olympiques, et en s’adonnant à la pêche blanche sur la rivière des Outaouais.
La CCN, en collaboration avec la Ville de Gatineau, a présenté le Concours national de sculpture sur neige qui avait pour thème « Plaisirs d’hiver ». Les 10 équipes représentant des provinces et des territoires du Canada devaient sculpter leur œuvre à partir d’un bloc de neige de près de 40 tonnes. C’est la sculpture « Les patins de neige » de l’équipe de l’Alberta qui a remporté les grands honneurs en gagnant le Prix du jury et le Prix du public.
Plusieurs spectacles ont retenu l’attention du public, dont celui d’Arthur L’aventurier. La projection du film québécois La Guerre des tuques, qui célébrait son 25e anniversaire, a été très populaire, tout comme les randonnées de la famille Glamotte, les fameuses mascottes du Bal de Neige.
La CCN est fière du succès du Bal de Neige et de la saison de patinage sur le canal Rideau. Elle tient à souligner la collaboration de ses quelque 700 bénévoles, des commanditaires et de ses partenaires, dont les suivants : la Ville de Gatineau, la Ville d’Ottawa, la Société de transport de l’Outaouais, OC Transpo, Anciens Combattants Canada, le gouvernement du Canada, le Musée canadien des civilisations, les Forces canadiennes, le Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable, American ExpressMD, Rogers, La Financière Sun Life et WestJet.
La CCN prévoit que le 33e Bal de Neige aura lieu du 4 au 20 février 2011.
Pour plus de renseignements sur la CCN, composez le 613-239-5000, le 613-239-5090 (ATS), le 1-800 465-1867 ou le 1-866-661-3530 (ATS sans frais), ou visitez le www.capitaleducanada.gc.ca.
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