24 minute read
ARTS
ARTS Arts Umbrella ups its game with dazzling new digs
by Charlie Smith
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Arts Umbrella’s new building has 50,000 square feet for artists between two and 22 years old; CEO Paul Larocque sees its completion as a testament to the community’s commitment to arts education.
There’s a new cathedral of arts education in Vancouver—and this one is for children and youths. On Tuesday (April 6), Arts UmAnd the B.C. government stepped up, too. “The province saw to it to transfer this building from Emily Carr to Arts Umbrella,” he added. “That was just massive. It’s a brella held a virtual grand opening of its 50,000-square-foot new home in the former South Building of Emily Carr University of Art + Design on Granville Island. And it has undergone such an extensive renovation that former students of the university would barely recognize parts of the interior.
“In the first three to five years, we anticipate more than 15,000 people per year coming to this building for a variety of programs, including performances in our new theatre,” Arts Umbrella president and CEO Paul Larocque told the Straight during a recent tour of the facility. “So I think it’s pretty amazing.”
Architect Richard Henriquez, husband of Arts Umbrella cofounder Carol Henriquez, redesigned four storeys to include six spacious dance studios as well as a 132-seat theatre, 10 art and design studios, and four theatre, music, and film studios for students between the ages of two and 22. According to Larocque, Arts Umbrella has already surpassed the $35-million mark in a $37-million capital funding and endowment campaign.
“That means a lot of individuals, families, organizations, and corporations have all stepped up in very significant ways to realize the vision for this,” he said. “It’s something that we do not take for granted. This is something that happens to an organization once every few generations.”
In particular, Larocque credited the federal government for providing $7 million from the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. He described this as the largest contribution from that pot of money to any individual project in B.C. In addition, the City of Vancouver has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure funding. $1.4-million gift.” Arts Umbrella has come a long way from its humble origins. Back in 1979, five artists and some parents with a passion for arts education launched the school, initially accepting 45 children. Four years later, it moved to its permanent home, a former nail factory on Granville Island that underwent two renovations, in 1990 and 2000, as enrollment grew. “To say that we have long grown out of space in that building is an understatement,” Larocque said. “This is such a huge opportunity for the community. We intend to fill this new space with activity.” Only six percent of Arts Umbrella’s $8-million operating budget comes from governments, he added. “This is truly an organization that has been built by the community for the community.”
THE INSIDE OF the new building is spectacular. The theatre features a 1,500-squarefoot stage with a sprung floor, enhancing safety for performers. Seating for 132 was created by eliminating a studio directly behind the theatre, lifting the floor, and placing a new audiovisual booth in the rear. Larocque said that this space could be used by school groups throughout the year as well as by the Vancouver Fringe Festival and Vancouver Writers Festival, which are both based on Granville Island.
“There’s a large screen that drops down,” he noted. “We’ll use it to show student work in the area of animation and in filmmaking, and we’ll have speakers’ series. It’s just such an incredible asset for the community.”
The six dance studios on the fourth floor are equally dazzling. The largest is 2,500 square feet with floor-to-ceiling windows, and each studio has a sprung floor as well as a piano. Larocque said that as part of the construction project, a column was removed and replaced with a truss, opening up more space and ensuring acoustical buffering. In a theatre rehearsal studio, the roof was raised by three metres.
“This was a major piece of structural engineering,” Larocque said.
That’s not all. There’s a room with many pottery wheels in a ceramics studio. That’s new to Arts Umbrella. As well, students will be able to print graphic novels, something that Larocque described as being as important to them as being able to complete a painting or a piece of choreography. Plus, in addition to learning about digital photography, there’s a darkroom for students to practise analogue photography. “You’re not seeing a lot of darkrooms in postsecondary education,” Larocque commented.
Then there are partnerships with Microsoft and Electronic Arts to ensure that students learn a variety of animation skills.
The building was originally designed by Patkau Architects. One of its features, which the Arts Umbrella CEO appreciates, is a glass ceiling that automatically opens up if there’s a fire, ensuring that smoke will be released outside.
But as impressive as all these features might be, Larocque remains firmly focused on the experience of students. To enhance their education, there’s a large green room, which enables them to hear a performance as it’s underway so they’ll know when to go onstage. In addition, there’s a student lounge with a microwave oven and refrigerator, which is ideal for the dance students who spend half their days at Arts Umbrella and half their days in regular secondary school.
On the main floor, students’ artwork can be displayed so it can be seen by Granville Island visitors walking by the building.
To Larocque, arts education is so much more than learning about performing arts or painting or moviemaking. He thinks that it also helps students build many skills that can enhance their education and help them become better citizens. Foremost among them is empathy.
“It’s life-changing,” he said. “It takes a lot of courage to be engaged in art. It’s such a direct thing because it’s coming from within you. It’s the instructor— who is able to unleash that creative spirit—who is so important.”
A former Arts Umbrella student and instructor, Kate Henderson, is now the interim curator and visual arts manager at Art Gallery at Evergreen in Coquitlam. In a phone interview, she told the Straight that Arts Umbrella is where her passion for art began. She started in the dance program before studying painting, drawing, and sculpture.
She described Larocque as one of the warmest and most generous people that she’s ever met. According to her, Larocque always remembers people’s names and enjoys celebrating others’ successes.
“He really cares about children and youth and puts them first,” Henderson said. “This move to the new building is such a huge thing for these students.” g
– Arts Umbrella CEO Paul Larocque
MUSIC Animated “It Was D.O.A.” an ode to life on the road
by Mike Usinger
Talk to anyone who’s ever hit the road in a van with dreams of rock ’n’ roll glory and it soon becomes obvious there’s perception and reality. To those who’ve never been there, four-month tours are an endless rush of packed houses, frenzied crowds, free beer in the green room, and mega sales at the merch table.
What no one ever tells rookie musicians is that few things in this world are more unpleasant than the drive from Thunder Bay to Toronto. And that no one ever got a good night’s sleep on the floor of a van in the middle of a Minnesota winter. And that Mike Watt’s “Piss-Bottle Man” might as well be the only thing playing on the van stereo, because no one is stopping at a rest area unless you’re legitimately touching cloth.
You know who can vouch for all of the above? That would D.O.A.’s Joe Keithley, who’s been piling into tour vans since Ronald Reagan was first making plans to move into the White House. In case that doesn’t
Joe Keithley gets the cartoon treatment in “It Was D.O.A.”, which might make your back hurt.
Scan to confess
I’m a straight guy
The Georgia Straight
Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.
And what with the creeps & stuff nowadays.....I don’t bother saying hi to any women I don’t know nor do I even look at them, in fact I hardly go out anymore, it’s just not worth it (btw I don’t even say hi to men or look at them either)
People think I am smart but I know I am stupid. How do I let them know and get away from the expectations?
I was always a good kid with straight A’s at school but since i started university, i cant study at all. I dont want to. I feel depressed and stupid all the time. But my family and friends think i am the same smart kid at school. I am barely passing school with a 2.2 gpa. I dont know how i ended up here. I feel i am living a lie. I just want to let them know that i cant do what they want me to do.
Bored with money...
I’ve never had money before now suddenly I got a chunk of change and no idea what to do with it. Not enough to buy a house, but enough that I don’t gotta work for a bit if I don’t wanna. But what do I do with it? Should I invest? Put it in an RRSP? GameStop stock? Lol jk... Just use it to live? I don’t really want a vehicle as I hate driving and there’s no other bigger items I really need since I rent. I also don’t wanna waste it...
Visit to post a Confession
paint a clear enough picture, that means over 40 years of touring not just Canada and the United States, but nearly every corner of the world. Think five continents, somewhere around 50 countries, and a staggering 4,000-plus shows.
While Keithley has always been the main man at the mike, the support cast behind him has revolved over the years to the point where tracking who’s been in and out now requires a massive family tree.
So what’s life been like in D.O.A.? Well, you can ask someone who’s been there. Or, in the event that you don’t know how to work the messaging part of Facebook, you can hunker down, hop onto YouTube, and watch the new video for “It Was D.O.A.”, from the band’s 18th album, Treason.
With Reid Blakley taking care of the animation, things start out with the question “Hey, Man, you ever work for D.O.A.?” And from there, in a ripping and concise two minutes and 38 seconds, everything is pretty much laid out.
There’s the five-dollar per diem , with a two-buck raise being a possibility but not necessarily guaranteed. And the roadside breakdowns, bottle chucking, and battles with the skinhead nation. And confirmation that, should you have to take a leak on the Interstate, you’re doing it in a beer can, probably while “Piss-Bottle Man” blares on the stereo.
So what is the most lasting memory for those who’ve spent endless hours in the van with Keithley? Hint (as stated in the song): “My back still aches when I hear that name.”
That’s right, no one ever tells you that human beings weren’t expected to spend 10 hours a day in a sitting position in a van unless their life goals include having to gobble Robax, Advil, Aleve, Motrin, and Tylenol like they are Skittles. You’ve been warned. g
Music TIP SHEET
JUST BECAUSE LIVE events have
been cancelled doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some musical thrills. Here are two upcoming highlights this month. c BLIND PILOT (5:30 p.m., April 8 and 15) Timbre Concerts has announced that it is partnering with Blind Pilot (photographed above) to bring fans of the group access to two livestreamed performances this month. The Oregon indie folk-pop band—led by singerguitarist Israel Nebeker—will perform live from the Liberty Theater in Astoria,
Oregon. Single-ticket options start at $25, and bundles include a post-show
VIP solo set and Q & A with Nebeker and a limited-edition silkscreen poster illustrated by drummer Ryan
Dobrowski. For more information, visit boxofficemandolin/com. c SKY STREAM (6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,
April 16, 23, and 30) The Whistler
Ski & Snowboard Festival has just announced the musical acts for its Sky
Stream online concert series this year.
The event will feature performances by SkiiTour, the Hairfarmers, Case of the Mondays, DJ Foxy Moron, tyMetal,
Bangers & Mash, and the Prophet. “The
Whistler Ski & Snowboard Festival has always been part of our end-of-season ritual and a much-anticipated event for our community,” Whistler mayor Jack
Crompton said in a news release. For more information, visit wssf.com. g
MOVIES / TV Godzilla vs. Kong is a titanic battle of the beasts
by Norman Wilner
MOVIE REVIEW
GODZILLA VS. KONG
Starring Alexander Skarsgård and Millie Bobby Brown. Available on digital platforms and at drive-in theatres
d THE TITLE SAYS it all. e culmination of Warner’s “MonsterVerse” series—which began in 2014 with Godzilla and quickly gave us Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla, King Of e Monsters—is a battle royale between two of cinema’s greatest battle beasts, scaling things up in every way from 1962’s pleasantly cheesy King Kong Vs. Godzilla.
Adam Wingard works the same trick he pulled with You’re Next, e Guest, and even his Blair Witch sequel, taking a genre apart to remind us what we love about it. It may not come as a surprise that the thing we love about kaiju movies is giant monsters punching each other, but there you go.
Godzilla vs. Kong doesn’t change things much from Michael Dougherty’s 2019 Godzilla, King Of e Monsters, which also worked to deliver supersized monster ghts while a handful of puny human scientists ran around the periphery trying not to get squished. is one just delivers a more satisfying version of that premise, paring down the monsters to a couple of primary combatants with very basic motivations: as “alpha titans”, Kong and Godzilla just want to crush one another on sight. (Screenwriters Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein also o er a decent explanation for Kong’s absence from the last picture: Monarch, the supersecretive global organization that monitors monster activity, has been keeping him isolated since the ’70s.)
As for the human characters, they’re still in the way. King Of e Monsters costars Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown are back as the remaining members of the Russell family: Mark runs Monarch these days, walking around with a clipboard looking important, and Maddie is in high school, listening to conspiracy podcasts about a sinister cybernetics company. Science has really levelled up in these movies: in the eight years since Godzilla rst made landfall, we’ve gone from Windows 10 to antigravity ships, underground maglev trains, organic AI, and more.
We also meet obligatory fringe scientist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), who has expanded on the Hollow Earth theory rst put forward in Skull Island and who also has theories about genetic memory that could allow Kong to nd his way back to his ancestral homeland. is gets him recruited by an industrialist (Demián Bichir) who happens to run the aforementioned cybernetics company and is looking for a fabled power source that might help him with… something and who reconnects with Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), a Monarch scientist who has been working with Kong for the past decade. She has a foster daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), who is deaf and communicates in sign language. is will be important later.
Meanwhile. Maddie and a nervous pal (Hunt For e Wilderpeople’s Julian Dennison) track down her favourite conspiracy podcaster (Brian Tyree Henry) who has some ideas about why Godzilla attacked that cybernetics company. ose of us who grew up on the original Godzilla movies might have some ideas about that too, and the movie knows it: Godzilla vs. Kong is structured to deliver a series of nostalgic spikes, building their narrative from Toho’s greatest hits and all of the previous King Kong movies, including Peter Jackson’s epic 2005 remake and the regrettable King Kong Lives. (It also manages to t in elements of Conan the Barbarian and, somehow, Lethal Weapon 2.) ere’s an undiscovered world where nature has run wild, kids running around solving problems the grown-ups can’t, technology creating more problems than it solves, the lyrical image of a giant ape on a big boat… And, of course, full-on furious combat between giant monsters.
It’s all played on the razor’s edge of straight and silly, with action sequences that are beautifully lit, convincingly choreographed, and genuinely spectacular. As in all of these lms, the monsters are allowed to ght strategically, displaying some level of intelligence and even character. And in Godzilla vs. Kong, there’s a genuine thrill in realizing a lmmaker is playing with almost nine decades of cinematic history and having the very best time. g
Godzilla vs. Kong takes the premise of 2019’s Godzilla, King of the Monsters and pares things down to the two titular alpha titans who simply want to pummel the daylights out of each other.
Kim’s Convenience cast get their own TV shows
by Kevin Ritchie
The popular TV show Kim’s Convenience might be coming to an end, but one of the characters will live on in a spino series.
CBC has announced that Nicole Power will reprise her role of Shannon Ross in the situation comedy Strays. e show, developed by Kim’s Convenience cocreator Kevin White, will follow Shannon “as she embarks on a new career in Hamilton”, the network said. e ensemble cast includes Frank Cox-O’Connell, Tina Jung, Nikki Duval, and Kevin Vidal, among others. e spin-o has been in development since July 2018 and is currently in production, suggesting that perhaps Shannon was destined to say goodbye before Kim’s Convenience showrunner and cocreator Ins Choi decided to leave, precipitating the sitcom’s surprise cancellation.
Meanwhile, another Kim’s Convenience star has landed a new gig on a CBC series. Andrew Phung, who plays Kimchee, has cocreated the comedy series Run the Burbs with lmmaker Scott Townend. e series is about “a young, bold Canadian family taking a di erent approach to living life to the fullest in the suburbs”, according to a show description. Phung plays a stay-at-home dad with an entrepreneur wife and two kids.
Both shows are slated to air on CBC during the 2021-2022 season.
“Both of these series were planned to join Kim’s Convenience on our comedy lineup this upcoming year, to re ect how many young Canadians are forging new lives outside of urban centres in Canada,” CBC’s general manager of entertainment, factual, and sports Sally Catto said in a statement. “We look forward to watching Andrew and Nicole as they explore these new stories.”
In early March this year, CBC announced that Kim’s Convenience would conclude in April a er ve seasons.
“Our two co-creators con rmed they were moving on to other projects. Given their departure from the series, we have come to the di cult conclusion that we cannot deliver another season of the same heart and quality that has made the show so special,” the network said. e show has since been nominated for 11 Canadian Screen Awards. g
Andrew Phung, who plays Kimchee on Kim’s Convenience, is cocreating Run the Burbs, while Nicole Power will continue in her role as Shannon Ross in the new ensemble sitcom Strays.
SAVAGE LOVE Partner might use past cheating as control issue
by Dan Savage b I’M A 29-YEAR-OLD straight male. I’ve been with my 25-year-old partner for six years. I love her and think that we are perfect for each other. We have all the things that make existing with someone wonderful. But about two years into our relationship I had a two-week-long affair while I was out of the country. I fucked up. I came clean to my partner and we’ve done our best to work through this over the last four years, but it has obviously caused some trust issues between us. I’ve never cheated it again and I try every day to work through these issues I caused in our relationship.
There’s also been two recent instances of me breaking her trust. On a particularly stressful day I was caught sneaking a cigarette—the sneaking part is the issue—and on another occasion I did drugs in our communal back garden with a friend after she had gone to bed. I owned up to both straight away. I view both of these as being a symptom of the lockdown/pandemic prompting me to break with my “normal” behavior. But partner is no longer comfortable allowing me to have the freedom to go out with my friends and partake in drugs without her express permission, which she already said she’s unlikely to grant me. The other element to this is, we want kids in three years. We’ve agreed that I will fully abstain from all drugs after we become parents.
My problem is that I am trapped between a desire to meet the wants of my partner while also maintaining a degree of autonomy. When we discuss these matters—which we’ve been doing frequently lately—her argument boils down to this: “You did a bad thing; you need to make concessions so that I feel safe; you having to seek my permission makes me feel safe.” It’s coming to loggerheads, and I don’t know if I’m the unreasonable one here, especially since I’m arguing for the freedom to do an illegal drug. I would appreciate your external, outside, drug-positive perspective in this.
- Don’t Really Understand Girlfriends Sentiment
I had some emergency dental work done this morning and I’m a little strung out on… what are those things called again? Oh, right: drugs. Last night I selected the letters I wanted to respond to in this week’s column and I really didn’t expect to be on powerful painkillers when I sat down to write my responses today. In all honesty, I probably shouldn’t be operating advice machinery at the moment, but deadlines are deadlines. You should take my advice with a grain silo or two of salt, DRUGS, and everyone else should just skip this week’s column entirely.
Okay! Drugs! Here we go! My outside, external, drug-positive-but-with-caveats (see below) perspective on your dilemma boils down to this: do not make babies with this woman. Don’t scramble your DNA together with hers—not unless it makes your dick hard to think about begging this woman for permission every time you wanna smoke a little pot with a friend or take a fucking shit for the next 40 years. (And, trust me, you’re still going to want to smoke pot after the babies come.) If that kind of begging excites you, great. Have all the fucking babies. But if that doesn’t excite you… Dude, run the fuck away.
Yeah, yeah: you did a bad thing. You had an affair four years ago and you made the mistake of telling your girlfriend about it even though 1. she most likely was never going to find out about it, and 2. you quickly came to regret it. Your regret wasn’t instantaneous—like you, DRUGS, your regret took a couple of weeks to come—but the fact that you haven’t cheated on her since is a pretty good indication that your regret was sincere. And now here you are four years later, DRUGS, waking up every day and getting back to work on those trust issues. Because you’re still in trouble. Because you made the mistake of telling your girlfriend about an affair she would never have known about if you had kept your mouth shut.
But, you know, come to think of it, maybe it was a good thing that you told your girlfriend about the affair, DRUGS. Not because honesty is always the best policy. The famed couples counsellor, author, podcaster, and Ted Talker Esther Perel urges people who’ve had affairs to consider the “burden of knowing” before they disclose. If you sincerely regret the affair and it’s not going to happen again and your partner is not in any physical risk and is unlikely to hear about the affair from a third party, sparing them the burden of knowing is the next most loving thing a person can do. (Not cheating at all would, of course, be the most loving thing a person can do.)
So to be clear, DRUGS, I don’t think telling your girlfriend was the right thing to do because all affairs must be disclosed. I think telling your particular girlfriend was the right thing to do because she’s telling on herself now. If she doesn’t feel like she can trust you ever again—and if she’s constantly on the lookout for new reasons why she can’t trust you—then she needs to end this relationship. But she hasn’t ended the relationship, DRUGS, and you need to ask yourself why she hasn’t. I have a hunch: she hasn’t ended it because she likes it this way.
Someone who cheats and gets caught and discloses and wants to make it right can expect to spend some time, well, making it right. They should expect to spend some time in the doghouse and, to extend the metaphor, they should expect to spend some time on a short leash. But a person can’t spend the rest of their life in the doghouse. A cheater has to take responsibility and be considerate about insecurities that the affair may have created or worsened. But if a cheater has done all that and years later the person cheated won’t let them out of the doghouse—or is constantly finding new reasons to keep the cheater in the doghouse—then the doghouse is where the cheated wants the cheater. Forever. Which means instead of being angry you cheated on her, DRUGS, on some level your girlfriend is delighted you cheated on her. Because the wrong thing you did allows her to control you for the rest of your life.
But it shouldn’t. And if she insists it does or that it should, DRUGS, you should leave her.
About those caveats: you don’t specify the drug you used in the backyard with your friend but I’m gonna assume it was weed, which is legal where I live but not where you live. There is, of course, a big difference between stepping out to smoke a little pot after the girlfriend has gone to bed and sneaking out to smoke a lotta meth. And if you’re an addict and a little pot has led to a lot of harder drugs in the past, your girlfriend’s zero-tolerance policy might be justified. But if we’re not talking about hard drugs and you don’t have addiction issues, DRUGS, you shouldn’t have to beg your girlfriend’s permission in advance—which she’s denied in advance—to smoke a little pot with a buddy.
b I’VE BEEN LISTENING to old episodes of the Savage Lovecast while working from home. Yesterday I heard you explain to straight male listeners that their straight female partners would say “yes” to sex more often if “sex” didn’t always mean the woman getting fucked. That really resonated with me, a straight woman with a male partner. When my husband came onto me the next night and I didn’t feel like opening up to get basted, instead of saying “no” I offered to jerk him off while he sucked my tits. It was great—for both of us! Total win! Thank you, Dan Savage!
Dan Savage advises a cheater who came clean and took responsibility to be wary of a partner’s seeming attempts to use the issue for future control purposes. Photo by Antonio Guillem/Getty.
You had an affair…and you made the mistake of telling your girlfriend…
– Dan Savage
- Joyfully Enjoying Relevant Knowledge You’re welcome, JERK! It’s always nice to hear from folks who’ve taken my advice and didn’t regret it! g
