News

  • Downtown parking for MIWSFPA opening ceremony

    Thursday, September 17, 2015 | By

    (Source: The Brock News, Thursday, September 17, 2015 | by . 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.

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, In the Media, News

  • Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts Alumni Homecoming

    Tuesday, September 15, 2015 | By

    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/

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, News

  • Art is in the City

    Thursday, September 03, 2015 | By

    itc-poster-cmMEDIA RELEASE
    R00125
    2 September 2015
    Brock University — Communications & Public Affairs

    Art is in the City

    As Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts opens a new era in its new urban setting, it is launching a performance series to celebrate the bond between the community and the new arts centre of excellence in downtown St. Catharines.

    The series Imagining the City – part of the Walker Cultural Leaders Program, 2015/16 – consists of performances, exhibitions, concerts and conferences, all themed around ideas of the urban, and the relationship between the City and the University.

    “Our goal is to invite the community to engage with us in a series of celebratory events, 40 or more, that run the course of the academic year,” said Derek Knight, MIWSFPA Director. “Formal or improvised, these activities will take place in our dynamic new building and in venues across the City, from the café to the concert hall, the theatre to the gallery, the outdoor environs to the street itself. What a wonderfully immersive way to bridge between our communities and to strengthen our ties.”

    Knight said events will build on the creativity and vision of faculty, students and the professional talents of many sister organizations and collaborators. “The idea that the city is a crucible for creative interaction and collective reflection, is a powerful concept and demonstration of the arts at their most compelling,” he said.

    The series will be dynamic and original and appeal to a variety of people, whether they are fans of theatre, musical performances, exhibitions or discussions.

    Imagining the City will bring Brock, the downtown and the greater Niagara community face-to-face with leading arts professionals and educators, with events occurring at the MIWSFPA, Rodman Hall, and venues within the developing creative arts hub of St. Paul Street.

    “At this crucial moment in the revival of our downtown the vitality of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is manifest in programs such as the Walker Cultural Leader Series,” Knight said.

    The series will consist of more than 40 wide-ranging events, including:

    • 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, 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 collaboration between the Shaw Festival and the Department of Dramatic Arts on a staged reading of George Bernard Shaw’s play Major Barbara, entitled Major Barbara/Major Predictions(February);
    • a concert by the Department of Music’s Wind Ensemble in St. Catharines’ Market Square (March).

    The full program can be found here. Stay connected on social media by following @miwsfpa and #itc.

    All events for Imagining the City are free, and open to the public (the only exception being Poor by Essential Collective Theatre, co-presented by FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre with production assistance by DART).

    For more information or to arrange interviews: Marie Balsom, Communications Coordinator, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University mbalsom@brocku.ca, 905.688.5550 x4765

    – 30 –

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    Categories: Media Releases, News

  • Brock Mobile App available.

    Tuesday, August 11, 2015 | By

    Brock University has recently released a mobile resource app that lets Brock students, staff, and faculty quickly access campus and local resources 24/7. For more information on this useful app and how to download it click HERE.

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, News

  • Looking for a Humanities Context Credit? DART 1F95

    Tuesday, July 28, 2015 | By

    dart1f95-flyer_picDrama in Education & Applied Theatre I
    Releasing your Creative Side

    Through collective creation and collaboration with classmates students learn how drama can be used for social change, team building, and as a learning tool. Students can experience the meaning of social commitment through dramatic creations that provoke, inform, celebrate, and respond to local and global events.

    DART 1F95
    9:00-­‐10:00 (Seminar)
    +
    10:00-­‐1:00 (Studio/Lab)
    (W or R)
    (See calendar for details)

    contact dramatic.arts@brocku.ca for more information

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    Categories: Department/Centre News, Future Students, News

  • DART, MUSI and MARS present in Toronto at PLS (Poculi Ludique Societas) Festival of Medieval Theatre

    Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | By

    vsCOLLEAGUES, STUDENTS, FRIENDS & FAMILY, If you were in Toronto in early June you were fortunate to see a performance of:

    Visitatio Sepulchri
    (the Visit to the Sepulchre)

    A 12th-CENTURY EASTER MUSIC DRAMA
    acting version transcribed and translated
    by W. L. Smoldon from the ‘Fleury Playbook’

    A collaboration between:
    Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies,
    Department of Dramatic Arts, Department of Music

    Part of the PLS (Poculi Ludique Societas) Festival of Medieval Theatre.

    When: Saturday, June 6, 7 p.m.
    Sunday, June 7, 2:30 p.m.
    Where: Trinity College Chapel University of Toronto,  6 Hoskin Avenue

    Music Director: Dr. Brian Power, Department of Music
    Stage Director: Professor Virginia Reh, Department of Dramatic Arts

    img_1284cr_400px

    The company of Visitatio Sepulchri in the Trinity College Chapel. Photograph by Mrs. Chin Tso.

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    Categories: Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • With construction finished, Brock’s new downtown arts school gets ready to educate

    Monday, June 01, 2015 | By

    (Source: The Brock News, Monday, June 1, 2015. Photo: Music student Grace Snippe performs during a media tour of the Marilyn I. Walker School for the Fine and Performing Arts on Friday. A videographer from CHCH in Hamilton zooms in.)

    On 15 May 2015, after more than two years of construction, a major project in downtown St. Catharines was granted formal occupancy by the city’s building department.

    At that moment, the new home of Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts officially stopped being a building project and began life as a dynamic educational facility.

    The keys were handed over, and the University became responsible for everything from security guards to providing Wi-Fi, switching on the lights and cleaning the restrooms.

    Brock University President Jack Lightstone calls the MIWSFPA a landmark development for Brock and Niagara.

    “For Brock, it provides another purpose-built facility serving the very specialized needs of the school, like the Cairns Complex has done for science and health science,” he said. “For Niagara, it is a landmark in what a university and a city government can achieve in a close working partnership to bring new life and a new economic base to St. Catharines’ downtown core.”

    The five-storey school is partly new construction and partly restored heritage buildings, including a 19th-century textile mill. But it’s all state-of-the-art, from the new 235-seat performing arts theatre to its digital media studios, photo darkrooms, instrumental music rooms and any other number of specialized facilities needed to support the development of students within numerous genres of dramatic arts, music and visual arts.

    The project was designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, who have been the visionaries behind entertainment complexes in cities from Toronto and Montreal to St. Petersburg, Russia.

    “The adaptive re-use of this fine heritage structure is bringing to life innovations in dramatic arts education that demonstrate the value of preserving this building in the revitalization of St. Catharines,” said Michael Leckman, principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects.

    The inaugural wave of 500 students won’t arrive for another three months, but from now until September the Walker School will bustle with activity.

    Just furnishing an empty 93,700-square-foot complex will take weeks, and once the moving trucks have stopped unloading, faculty and staff members relocating from the Walker School’s current home on the main Brock campus will scramble to get settled and organized for a September they will always remember.

    The ambitious $45.5-million project was made possible by a $26.2-million investment from the Ontario government as well as a $15-million transformational gift from local textile artist and philanthropist Marilyn I. Walker.

    Walker, who recently got her first tour of the completed project, said she was extremely pleased with the final result.

    “It’s a challenge to your imagination to comprehend what all could be done within this building when it comes to educating students,” she said. “It’s not what the physical building means so much as the opportunities it will provide … the possibilities for using these state-of-the art facilities for the benefit of the community.”

    Official opening ceremonies are being planned for mid-September, during Brock’s Homecoming Weekend, and University officials are also working on plans for public tours of the landmark facility, probably sometime in the fall.

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    Categories: In the Media, News

  • Almost ready for the big move!

    Monday, June 01, 2015 | By

    University architect and project manager Scott Roper leading the tour outside of the Learning Commons of the new facility of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St.Catharines.

    The four programs of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts — Dramatic Arts, Music, Studies in Arts and Culture, and Visual Arts — are counting down to the big move to the new facility at 198 St. Paul in downtown St. Catharines.  The trucks start rolling at the end of this month.  To say we are excited would be an understatement!

    On May 29, 2015 we invited student and media to join us for a tour of the new facilities. Take a look at these reports from CHCH Television, Cogeco “The Source”, the St. Catharines Standard, and the Brock News.

    We also invite you to have a look at the following slide show of photos taken by the Chair of Dramatic Arts, David Vivian:

     

    For more information please contact Marie Balsom.

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    Categories: Alumni, Future Students, In the Media, News

  • Visual Arts Instructor wins teaching excellence award

    Friday, April 24, 2015 | By

    (Source: The Brock News, Friday, April 24, 2015)

    Visual Arts Instructor Amy Friend has been awarded with the Clarke Thomson Award for Excellence in Sessional Teaching.

    The award is presented annually to an instructor who is on contract or a limited term appointment and has been teaching undergraduate classes for two or more years.

    Friend was ‘elated’ to hear that she won the award. She was particularly excited to have her work validated and recognized.

    “I work at establishing an environment that empowers students to be thinkers who actively seek creative solutions in their research,” she says. “I stress the importance of experimentation and exploration to build a climate of openness and possibility, which I believe is paramount to their success.”

    Friend was also quick to credit the support of her Visual Arts colleagues, as well as the faculty of Humanities and the greater Brock community, with making her job easier.

    Having taught in numerous grades prior to achieving her MFA, Friend credits the culture in one of her master’s level courses at the University of Windsor with shaping her approach to teaching.

    “I learned to look closely at what each student was aiming to accomplish within the perimeters of the course and I learned to set aside my own expectations,” she says.

    With this student-centred teaching focus, Friend has secured the respect and admiration of students, faculty, alumni and staff at the University.

    The Clarke Thomson Award for Excellence in Sessional Teaching will be presented April 28, at the Spring Perspectives event. The award will be presented at 2:30 p.m. and will be accepted on her behalf by Duncan MacDonald.

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • Our New Home

    Sunday, April 05, 2015 | By

    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)

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    Categories: Announcements, News

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