Carnival of Cultures
| June 8, 2012 | to | June 10, 2012 |
Le français suivra
Carnival of Cultures is a weekend festival that celebrates folkloric traditions through music, dance, theatre from the four corners of the globe. Come discover South American, European, African, Middle-Eastern, and Asian cultures presented by over 500 local artists who will take the stage at the Marion Dewar Plaza. In addition to non-stop entertainment and activities, the festival also offers tantalizing authentic cuisine, eye-opening demonstrations, and hands-on workshops for people of all ages. Tickets available through Ottawa Festivals.
The world is at your fingertips at Carnival of Cultures!
Le Carnaval des cultures est un festival qui fête les traditions folkloriques par le biais de la musique, la danse, et le théâtre provenant des quatre coins du monde. Venez découvrir les cultures de l’Amérique du Sud, de l’Europe, de l’Afrique, du Moyen-Orient et de l’Asie présentées par au delà de 500 artistes d’ici qui s’afficheront sur la scène du Plaza Mirion Dewar (Festival Plaza) . En plus de spectacles et d’activités continus, le festival offre des cuisines authentiques, des démonstrations révélatrices et des ateliers pour les gens de tous les âges.
Le monde est à portée de main au Carnaval des cultures!
Event Highlights:
- Non-stop entertainment
- Folkloric music, dance, theatre
- Children’s corner
- Demonstrations
- Workshops.
Festival Information:
General information: 613.742.6952
General information email: carnivalofcultures@hotmail.comLocation: Marion Dewar Plaza (formerly known as Festival Plaza)
Ottawa City Hall, Laurier Ave. & Elgin St., Ottawa
Tickets available through Ottawa Festivals.
On the Web:
Website: www.carnivalofcultures.com
Map:
View Map
Westfest
| June 8, 2012 | to | June 10, 2012 |
Westfest is a party like no other! Each year, more than 100,000 people attend Westfest during our outdoor, three-day celebration of Canadian art and culture. As a free multidisciplinary art festival dedicated to showcasing Canadian artists and their work in an accessible and inclusive setting, Westfest fills 14 city blocks with a variety of artistic disciplines such as music, contemporary dance, visual art, media art, performance art, spoken word, poetry and fiction readings, Aboriginal art forms, children’s entertainment, buskers, street performers, and much more.
In addition to the street level celebration, each year the festival hosts an outdoor main stage which features some of the best acts our country has to offer. Past headliners have included Buffy Saint-Marie, Sloan, Joel Plaskett, Jane Siberry, Cowboys Junkies, Kathleen Edwards, and more. Established in 2004, Westfest is a fusion of community and art, and places a special emphasis on diversity, children, and all families. Taking place annually the second weekend of June, Westfest is proud to be Ottawa’s only festival of its size and scope that is free and open to all!
General information: 613.729.3565
General information email: info@westfest.ca
Location: Westboro Village – Richmond Road (between McRae and Berkley Ave.), Ottawa
Westfest Domicile Main Stage – 190 Richmond Road (behind the Real Canadian Superstore parking lot)
On the Web:
Website: www.westfest.ca
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/wesfestinfo
Twitter: www.twitter.com/WESTFESTinfo
Others: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesfest
Canadian Tulip Festival
| May 4, 2012 | to | May 21, 2012 |
[Le français suivra l'anglais]
The Canadian Tulip Festival, now in its 60th year, has grown to become the largest Tulip Festival in the world. It preserves the local heritage of Canada’s role in freeing the Dutch during World War II, and the symbolic tulip; a gift in perpetuity to the Canadian people for providing a safe harbour to the Dutch Royal Family at that time.
The festival’s mandate is to preserve this heritage and celebrate the tulip as a symbol of international friendship by engaging local organizers, volunteers, artists, performers, tourists and festival-goers in what has become an annual ritual of spring and one of Canada’s best loved and well-known cultural events.
Please continue to check www.tulipfestival.ca for updates!
Festival Information:
General information: 613.567.5757 /1.800.66.TULIP
General information email: info@tulipfestival.ca
Ticket information: www.tulipfestival.ca
Volunteer information: www.tulipfestival.ca/volunteer
Location: Throughout the National Capital area
On the Web:
Website: www.tulipfestival.ca/www.festivaldestulipes.ca
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1209015588&ref=ts
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/canadiantulipfestival
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Présentement dans sa 60e année, le Festival canadien des tulipes est aujourd’hui le plus important festival de tulipes au monde. Il commémore la participation des troupes canadiennes à la libération des Pays-Bas durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. La tulipe symbolise un don à perpétuité offert au Canada en remerciement du refuge que la famille royale hollandaise en exil avait pu y trouver à cette époque.
Le mandat du Festival est de préserver cet héritage et de reconnaître la tulipe comme un symbole d’amitié internationale en amenant les organisateurs locaux, les bénévoles, les artistes, les touristes et les festivaliers à participer à ce qui est maintenant devenu un rituel annuel du printemps et l’un des événements culturels les plus populaires et les plus aimés au Canada.
L’information de festivale:
L’information generale: 613.567.5757 /1.800.66.TULIP
L’information generale de couriel: info@tulipfestival.ca
L’information de billets: www.tulipfestival.ca
L’information de benevoler: www.tulipfestival.ca/volunteer
Sur le web:
Website: www.tulipfestival.ca/www.festivaldestulipes.ca
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1209015588&ref=ts
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/canadiantulipfestival
Officials take Tulip Festival ‘where the people are
By Denis Armstrong , Ottawa Sun
At age 60, the Canadian Tulip Festival no longer has an identity crisis.
For the last dozen years, this annual rite of spring in the capital didn’t know what it was.
At times, it’s reinvented itself as a soggy music festival in Major’s Hill Park, then an interactive classical music circus at parks across the city.
The problem was that those thousands of tourists skipped the festival to admire the impressive tulip beds around Dow’s Lake and the Canal.
But this year, the festival’s current honorary chair David Luxton thinks he has a better solution.
Read more: Officials take Tulip Festival ‘where the people are
Paint the Town Tulip
Ordering & Planting Tulip Bulbs
Each year the offers individuals, businesses and community organizations the unique opportunity to purchase official Tulip Festival bulbs at highly competitive prices through its Paint the Town Tulip fundraising event. Paint the Town Tulip is a wonderful way to be part of The Canadian Tulip Festival’s celebration of spring.
Orders will be available for pick-up at 229 Colonnade Road, Ottawa, in the first week of October, 2012.
Bulbs are sold at special rates in quantities of 20 at $15.00 and 100 at $70.00. Bulk orders can also be placed with further savings. To place an order please complete the attached order form and submit it to tulipbulborder@tulipfestival.ca. Orders must be received no later than August 15th 2012 for planting in this Fall in order to bloom next Spring. Several prizes are planned for various categories of tulip garden for Spring, 2013.
Read more: Tulip Festival Fundraiser, Ordering & Planting Tulip Bulbs
New logo, many new events planned for 60th Tulip
Businesses taking bigger role in 2012 edition
By Tony Lofaro, Ottawa Citizen
The Canadian Tulip Festival unveiled a new logo Thursday for the 60th anniversary edition and revealed more programming details, including an international garden party at the former home of the Dutch royals in Canada, a tulip-themed photo contest and a number of festival events in the By-Ward Market, Little Italy and Chinatown.
The festival has undergone a makeover of sorts, moving away from festival-sponsored events on NCC properties and instead venturing into the business community and working with some Business Improvement Areas (BIAs). It’s a new festival model that volunteer chairman David Luxton thinks will work.
“I’m certainly convinced by the response of the business community that there is real enthusiasm to take this on and that’s understandable because they are the primary beneficiaries of it, and, of course, that was the original logic when the board of trade launched the festival 60 years ago,” Luxton said.
The festival will run from May 4 to 21.
Read more: New logo, many new events planned for 60th Tulip Festival
Growing A Greener Festival
The Ottawa Folk Festival has established itself as a leader in reducing environmental impact, creating environmental awareness and setting a positive example in the community. This year’s Festival (August 21 to 23 at Britannia Park) builds on previous initiatives in a number of ways. This year, the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF) awarded the organization a grant to strengthen and expand its environmental initiatives. Areas of particular focus include eliminating plastic water bottles, providing “hydration stations” for refillable containers, raising awareness about the importance of the public water supply, enhancing the EnviroDish reusable dish program, offering displays and discussions in the CUPE EnviroTent, organizing group cycling trips to the festival, and adding a substantial new theme with a focus on Gardening.
The Folk Festival continues to take positive strides and build partnerships as one of the most environmentally friendly festivals in Canada. In collaboration with Ottawa Riverkeeper, Council of Canadians, Life Without Plastic, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and CUPE 503, the Ottawa Folk Festival will be the first festival in Ottawa, and only the second in Canada, to go completely Plastic Water Bottle Free. In an effort to reduce waste and encourage people to drink City water, no plastic water bottles will be sold or distributed on site. Festival-goers are encouraged to bring their own water bottles or purchase a stainless-steel water bottle, available on site and to fill up at the Festival’s Hydration Stations.
As mentioned, the EnviroDish Program will be enhanced this year thanks in part to the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, with 2,500 sets of reusable cutlery being added to the existing plate and dish supply. This program drastically cuts down the amount of waste created during the Festival and saves over 20,000 disposable dishes and over 25,000 pieces of plastic cutlery from ending up in landfill sites. The reusable plates and cutlery are washed on site by a dedicated group of volunteer crew members. This Dishwashing Area is equipped with solar panels provided by Isolara Energy Services (www.isolara.com) that heat the water, and a composting area to process food scraps. “The Reusable Dish Program is a wonderful way to reduce waste and energy consumption, while simultaneously inspiring the public, volunteers, and artists to consider alternatives to a ‘disposable lifestyle’. ” says Julia Adam, the Festival’s Volunteer and Outreach Manager, “And the EnviroDish Volunteer Crew keeps the whole operation rolling right behind the Main Stage….it’s amazing. Come check it out!”
The CUPE EnviroTent has been running since 2002 and is one of the longest running initiatives at the festival. Thanks to CUPE, Arbour Environmental Shoppe, and area coordinator Steph Hummel, the EnviroTent will feature fascinating demonstrations, displays and discussions on topics related to health, social justice and “green” ideas. This year’s discussion topics include human powered vehicles, bicycle-powered sound systems, home greening techniques, solar hot water systems, and worm composting.
This 16th edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival will also showcase one of this year’s major themes – Gardening – by inviting attendees to “Dig Their Roots” through a plethora of garden-related activities, discussions and musically-themed events. Longtime Ottawa Folk Festival performer and Gardening Coordinator Ana Miura, will coordinate a cross-community gardening project and patchwork garden. In addition Ed Lawrence, CBC Radio’s horticultural expert, will be on hand to host several gardening seminars.
Many of the performers at this year’s Festival will also participate in the Gardening theme with an emphasis on becoming more environmentally friendly. Interestingly, a number of artists have names that fit perfectly with this theme, including The Arrogant Worms, Tall Trees, Stewed Roots, DiggingRoots and Charlotte Cornfield! Another act on the bill is Junkyard Symphony, a local Ottawa troupe that turns everyday “junk” into musical instruments. Their performances involve numerous items salvaged from junkyards and waste facilities… everything including the kitchen sink!
Mr. Something Something, an eco-conscious band takes audience participation to a new level with its SoundCycle, Canada’s first bicycle-powered sound system. They will be performing on various stages and hosting a workshop in the EnviroTent.
The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation is a national organization that funds local projects which are dedicated to preserving the environment. Since 1990, TD FEF has provided more than $47 million to support over 17,500 grassroots environmental projects in communities across Canada. In addition to the funds raised by the TD FEF, every year TD Bank Financial Group contributes an additional $1 million to the foundation. The greatest part about TD FEF is that all money raised is put back into those communities in which it was donated.
The Ottawa Folk Festival takes place at Britannia Park from August 21 to August 23, 2009 and features over 50 acts including: Bruce Cockburn, Steven Page, The Sadies, Amy Millan, Joel Plaskett, and Kinnie Starr. Some of the major themes at this year’s Festival include Gardening, Sound Healing, Instrument Building, Cross-Cultural Interaction, and Audience Participation. The Festival features a Dance Tent, environmental and gardening displays and discussions, “build-your-own-ukulele” workshops, Cajun, Swing and Latin dance lessons, and yoga instruction.
For more information, please contact
Richard Bue
Marketing & Publicity Coordinator
graphics@ottawafolk.org
Office: 613-230-8234
Chris White
Artistic Director
cdwhite@sympatico.ca
Cell: 613-327-9621
DIG YOUR ROOTS AT THE OTTAWA FOLK FESTIVAL
Ottawa Folk Festival website: www.ottawafolk.org
The Ottawa Folk Festival, a non-profit charitable organization, gratefully acknowledges the support of the many community businesses, individual donors and volunteers who provide generous support for this community event.
