The Bella Coola Valley Arts Council scheduled a five-year planning session on Sunday, Feb. 11, to review and reassess its goals and priorities with attention to all its annual events and activities, and to give consideration to new activities that could support the arts and artists in the Bella Coola Valley.
The BCVAC will be holding its 2023 AGM on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at the Art House at which time we will be winding up the past year by reviewing the yearly activities and finances.
This past year the AC did sponsor a film series which included some Canadian films such as “Stay the Night”, “Rosie” and “Revival 69” which were enjoyed by those in attendance. We also held the second annual Mountain Film Festival in the fall which was well attended and was again a good fundraising event for the AC.
Then we began planning to revive the annual Coffee House which was scheduled for May 6. It was a great success with a good response from local musicians and actors who performed to a great audience. The proceeds from this fun night were donated towards keeping Lobelco Hall viable.
The Art House Gallery also held several shows of local artists including a presentation of photographs (“Namu”) which documented some of the history of the village Namu from the 1950s. There were other shows of works by Heather Mason, Kathleen Booth, Lloyd Gould, Ida Eriksen and Meghan Lewick.
In addition, in the spring Ida Eriksen started her “Paint and Sip” evenings at the Art House which were well-received and have continued through this fall and winter. Ida also held other workshops during the year.
In addition to the annual activities, the AC sponsored a couple events in which students of the valley participated. The first was a colouring book project where students submitted drawings of local landscapes and cultural designs, and then their drawings were eventually made into a booklet to sell locally (the colouring books were available at the annual Arts & Crafts Fair in the fall).
The other event in which students took part was the Bella Coola Short Film Festival; students entered short videos which were then judged and the winners received prizes for their work.
In July, the AC held its annual Visual Art Show which promotes and encourages local artists. We also sponsored a table at the summer Farmers’ Market that artists could use for selling their art and crafts.
The Art House was again open during the summer with Tania Delay as the manager on site. Art shows carried into September. Then it was time to start planning for the Annual Arts & Crafts Fair held at the end of November. This event was, yet again, well attended and enjoyed by everyone, and was another successful fundraiser for the BCVAC.
Submitted by the Bella Coola Valley Community Arts Council