Articles by author: Nikki Prudden

Federal board now led by Brock faculty member

Thursday, January 12, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden

(Source: The Brock News, Wednesday, January 11, 2017. Photo: Sharilyn J. Ingram, Assistant Professor in the Brock University’s Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture and former director of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, was recently appointed Chair of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board.)

The Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board is now being led by a Brock University faculty member.

Sharilyn J. Ingram, Assistant Professor in the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture and former director of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, was recently appointed Chair of the federal board for a three-year term.

The independent administrative tribunal, which reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage, determines whether cultural property is of outstanding significance and national importance.

The board aims to protect and preserve significant examples of Canada’s artistic, historic and scientific heritage.

Ingram’s appointment was announced Jan. 7 by Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly.

Congratulations, Sharilyn!

Tags: Canadian Heritage, centre for studies in arts and culture, federal government, Sharilyn Ingram, Sharilyn J. Ingram, The Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board
Categories: Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News
Student Funding Opportunity: The Geritol Follies Bursary Fund

Monday, January 09, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden

Future students: Looking for scholarships and funding opportunities? The Geritol Follies Bursary Fund provides an opportunity for students of voice, drama, dance or a musical instrument to apply for a performing arts bursary to develop their talent and pursue their career goals.

Who can apply?

If you have graduated from a publicly-funded high school in Hamilton or Burlington, Ontario and have been accepted or are already enrolled in a performing arts program in a college, university, or institute in Canada or the United States, you can apply. You will need to show why you need financial assistance.

How can the bursary help?

The bursary can be used to assist with tuition and related expenses, and you can apply to the Geritol Follies Bursary Fund to support your studies at a college, university or institute. Talented and promising students with demonstrated financial need have been awarded annual amounts averaging $1,000 – $2,000 per academic year.

How to apply:

You can download the application form from the website of the Hamilton Community Foundation, where you can learn more about this bursary fund.

Deadline for applications:

February 15, 2017

For more information contact:

Hamilton Community Foundation,
120 King St. W. Suite 700,
Hamilton ON L8P 4V2

Phone: 905-523-5600 / Email: information@hamiltoncommunityfoundation.ca

And for more information on student awards, scholarships, bursaries and other funding and financial aid options available to future students at Brock, visit brocku.ca/safa.

Tags: bursaries, future students, geritol follies bursary fund, hamilton community foundation, safa, scholarships, student funding
Categories: Future Students, News
Downtown parking for MIWSFPA opening ceremony

Thursday, September 17, 2015 | By Nikki Prudden
(Source: The Brock News, Thursday, September 17, 2015 | by Kevin Cavanagh. Photo: A parking map for the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts grand opening.)

Guests attending the opening of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts — which starts at 3 pm on Friday, Sept. 18 — should allow a minimum 15 minutes to find parking in downtown St. Catharines and walk to the school.

Please note there is no parking at the Walker School campus, due to the temporary structure installed for the opening ceremony.

However, there are numerous downtown sites that have hourly parking and are a short walk from the MIWSFPA.

Use this legend for the accompanying map:
1. Garden Park / Carlisle Street Garage — 71 Carlisle Street
2. Garden Park Lot — 11 Garden Park
3. St. Paul Street parking lot
4. Ontario Street Parking Garage — 8 Ontario Street
5. Market Square Lot — 50 Church Street, accessible from King or James Streets
6. Central Library Lot — accessible from King or Carlisle Streets
On the map, pedestrian access from St. Paul Street to the Walker School is designated by blue lines.
Tags: 15 artists' common, downtown St. Catharines, grand opening, Kevin Cavanagh, map, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, parking, The Brock News
Categories: Announcements, Events, In the Media, News
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts Alumni Homecoming

Tuesday, September 15, 2015 | By Nikki Prudden

Event date: September 18, 2015, 5 pm – 11 pm

***PLEASE SEE THIS NEWS UPDATE ABOUT PARKING ON SEPTEMBER 18TH***

Alumni of the Arts and Culture, Dramatic Arts, Music and Visual Arts programs and our friends and guests from the Niagara Region and GTA are cordially invited to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Homecoming and Grand Opening!

Please join us for an evening of captivating artwork, exciting performances and beautiful music. Grab a glass of wine, take yourself on a tour of the incredible new MIWSFPA facility and spend some time reconnecting with classmates, professors and friends from the Departments of Dramatic Arts, Music, and Visual Arts, and our Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture.

Official opening ceremonies begin at 3:00; Open house begins at 5:00 pm; VISA Art Gallery Alumni exhibition opens at 5:00 pm; VISA Alumni Dinner, 6:30 – 8 pm at Gord’s Place, 84 James Street; MUSI programming across the evening in multiple venues at 15 Artists’ Common; Cabaret in the DART Theatre at 7:30 pm.

Affiliated events also include:

Tale of a Town St. Catharines
Addressing the Void

and

Confluence Field Trip #1, a fifteen minute walk from Rodman Hall to MWSFPA along the Merritt Trail and McGuire St.. for more information see: confluencefieldtrips.ca

Hope to see you there!

See the Facebook event by clicking here.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE to reserve a seat at the VISA Alumni dinner!

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE for the DART theatre CABARET!

For more information about the Homecoming Weekend program at Brock University, to register for events and to learn about shuttle bus service to the region be sure to visit
https://brocku.ca/alumni/celebrate-homecoming-2
***Please note this event will take place at our new address at 15 Artists’ Common, also known as the former Canada Haircloth Building, in downtown St. Catharines. ***not at 500 Glenridge Avenue ***

Here is a link to a Google street view from June, when our address was known to be IceDogs Way, and here is a Google map for directions to the facilities.

Please see the Brock University Campus Map here: https://brocku.ca/blogs/campus-map/miwsfpa/

We are adjacent to the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre and the Meridian Centre.

***PLEASE SEE THIS NEWS UPDATE ABOUT PARKING ON SEPTEMBER 18TH***

*****

Hear ye! Hear ye! the excellent program for our event on September 18th!

VISA Painting Studio
location: MW 416
4:00-9:00 pm
Open house Exhibition
and
Musical performances in the VISA Painting Studio by:
Brock Jazz Band
Carly Manley
Danny Lamb Trio
Grace Notes String Ensemble
Brock Beatles Band

VISA Drawing Studio
location: MW 406
4:00 – 9:00 pm
Open house Exhibition
and
Musical performances in the VISA Drawing Studio by:
Sabrina Xin Liu, piano
Leanne Vida, piano/vocal
Andrea Nolan, piano/vocal
Neva Tesolin, piano/vocal
Leland, piano/vocal
Melissa-Marie Shriner, piano/vocal
H. Campbell, piano/vocal

VISA Gallery
First floor at the Main Entrance, 15 Artists’ Common
MW 159
5:00-7:00 pm
Opening Reception for the Alumni exhibition
and
Musical performances in the VISA Gallery by:
Grace Snippe, cello
Brody Smith, guitar
Allison Scholtens, violin
Tyler Merza, guitar

Classical Recital in the MUSI Vocal Studio
location: MW 104
6:00 – 9:00 pm
Christina Lerose, piano
Leanne Vida, soprano
Jorgo Kalo, piano
Victoria Hoshowsky, soprano
Negin Rezaei Asl, piano
Caroline Nicole Corkum, soprano and Alexandre Soulodre, piano
Serena Atallah, piano
Erika Versluis, soprano and Tyler Versluis, piano
Sabrina Xin Liu, piano
Leanne Vida, soprano and Jorgo Kalo, piano

DART Theatre Cabaret!
Location: DART Theatre
MW 262
7:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Hosted by Cass Van Wyck and Rox Chwaluk
Guests are welcome to come and go.
In order of performance:

Arms Up Comedy: Caitlin English, Jacqueline Costa, Eric Frank, Chris Boyle
Attic Window Theatre, In Real Life: Collin Glavac, Colin B. Anthes, Eduardo DiMartino, Nicola Franco, Hayley Rose Malouin
Piano and Vocal: Lee Stewart
Brock Improv Alumni: Richard Varty, Rox Chwaluk, Brandon Pachan, Alana Perri.
Piano and Vocal: Melissa-Marie Shriner and Grace Snippe
One Four One Collective, Stuck in Horse- Send Help! : Evan Mulrooney and Kevin Chew
Piano and Vocal: Neva Tesolin
MOVE! : Alex Kazam, Adrien Hurst, Jerry Prom, Mitchell Peebles, Caleb Fast, Mikey Henley
Music by Alejandro Del Pino
The Labour of Forrest Nympho: A Drag Birthing: Geoffrey Heaney
Piano and Vocal: Andrea Nolan
Empty Box Theatre, Waiting for Alonzo: Hayley Rose Malouin, Victoria Cutler, Sean Rintoul
Piano and Vocal: Holly Campbell
Garden City Improv: Collin Glavac, Ross Mosher, Jamie Roboz, David Bernard, Hayley Malouin, Jonas McLean
Guitar and Vocal: Aaron Berger
Open Mic!
FOX TRAIL: Iain Lidstone, Marcus Schwan, Brent Cairns, Adam Wood, Alannah Garrett
~the end~

Special events not to be missed!:

New Work in Progress: Addressing the Void
by Maggie Hunter and performed by Abby Rollo, Gemma Bordonaro and Jacqui Noel. (DART)
location: Studio D MW 256.
6:00 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm

Special Installation of Tale of a Town St. Catharines. Listening Booths by FIXT POINT and Suitcase in Point Theatre Company.
Various locations in the MIWSFPA.

Confluence Field Trip #1, a fifteen minute walk from Rodman Hall to the MIWSFPA along the Merritt Trail and McGuire St.
Artist: Elizabeth Chitty. Participants are invited to participate in this self-guided tour of a section of the Twelve Mile Creek valley. For more information see: http://confluencefieldtrips.ca/

Tags: 15 artists' common, alumni, Alumni Homecoming, Homecoming, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, News
Imagining the City (part of the Walker Cultural Leaders Program, 2015/16)

Friday, September 04, 2015 | By Nikki Prudden
The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts presents Imagining the City, part of the Walker Cultural Leaders Program, 2015/16.

In September, Brock University opened the doors to its new downtown campus dedicated to the arts, the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA). To celebrate this new location and the bond between the Brock and downtown arts communities, the departments in the MIWSFPA (Dramatic Arts, Music, and Visual Arts), the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, and Rodman Hall Art Centre present Imagining the City, part of the Walker Cultural Leaders Program. This festival will run throughout the 2015-16 academic year, and consists of performances, exhibitions, concerts, and conferences, all themed around ideas of the urban, and the relationship between the City and the University.

Imagining the City will bring the Brock, downtown, and greater Niagara communities face-to-face with leading arts professionals and educators, with events happening at the MIWSFPA, Rodman Hall (109 St. Paul Crescent), and venues within the developing creative arts hub of St. Paul Street in St. Catharines. Highlights will include performances of First Nations writer Marvin Francis’ epic poem City Treaty, adapted for the St. Catharines setting (September); a Guitar Extravaganza concert featuring faculty, alumni and aficionados of the classical guitar in the local community (November); Confluence Field Trips, a walking project and virtual reconstruction by acclaimed artist Elizabeth Chitty offering the student community and public an opportunity to explore the environs beyond our new building (January); a staged adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play Major Barbara, entitled Major Predictions, Barbara (February); a concert by the Department of Music’s Wind Ensemble in St. Catharines’ Market Square (March) and much, much more.

Stay connected on social media by following @miwsfpa and #itc on Twitter and Instagram.

Want to keep track of our events? Click the link to download our Imagining the City Calendar of Events in pdf format.

Jump to Dates:
Event hosting legend:
D: Department of Dramatic Arts; M: Department of Music; V: Department of Visual Arts; S: Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture; RH: Rodman Hall

Events

September 2015

D: Exhibition: DART@PQ2015
September 2015 – April 2016
Opening: Alumni Homecoming and Grand Opening, September 18, 2015
Location: DART Theatre Lobby, 2nd Level, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines
Exhibit of DART’s participation in the Canadian PQ2015 (Prague Quadrennial) exhibit Elevations, including parts of national collective project Totem. Theme: MUSIC. WEATHER. POLITICS. Also including: Fault Lines: digital exhibit of Brock students’ work.

V: Confluence Field Trips – Walking Project
Walking Project: Tuesday, September 8 – Sunday, November 15, 2015
Location: Downtown locations
Exhibition: Thursday, January 7 – Friday, January 29, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, January 8, 2016, 7-9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery , 15 Artists’ Common
See confluencefieldtrips.ca for more information and how to participate.
The site of the MIWSFPA is rich with cycles of wilderness, settlement, industry, abandonment and reclamation. Confluence Field Trips is a website, walking project, and exhibition. It is about time and the places below the new school and performing arts centre. It is walking, seeing, listening and contributing if you choose. The artist invites the school community and public to claim space, see and be seen, hear and be heard.

V: Shifting Practices, Department of Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition, Curated by Emma German
Thursday, September 10 – Saturday, October 10, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, September 18, 2015, 5 – 11 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
Timed with the unveiling of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Shifting Practices follows the work of six alumni from the Department of Visual Arts. Upon graduating from the Visual Arts Honours program, these artists have established their careers through exhibitions, artist residencies, graduate degrees, and national awards. This exhibition explores how their individual practices have evolved, from the time when the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts was first imagined, until its realization. Artists: Sarah Beattie, Candace Couse, Alicia Kuntze, Ben Mosher, Carrie Perreault, Bruce Thompson.

M: citySounds
Friday, September 11, 2015, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Location: Raceway behind the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines
Percussionist Devon Fornelli will converse in real time with the city soundscape using traditional instruments and found materials.

M: Pop Up Performances
September 11, 14, 15, 16, 2015, 12 – 1 p.m.
Location: Various Downtown Locations
Musical Performances by Colin Maier, Oboe (and other instruments), and Alexander Sevastian, Accordion.

RH: Hot Talk: Sarindar Dhaliwal
Thursday, September 17, 2015, 7 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines

D: City Treaty
Saturday, September 19, 2015, 5 – 9 p.m.
Sunday, September 20, 2015, 12:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Location: In and around the DART Theatre and lobby, 15 Artists’ Common, Other Downtown Locations
Saturday: 5 p.m. Opening Ceremony
5:30 p.m. Dance, Drumming & Vendor Fair
6:30 p.m. Historical Talk with Rick Hill
7 p.m. City Treaty Presentation
Sunday: 12:30 p.m. Perpetual Peace Project Concert
2 p.m. City Treaty Presentation
3 p.m. Workshops
5 p.m. Closing Ceremony
5:30 p.m. Celebration at Rise Above, 120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines
Featuring a stage adaptation of Marvin Francis’ epic long poem City Treaty, art by multi-disciplinary artist Shelly Niro, a historical talk with Rick Hill, workshops, dance demonstrations, music, food and more. The event wishes to honour the land the new theatre is built upon and open its doors to all peoples.

To register for workshops and/or performances, please visit: http://discover.brocku.ca/city-treaty

RH: Hot Talk: Maggie Groat
Saturday, September 26, 2015, 2 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines

RH: Hot Talk: Derek Knight
Wednesday, September 30, 2015, 12 p.m.
Location: Mahtay Café, 241 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines

Back to top

October 2015

M & V: Cello and Drawing Performance
Friday, October 9, 2015, 7 p.m.
Location: Visual Arts Painting Studio (Rm. MW416), Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines
Cellist Gordon Cleland will perform in our new Visual Arts studio surrounded by students and professional artists, who will be creating works of art. Cleland is principal cellist with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, and an instructor in the Department of Music.
Free community event, limited seating.

RH: Donna Szőke: Cloud, Curated by Stuart Reid
Saturday, October 10, 2015 – Sunday, January 17, 2016
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 25, 2015, 3 – 5 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines
Cloud is an assemblage of limited-edition prints and objects that explores relational meaning. Donna Szőke has created a collection of works that convey messages that are sometimes absurd, often humorous, never singular, but existing in relation to other parts of the whole. The materials chosen for the prints usually have an association with the text or message. For Decoy, the artist made a series of 3D-printed, trompe l’oeil Tim Horton’s doughnuts. The relationship between the doughnut and the hole, the original and the copy, the single and the baker’s dozen, may be confounding or irrational, but serves to point out how ideas are ephemeral structures. The artist writes: “Absurdity, irrationality, immanence, failure and anachronism are the unifying themes of Cloud… Ideas arise and are fleeting. They form, peak and disappear in sets of relationships to other ideas. Insights echo across instances of ideas.”

V: Donna Szőke: Satellite, Curated by Stuart Reid
Monday, October 19 – Saturday, November 28, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, October 23, 2015, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
Satellite is the collected media art works by Donna Szoke, from 2011 to present. It is literally a satellite show of the exhibition Cloud, installed at Rodman Hall Art Centre. While Cloud coalesces print, sculpture and multiples into one body of work, Satellite presents digital drawings, single channel video and media art works that speak to the ethereal regions of digital art practice. These digital artworks investigate the invisible, elided and mysterious.

RH: Hot Talk: Julia Haimburger
Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 12 p.m.
Location: Mahtay Café, 241 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines

RH: Hot Talk: Bill Burns
Sunday, October 25, 2015, 2 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines

RH: Bill Burns: Hans Ulrich Obrist Hear Us, Curated by Stuart Reid in collaboration with Jennifer Matotek, Director/Curator, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
Sunday, October 25, 2015 – Sunday, January 3, 2016
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 25, 2015, 3 – 5 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines
This survey exhibition of recent work by Bill Burns deals with longing, particularly longing for success, for assistance, for recognition, for a different type of world. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Burns makes overt pleas to art world celebrities, critiquing the politics of power that support them. The artist creates small-scale models of the world’s great museums with rooftop signs spelling out his request to curatorial luminaries. The pleas take the form of a litany: “priez pour nous”, “protect us”, “délivrez-nous”, “hear us.” Burns has met and worked with many of the curators he references through his expansive career in conceptual art in São Paulo, Toronto, London, and New York. In another nod to his powerful peers, the artist has created a series of small bobble-head likenesses that directly address notions of commodification within the contemporary art ecology.

Back to top

November 2015

S: Harvest Time by Renée Baillargeon
Saturday, November 7, 2015, 8 p.m.
Location: Studio A (MW 251), 15 Artists’ Common
The Centre for Studies in Arts & Culture will present dramatic readings of 4 short plays by 4 established local playwrights touching on “Harvest Time” in St. Catharines. Directed by STAC instructor Renée Baillargeon, each play will be preceded by a photo collage from STAC student Alex Craddock, scored against music by STAC Alumni Jon Link. The dramatic readings feature Brock students Mark Dickinson, Naomi Richardson, Alex Li Tomulescu, Michael Fusillo, Naomi Mitchel and Keegan Cahill.

D: Engaging Possibilities/Joining The Fires
November 17-19, 12-5 p.m.
Location: Studio A (MW 251), 15 Artists’ Common
Presentation of transdisciplinary workshops including the Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) community and DART scenography students.
Workshops will be in the afternoons. Workshops open to participants ONLY. Contact David at dvivian@brocku.ca for more information.

RH: HOT TALK! Donna Szőke in conversation with Emily Rosamond
Thursday, November 12, 2015, 7 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines
In conjunction with her solo exhibition Cloud, Brock University Visual Arts professor Donna Szőke discusses her work with visiting artist-researcher Emily Rosamond, Commonwealth Scholar in Art at Goldsmiths, University of London UK.
HOT TALKS! are generously supported by Partridge Wealth Management RBC Dominion Securities Inc., St. Catharines

M: Guitar Extravaganza
Saturday, November 21, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines
Brock University students, alumni and faculty perform with regional guitarists, guitar teachers and composers, and special guests in an evening of solo and small ensemble performances. The grand finale will be “The Mighty Niagara Guitar Orchestra” performing the North American premiere of The Journey, composed by Brock University guitar instructor Timothy Phelan.
The Guitar Extravaganza is a free community event, with donations gratefully accepted on behalf of Pathstone Mental Health.

S: Her Voice in Black: Black Female Narrative in Lyric Theatre by Carla Chambers
Sunday, November 29, 2015, 3 p.m.
Location: DART Theatre, 15 Artists’ Common
Directed by Virginia Reh, and featuring accompanist Brahm Goldhamer, Her Voice in Black explores some of opera’s black female characters. The concert is 45 minutes and consists of selections from operatic repertoire exploring intersections between the social and personal meanings of identity and representation in art. With art direction by visual artist Bob Chaylt Jeffreys, the set list includes musical selections from Giuseppe Verdi, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, and new work by American composer Nkeiru Okoye.
Back to top

December 2015

V: ART BLOCK
Tuesday, December 1 – Friday, December 18, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, December 11, 2015, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
Celebrating our new school in downtown St. Catharines, ‘ART BLOCK’ is hosted by the Brock Art Collective, and showcases the works of over 45 Brock students on 6×6 inch wood panels in a variety of media. Pieces will be available for purchase starting at $40. Treat yourself, or find a holiday gift at this free community event!

M: Christmas Carolling
Saturday, December 12, 2015, 1- 3 p.m.
Simultaneous Locations: St. Catharines Public Library Atrium & FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Lobby
Join us in spreading some holiday cheer! Enjoy a festive treat of traditional Christmas carols performed by members of the Brock University Choirs and Avanti Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Harris Loewen.
Free community event!

S: The Exquisite Vine
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Location: The Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce Education Centre, 1 St. Paul Street.
The Exquisite Vine is a collaborative mentorship Art project between downtown St. Catharines’ creative professionals, and fine and performing arts students. This exhibition is a public event to showcase the artistic concepts and designs the students are developing into final works of art.
Free community event!

Back to top

January 2016

V: Elizabeth Chitty: Confluence Field Trips Exhibition
Thursday, January 7 – Friday, January 29
Opening Reception: Friday, January 8, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
This installation is part of the artist’s project which includes a website, walking project, and performance, in which the public was invited to CLAIM SPACE | SEE AND BE SEEN | HEAR AND BE HEARD through walking in Canal Valley. The “confluence” of the title is that of Dick’s Creek and Twelve Mile Creek. The project was predicated by the opening of two arts buildings in St. Catharines that overlook Canal Valley, marking a new phase in a site rich with cycles of wilderness, industry, abandonment, and reclamation.

RH: Shawn Serfas: Inland, Curated by Stuart Reid
Saturday, January 9 – Sunday, March 20
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 28, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent.
Swirling, thrusting marks traverse complex surfaces in this new body of large-scale abstract paintings called the Inland Series by Shawn Serfas. The artist explores the toxic potential of oily black as it infuses the ground, almost extinguishing the incendiary bars of hot red and yellow that burn like a furnace in the bottom quadrant of several of the paintings. Manipulating the liquidity of paint, the artist creates wet layers and crackling surfaces that illustrate the alchemic properties of the material. Serfas addresses environmental issues in these works, the uneasy pollution of materials seeping into the unspoiled cells of pure colour. This world is in dramatic flux, churning and changing; each painting evidence of an arrested state of human-made unbalance.

RH: Jim Verburg, Curated by Marcie Bronson**Postponed
Saturday, January 16 – Sunday, May 1
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent.
This event has been postponed until 2017.

RH: Visual Appropriations and Rewritings, Curated by Catherine Parayre & Shawn Serfas
Friday, January 29 – Sunday, February 21
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 28, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent.
Students in the Brock University courses “Intermediate Painting” and “Interpretive and Critical Writing in the Arts” reflect creatively on well-known artists’ writings and offer a visual and textual panorama of reinterpreted views. The exhibition will then travel to the University of Innsbruck, Austria in June, 2016 on the invitation of the Zentrum für Kanadastudien.

RH: Amy Friend, Assorted Boxes of Ordinary Life, Curated by Marcie Bronson
Friday, January 29 – Sunday, May 1
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 28, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent.
Inspired by a small found archive of personal photographs, documents, and objects, Amy Friend presents a new body of photo-based work that considers how identity comprises both fact and fiction. Composing images by overlaying fragments of the archive with anonymous secondhand photographs and her own original photographs, she infers narratives from the minimal details the remnants provide. Ambiguous and morphing, these composite images at once explore and confuse the history they reference, and Friend uses this to reflect on how we understand and interpret the people around us. So little can say so much, and even greater is the unexplored mystery of the spaces in between what is known.

D: Drama in Education & Applied Theatre Symposium on Active Citizenship
Friday, January 29, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Keynote by Kathleen Gould Lundy, with a response by Jonothan Neelands
Location: Dramatic Arts Theatre, 15 Artists’ Common
A symposium on the role of Drama in Education and Applied Theatre in exploring concepts of citizenship, community and care as they relate to living with others in structured and unstructured spaces. The Keynote Address (“Pedagogy of Time and Place”) and Response on January 29 are open to the public, and admission is free.

S: PANEL DISCUSSION: “Reinventing the Downtown through the Arts”
Friday, January 29, 2 – 4 p.m.
Location: Lecture Praxis Room, Rm. MW156, 15 Artists’ Common
A public panel discussion to present successful examples of urban regeneration through cultural activities. The participating panelists represent a variety of sectors within the arts community. Studies in Arts and Culture faculty member Sharilyn Ingram will moderate this illuminating public talk.

PLEASE NOTE: This event was originally scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., but has been moved to 2 p.m.
Free community event.

Back to top

February 2016

S: Black History Film Festival
Friday, February 5 & 26 at 6 pm
Saturday, February 6 & 27 at 1pm
Location: Lecture Praxis Room, Rm. MW156, 15 Artists’ Common
Discover cinematic narratives by filmmakers and authors from the African Diaspora. Films to be shown include Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing”, Biyi Bandele’s “Half of a Yellow Sun”, and Sherry Hormann’s “Desert Flower”, among others.
This event will also feature guest speaker and Brock faculty member, Dr. Tamari Kitossa.

PLEASE NOTE: This event was originally scheduled to take place on 4 Mondays in February, but has been rescheduled to the first and last Fridays and Saturdays in February. Plan to join us on these dates!

Free community event.

V: Forever After: Painting And The Eye That Touches, Co-Curated by Cory Dixon and Joshua Gale
Tuesday, February 2 – Saturday, March 5
Opening Reception: Friday, February 5, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
Forever After: Painting and The Eye That Touches is a curated rebuttal to the MOMA’s recent survey of contemporary painting. Despite being highly criticized, Laura Hoptman’s exhibition Forever Now started a critical conversation with poignant and important aesthetic questions about how the act of reading and creating paintings has radically changed in a world where the internet is almost seamlessly integrated in daily life. Assembling artists from Canada and New York in this new exhibition, Forever After: Painting and the Eye That Touches is an alternative proposition on what great painting can be in light of the radical changes in our relationship to history, images and the craft of constructing and viewing paintings.
Participating Artists: Emily Davis Adams (USA), Dana James (USA), Daniel John (USA), Zachari Logan (Canada), Shawn Serfas (Canada)

D: POOR by Essential Collective Theatre, co-presented by FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre with production assistance by DART
February 18 – 28: Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets: Available at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Location: Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines
A new one-woman play by Vancouver playwright Suzanne Ristic, this darkly comic piece was first produced in 2014 at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Essential Collective Theatre’s production will be performed by DART part-time faculty member and ECT Artistic Director Monica Dufault, and is directed by Karen Wood.
The play centres on an ultra rich Canadian woman, Shelly Cormorant, who pretends to be homeless in order to better understand the plight of the 99%. A contemporary Marie Antoinette in her ignorance, Shelly unwittingly offends everyone she meets in her attempt to empathize with the “poor”, all the while taking advice from a vision of Scarlett O’Hara.

D: Major Predictions, Barbara
Tuesday, February 23, 7:30 p.m.
Location: DART Theatre, 15 Artists’ Common
Workshop and reading of a new play by David Fancy, written in response to George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, directed by Lezley Wade. Major Predictions, Barbara features a cast of DART students and current and past members of the Shaw Festival ensemble. It takes place in our contemporary world of “killer code,” TED talks, and predictive surveillance; Fancy’s text is intercut with passages from Shaw’s original text.

M: Music Ed Plus Jazz Ensemble
Friday, February 26, 3 p.m.
Location: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre lobby, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines
Please join us to hear some great jazz favourites performed by Brock’s music majors in the beautiful lobby of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.
Music Ed Plus gives music majors at Brock University practical experience in a variety of music settings. This unique experiential program includes practical learning opportunities through professionally-coached ensembles and community volunteer placements, as well as workshops and lectures by experts in diverse musical careers. Participation in the program gives students a strong edge in their preparation for their future musical endeavours.
Free community event!

RH: Hot Talk: Amy Friend
Thursday, February 25, 7 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines

Back to top

March 2016

M: Music Ed Plus Vocal and Woodwind Chamber Ensembles
Friday, March 4 & 11, 3 p.m.
Location: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre lobby, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines
Please join us to hear some great classical favourites performed by Brock’s music majors in the beautiful lobby of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.
Music Ed Plus gives music majors at Brock University practical experience in a variety of music settings. This unique experiential program includes practical learning opportunities through professionally-coached ensembles and community volunteer placements, as well as workshops and lectures by experts in diverse musical careers. Participation in the program gives students a strong edge in their preparation for their future musical endeavours.
Free community event!

V: A Field Guide to Nowhere, Curated by Amy Friend
Tuesday, March 8 – Saturday, April 9
Opening Reception: Friday, March 18, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
A unique international perspective provided by artists Susan Dobson (Canada), Marja Pirila (Finland), Byron Wolfe and Mary Ellen Bartely (United States), this exhibition explores photography’s uncanny ability to transport the viewer beyond the bounds of their physical locale.
Free community event!

RH: Hot Talk: Shawn Serfas
Thursday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines

M: Brock University Wind Ensemble in Market Square
Friday, March 18, 12 noon – 1 p.m.
Location: Market Square, 91 King Street, St. Catharines
The University Wind Ensemble will delight the lunchtime crowd with great music. Brock students are joined by talented community volunteers in this rousing ensemble. There may even be a chance for an audience member to conduct the band.

V & RH: #trynottocryinpublic – Brock University Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition, Curated by Marcie Bronson and Stuart Reid
Saturday, March 26 – Sunday, April 10
Opening Reception: Friday, April 1, 7 -9 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines
Presented in two chapters, this exhibition displays the work of selected graduating Brock University Visual Arts students. Occupying Rodman Hall’s third floor studios during the academic year, students in the Honours Studio course are mentored by gallery staff and professors Shawn Serfas and Donna Szőke, and learn to develop a focused body of work from concept to public exhibition.
Such exhibits from the Department of Visual Arts are a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate to build connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University

Back to top

April 2016

V: Back and Forth, Brazil/Canada Exhibition
Thursday, April 14 – Saturday, May 28
Opening Reception: Friday, April 22, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Art Gallery, 15 Artists’ Common
This group exhibition includes work by two Brazilian artists, Jefferson Kielwagen and Nilton Santo Tirotti, and two Canadian artists – Duncan MacDonald and Ehryn Torrell. The exhibition explores compassionate conceptualism, public engagement, gifting, listening, neo-sincerity, and conceptual mapping.

D: Engaging Possibilities/Joining The Fires
Tuesday workshops, April 12 – May 10, 12 – 5 p.m., May 17, 9 am – 5 p.m.
Location: Location: Studio A (MW 251), 15 Artists’ Common
Workshops for Community Members who use Alternative, Augmented Communication (AAC) and Open Studio on May 17.
Presentation of transdisciplinary workshops including the Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) community and DART scenography students.
Workshops will be in the afternoons (exact timing TBA). Workshops open to students and the DART community; possible final public outcome (TBA).

V & RH: #trynottocryinpublic – Brock University Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition, Curated by Marcie Bronson and Stuart Reid
Saturday, April 16 – Sunday, May 1
Opening Reception: Friday, April 15, 2016, 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines
Presented in two chapters, this exhibition displays the work of selected graduating Brock University Visual Arts students. Occupying Rodman Hall’s third floor studios during the academic year, students in the Honours Studio course are mentored by gallery staff and professors Shawn Serfas and Donna Szőke, and learn to develop a focused body of work from concept to public exhibition.
Such exhibits from the Department of Visual Arts are a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate to build connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.

S: The Exquisite Vine
Friday, April 29
Location: Rm. MW 406, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines
The Exquisite Vine is a collaborative mentorship art project between downtown St. Catharines’ creative professionals, and fine and performing arts students. This exhibition is a public event to showcase the multidisciplinary works of art, inspired by the growing creative community based downtown. Disciplines include painting, sculpture, installation, and new media. Find out more information at theexquisitevine.ca.

Free community event!

RH: Hot Talk: Jim Verburg **Postponed
Thursday, April 7
Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent.
This event has been postponed until 2017.

Back to top
Tags: 15 artists' common, Art is in the City, downtown St. Catharines, Imagining the City, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, performance series, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Categories: Events, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Our New Home

Sunday, April 05, 2015 | By Nikki Prudden
The future of Niagara starts now with a Home for the Arts

New facilities will soon be opened by the City of St. Catharines and Brock University to serve all of Niagara. This partnership will open a major arts cluster in downtown St. Catharines. The City is constructing the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre at St.Paul and Carlisle Streets. Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) will move to the adjacent site of the former Canada Hair Cloth factory.
The project is set to revitalize the urban growth centre of Niagara, add a major new cultural attractor to our region and serve artists, students and audience members from across the peninsula. The specialized, purpose-built and professionally managed facility will present, promote and develop the arts in Niagara.

For the most up-to-date information about this exciting project see buildingtheartsdowntown.ca
Also see these site tour pictures: The new Performing Arts Centre and The new MIWSFPA at 198 St. Paul.

Here is a recent slide show of the new facility:

Conceptual Renderings

Elevations of the project under construction for completion in 2015.
Images are sourced from http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/experiencein/DowntownPerformingArtsCentre1.asp
Drawings by Diamond + Schmitt Architects.
UPDATE: City of St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre (PAC): Images presented at the Project Open House, September and October 2011. Future students of the MIWSFPA will be learning and performing in the Recital Hall and the Film/Video Theatre of the PAC. Adjacent to the city-built PAC is the new home of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. Click on a thumbnail to view a larger image.

Drawings by Diamond + Schmitt Architects.
Site and Venues

The Canada Hair Cloth Building is the chosen site for the MIW SFPA, and the St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre is planned for property at the corner of Carlisle and St. Paul Street. Links between the two facilities are part of the conceptual plans.

Five distinct arts discipline-specific performance venues are planned:
- 900-seat concert hall
- 300-seat recital hall (for the MIW SFPA with some community access)
- 300-seat theatre venue (MIW SFPA)
- 250-seat dance/theatre venue
- 200-seat film venue (shared access)
The project also includes new classrooms, studio space and all the additional spaces required for the Music, Theatre and Visual Arts programs at Brock, as well as office space, rehearsal hall, a café and lobby space for the PAC and community arts organizations.

Video Teasers

..not so long ago this was the view into our new facility . . .

A recent tour of the historic Haircloth building in downtown St. Catharines drew a crowd. The building is about to be transformed into the site of Brock’s Fine & Performing Arts programs.

Press

Provincial funding announced for the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

April 14, 2010 — St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley announced that the Ontario government will provide $26.2 million over four years to help build a new home for the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. The funding is a major breakthrough for the university and the community. The new Marilyn I. Walker School is being built in partnership with the City of St. Catharines, which will build a civic Niagara Centre for the Arts on the other half of the downtown site. This combined project will revitalize and rejuvenate the downtown core through the renovation of heritage buildings and construction of new performance and staging facilities including a dedicated theatre, rehearsal, teaching and research studios. More than 500 full-time students and faculty will relocate to this new facility, freeing up much needed space for other programs at Brock’s main campus in south St. Catharines. (from The Brock News)
Tags: 15 artists' common, canada hair cloth building, downtown revitalization, downtown St. Catharines, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, our new home
Categories: Announcements, News