Tag Archives: workshop

Water Wise Garden Trade Fair & Workshop

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Oliver’s Communities in Bloom committee presents

Water Wise Garden  Workshop & Trade Fair
Saturday, March 26
Workshop 9:30 – 12:30
Tickets $10.00  at Beyond Bliss & Medici’s Gelateria
Oliver Elks Hall (9725 – 360th Ave)

Join local experts Eva Durance* and Kathryn McCourt** at the workshop and learn about the principles of xeriscape gardening, gardening with drought tolerant plants, organic versus inorganic mulches, efficient irrigation, water wise gardens, and easy care gardens suited for Oliver’s climate. Reduce your water bills by gardening and landscaping with drought tolerant plants. let’s help make Oliver beautiful and water-wise!

Seating is limited for the workshop! Only 50 tickets available. Get yours NOW!

and
Trade Fair 9:30 -4:00
FREE and OPEN to the public, no limit
Oliver Elks Hall (9725 – 360th Ave)

Lots of items for sale related to gardening and xeriscaping in particular. Visit booths for irrigation supplies, landscaping supplies, educational information, and of course nurseries featuring drought tolerant plants.

Reasons to Xeriscape:

■Reduces water use by about 50% compared to conventional lawns or ornamental gardens
■Cost saving when water meters take effect
■Reduction in erosion hazards on sensitive soils
■Eliminates use of toxic pesticides and herbicides
■Low-water native plants provide food and habitat for South Okanagan birds, butterflies, and bees.
■ Xeriscaping will survive restricted water use during drought conditions
■Water conservation helps to mitigate the effects of climate change ad development pressures
 

*Eva Durance, who grew up in Ontario, has been a lifelong gardener and interested in garden designer for over 40 years. She has worked as a xeriscape-naturescape designer and natural systems’ restoration consultant in the Okanagan for over 15 years and has given courses and talks in xeriscape and naturescape gardening for a variety of places including Okanagan College and the City of Penticton. In addition to advanced degrees in English Language and Literature, Eva has a Diploma in Landscape Design from the Institute of Garden Design in the United Kingdom, and courses in Restoration of Natural Systems.

**Kathryn McCourt has been gardening and conserving water since she was three. Throughout her years as a public school teacher, bookkeeper, freelance writer and florist, there was always a garden and it was usually in a dry place, whether in the Okanagan, Calgary or Victoria. Since 2005, she has had her own Summerland-based business, creating, maintaining and teaching about Xeriscape.

The Oliver Community Arts Council is a partner with Oliver’s Communities in Bloom through the Best Bloomin’ Garden Contest. For more information, contact olivercac@gmail.com

OCAC Funding Available to Members

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Are you an OCAC member planning a public arts event? A musical performance? A seminar or other instructional arts program? Need funding? As a registered charity, the OCAC offers Contracted Service Agreements every year to help fund activities that reflect the arts council’s constitutional mandate.  The application is available to all members of the arts council, not just member groups but also individuals and businesses who want to programme an event under the OCAC mandate and who require a funding boost. 

There are two parts to the application. The first is submitted before your event to seek funding approval. The second, in the event your event is approved, is submitted after the event showing the event took place. The application deadline is June 1, 2011 for arts events, performances and seminars occurring September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2012.  Last year, we received some applications for summer events taking place before September 1. While these applications were outside the funding period, we did grant funds to two events. If you are planning an event for this summer, please be aware that while we may fund you, you will not get confirmation of funding until mid-June, giving you little time for planning or preparation.

Unless otherwise requested, all funding will be received after the event has taken place, to help with billable expenses or to replace funds spent. Up to 50% of the funds can be made available up-front on a need basis. Please explain in your application if this is your case.

The Board will evaluate all applications at their June meeting and inform all applicants of the result by the end of June. There is approximately $1500 available and the maximum fee-for-service is $500 per application. Please consider your event budget carefully to judge what amount you need. The OCAC budget may not accommodate all applicants’ funding requests so the best applications will be selected on merit, reflection of the OCAC mandate, and demonstration of need. If you need assistance in writing a strong application, please contact the OCAC Board.

Want a copy of the CSA application or more information? Contact olivercac@gmail.com

Fab Four Weaving Workshop

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It’s not the Beatles, it’s a weaving workshop. And it definitely won’t be a “hard day’s night” to become proficient at these techniques :

The Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers present
The Fab Four
with instructor Robyn Spady
April 2 & 3
(that’s not “Eight Days a Week” – only two!)
Oliver Community Centre
Fee: $125 (incl instruction booklet and lunches both days)
 
Round-robin workshop exploring weave structures including
diversified plain weave, integrated weaves, swivel,
single block bead leno, corduroy, Bedford cord,
deflected supplementary warp and cannele and more.
Info: hhayes@vip.net
 
This workshop is presented with funding made available through
the Oliver Community Arts Council.
The Desert Sage Spinners & Weavers Guild gratefully acknowledge this support.

 Check out the DSS&W website at: http://southokanaganslowfibrefestival.weebly.com

Assembly Conference – Here We Come!

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logoIt’s another road trip! The Oliver Community Arts Council is sending five delegates to the Assembly of BC Arts Councils 30th Anniversary Annual Conference in Kelowna on Friday May 1.  This conference always has excellent workshops on timely topics given by knowledgeable and helpful guest speakers. 

OCAC Treasurer Jack Bennest and Secretary Penelope Johnson are eager to glean some new programming ideas at “Programs and Projects from and for Small Arts Councils” on the Friday morning. “We deliver some  popular and fun programs, ” says Johnson, “but we can always do with a boost to our creativity.  We might find some innovative and cost-effective ideas to renew established programs or create new ones.”

Directors Brian Mapplebeck and Steve Staresina, together with Bennest, will take in An Intimate Dialogue with BC Arts Council . The BCAC, an arm of the provincial government, is a source of major funding for many arts councils. This session will provide delegates with valuable information to assist them in the preparation of a thorough application.  As guidelines change and funding sources become scarce, arts councils are hard pressed to make successful applications. The range of topics may include establishing partnerships and collaborations with community organizations, becoming more culturally diverse,  allocating surplus funds correctly,  applying for increasingly merit-based awards, and learning how to do critical self-reflection and succession planning. All three delegates to this workshop are involved in the various grant applications completed by the OCAC, and are sure to find these tools useful.

Culture, Creativity, Communications, Collaborations and Community attracted the attention of directors Jennifer Mapplebeck and Steve Staresina. This workshop is designed to provide guidance on how to launch and sustain a multiple-channel, multiple-stakeholder arts communication program. They will learn how such a program works, what skills and resources are required, what the components are and how they work together, and what outcomes are possible.

The OCAC is concerned about widening their contacts and services to include artistic groups from other cultures. With that in mind, Jennifer Mapplebeck and Penelope Johnson will attend Kwuksknkn’xtwixwa?x – “Working together with each other” . This workshop is a collaborative effort being undertaken by the First Peoples Heritage Culture Council’s Art Program and the En’owkin Centre. “Kwuksknkn’xtwixwa?x” will provide an opportunity to develop a broadened view of building constructive relations between the communities of the Assembly of BC Arts Councils and neighbouring stakeholders. Participants will work together to identify strengths, resources, and potential networks, and then brainstorm possible actions for building on those foundations in cooperative ways. This participatory workshop will include mapping cultural resources in the communities, and then generating an action plan inspired by those elements and forces

Brian Mapplebeck, who is also a member of the Oliver Sagebrushers, the local fine arts club (see our Member Groups section) is interested in attending Providing Community Visual Arts Services. The workshop focesses on how to make the visual arts thrive in a community. To provide the best services for a community and its artists requires that we understand the business of art as well as the creative process. Chris Tyrell, author of the new book, Artist Survival Skills: How to Make a Living in the Visual Arts, shares his insights in community visual arts programming best practices.

Johnson, Staresina and the Mapplebecks will all be attending the final workshop of the day: Cultural Tourism. Cultural tourism is a ‘hot’ topic these days, especially in the South Okanagan where the tourism industry is growing in leaps and bounds.  BC’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts is in the process of developing a Community Cultural Tourism Strategy. But can BC communities develop cultural tourism without degrading or devaluing the very culture they celebrate? And how can cultural tourism support the arts? This session will include an informational presentation, frank discussion, and workshop exercises to help define how tourism can be leveraged to support the arts in BC’s communities.

The five delegates will report on the conference at the next Arts Jam! meeting on Monday May 25th.  This gathering of the arts council membership is held every fourth Monday at 9:30 a.m. the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre. Come out to the meeting, or watch for  the Arts Jam! broadcast, including the special presentation from the conference, on local Channel 18 TV .