NEW GROUP SEEKS TO CONNECT AND BUILD REVELSTOKE’S GROWING LATINO COMMUNITY

NEW RESIDENTS FROM MEXICO, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA SEEK TO BUILD CONNECTIONS WITHIN A COMMUNITY UNITED BY LANGUAGE

By Aaron Orlando

Members of Revelstoke's growing Latino community are striving to unite and share their culture with the community, starting off with hosting two dance parties at the Revelstoke Legion in the past months.

The new Latinos en Revelstoke group organizes through a Facebook group that has helped organizers connect with more and more residents who are originally from South America, Central America and Mexico.

Organizer Gina Rodriguez, who moved to Revelstoke from Colombia and works as an education assistant at a local elementary school, estimated there are about 80 Latino migrants in the community now, adding that they've met new community members through the party events.

"Everyone is looking for a better lifestyle," said Rodriguez, who moved here with her husband. The majority of the community is from Colombia, with contingents from Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina and several other countries.

Many are employed in food services jobs, where worker shortages is a big issue. "I think that Canada offers us great opportunities," Rodriguez said. "As long as Revelstoke keeps growing we will be growing and increasing our presence here."

The Latinos en Revelstoke group has grown to over 150 people, including non-Latinos, and its organizers estimate the community is about 80 people. They are planning a survey of the Latino community to better understand their wants and needs.

Belia Navarro, who was a Kindergarten teacher in Mexico and works as a nanny here, said Revelstoke has a nice environment and community feeling, but that breaking into the community can be challenging. Making friends within the Latino community her is easy, but "when they have to make friends outside of that community, it becomes a little hard."

Navarro and Rodriguez said they created the Latinos en Revelstoke group to make connections, to "find our community and at the same time share with the community," Rodriguez said.

Their parties were a first step to make connections, but in the future they want to branch out into more cultural activities. Their next big project is a food festival event featuring foods from different cultures. They are also hoping to establish a formal society to enable more formal organizing.

When asked about how the transition to life in Revelstoke has been, both Navarro and Rodriguez said the community is welcoming, but that newcomers experience challenges integrating into Canadian systems, giving practical examples like doing income taxes, navigating the healthcare system, or finding information on how to start businesses. They often rely on word of mouth from other newcomers.

"Relations are easy to make friends, because our Latino community has passion," Navarro said. "We are energetic, we are passionate so it's not hard for us to make friends. It makes it feel more like home."

To connect, look for the Latinos en Revelstoke Facebook

The Columbia Basin Culture Tour is returning for the 15th annual year, allowing culture-lovers around the region to visit heritage sites and view the work of local artists.

Taking place on July 29 and 30, the tour features 111 locations around the Kootenays. It is free of charge and self-directed, meaning participants can drive themselves to the different locations.

The tour gives the road-trippers a chance to visit venues not usually open to the public, meet people behind-the-scenes at galleries and museums, shop for original art and enjoy special events.

There are four stops in Revelstoke, including the Railway Museum and Visual Arts Centre. The event also encourages participants to come enjoy REVY.Live Outside, which presents live music from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In a special stop for the tour, Revelstoke resident and artist Susie Kathol will be featured. Participants are invited to visit Kathol’s studio garden, located at 426 Rokeby Ave., to watch demonstrations of her decoration technique. Some of her finished work will be displayed in her garden as well.

Other stops in the northwest basin are in Invermere, Parson, Nakusp, Galena Bay, Winlaw, Silverton, Sandon and New Denver.

To view full artist profiles and venues, visit cbculturetour.com .

Columbia Basin Culture Tour Features Revelstoke Stops

By Kayla Empey

VISUAL ARTS CENTRE HOSTS MEMBER’S SHOW

By Kayla Empey

This month, the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre (RVAC) is accepting submissions and inviting community members for its first member’s show of the year.

The opening event will take place on July 13, with an art viewing from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., followed by a social event until 8 p.m.

The theme for the show is “from the forest floor.” Anyone who has created art that fits the theme and is interested in displaying it at the exhibition is welcome to bring it to the RVAC before July 8.

Alongside the member’s show at the main gallery, there will also be three artists featured in the side galleries.

Shantael Sleight, from Victoria, will be showcasing her solo show. Her work’s theme is “mothering: self, earth and other,” which includes expressions of care, connection, protection, love, guilt, exhaustion, transition and grief.

The second side gallery will feature Riki Kuropatwa, an artist from Edmonton who creates paintings using stills from the television series Antiques Roadshow. Her art presents an open-ended and ambiguous narrative of interplay.

Alex Stewart will also be featured at the exhibition. From Fort Langley, B.C., Stewart's art focuses on sustainability and preservation by documenting the process of creating emotive portraits and placing them in nature for a month.

The member’s show and side exhibitions will run at RVAC until August 6.

MURAL CREATION BY NEW-TOTOWN ARTIST

By Aaron Orlando

Antonia Otoya is a new artist to Revelstoke who created the new mural on the laneway side of Terra Firma’s kitchen. She arrived a few months ago from Cali, Columbia, where she worked as an artist painting murals.

She joins her wife Angela here, both working at Terra Firma’s, a local Victoria Road restaurant focused on local food.

The mural depicts veggies grown locally and prepared at the restaurant, in front of Mt. Begbie’s snowy summit bathed in alpenglow. Otoya said she was putting focus on the healthy farm to table vegetables at the restaurant.

Otoya explores contemporary 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy issues in her work. She said her favourite was a four-storey mural on a building on Calle Inta, a prominent public street venue in Cali. She said it “is my favourite because it’s an homage to drag culture and the positive visibility they provide for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.”

She studied fashion design and she used to run a clothing shop that manufactured dance party clothing. She painted murals on her shop and has focused on her painting and commissioned interior and exterior murals for over a dozen years.

Next January she has an exhibit at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre. Her paintings will explore the theme, which asks what if feelings were alive. Otoya says she’ll explore “the importance of being in touch with your feelings” and seeking wellbeing support like therapy if you want.

She created murals in Cali, some of which you can see at @anto.otoya, her Insta.

In Revelstoke, she wants to make her mark in Revy by connecting with exterior and interior commission projects in the community.