Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture and INcommon.tv present the second edition of

Interconnected. Stories that weave our social fabric

Thursday, May 16, 2013

7:00 to 8:30 PM

CBC Studio 700

700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

This event features five storytellers, including Kickstart’s own Geoff McMurchy! Listen to compelling stories by a variety of speakers and enjoy refreshments and great conversation! We look forward to seeing you there!

This event is wheelchair accessible. The elevator to Studio 700 on the second floor is located to the left of the main entrance of the CBC building.

FREE to attend – register in advance:  http://interconnectedcbcstudio700.eventbrite.com

6:00 – 7:00 pm: check-in, mingle, story coaching and sharing

7:00 – 8:30 pm: Interconnected

For more information, click on any of the links above or call Kickstart at 604-559-6626.

Here’s a small excerpt:

“…Today, the shaming stigmas and reductive stereotypes of sympathy, pity and sentimental condescension are being steadily swept away. In theater and dance, visual arts and music, film and television, artists with disabilities are claiming their rightful place and enriching their disciplines and audiences in once-unimaginable ways. Not only are blindness, deafness, quadriplegia, autism and a host of other disabilities no longer a barrier to aspiring artists, but they are also often a source of powerfully transformative material.

…Like a lot of artists with disabilities, Roche doesn’t want to be defined by the thing that makes him at least initially distinctive. His latest show, ‘Catholic Erotica,’ addresses sexuality. “It’s more difficult being Catholic than being facially different,” he says. “They laughed when I said that in Ireland.”

David Roche will be performing at this years’ Kickstart 5 Festival in September!

Read the full article by clicking on the following link:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/performance/article/Artists-with-disabilities-break-barriers-4412612.php

Kickstart 5 Festival

Featuring a dynamic mix of performances, music, visual arts and workshop sessions, Kickstart 5 has something for everyone!

Festival: September 4 – 8, 2013

Visual Art Exhibit: August 26 – September 13, 2013

At the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre

181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC

To find out more about this year’s exciting roster of performers and artists, please check back with us again soon! We will be posting a full programming schedule on our website as soon as it is available!

To volunteer for this event or to get involved with Kickstart, please give us a call at 604-559-6626 or email info@kickstart-arts.ca.

The image above is a detail from a recent sculptural work titled liminal barbie 2 by Persimmon Blackbridge, one of the BC artists who will be featured in the Kickstart 5 Visual Art Show. Photographer: Della McCreary.

the premiere screening of the Story of Luke & the 4th Annual Big Picture Award

Friday, April 5, 2013 from 7:00 to 10:00 PM

Promotional image for the film, The Story of Luke

Rio Theatre, Vancouver, BC

Join us for British Columbia’s premiere screening of The Story of Luke, a comedy about Luke, a young man with autism who is on a quest for a job and a girlfriend. The film stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Seth Green, Cary Elwes and Kristin Bauer.

Your ticket also includes a variety show with songs, performances, short films & the 4th Annual Big Picture Award Ceremony. This year’s award recipients are Aaron Johannes-Rosenberg, Ernie Baatz & Susan Stanfield from Spectrum Society. Click on any of the three organization names above or click on the link at the bottom to connect to the event site for tickets and to view the trailer!

About the film: Aaron is soulful, ethical and deeply committed to principles of person-centeredness and inclusion. Ernie is creative, thoughtful and deeply committed to social justice. Susan is bright, articulate and deeply committed to collaborating for change. Together, they continue to be the moral compass of our sector, thinking outside the limitations of service provision to address our social mission.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, posAbilities & Kickstart
Disability Arts & Culture

gobaci.com //   posAbilities.ca //   kickstart-arts.ca

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5589440166/?ref=enivtefor001&invite=MzIwMzIyNC9uaXNzZUBraWNrc3RhcnQtYXJ0cy5jYS8w&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformalv2&utm_term=attend&ref=enivtefor001

Emma Kivisild, Artistic Director

Emma Kivisild, who lives with Multiple Sclerosis, has been active in the Vancouver arts community for many years. Under the pseudonym Lizard Jones, Kivisild previously collaborated with artists Persimmon Blackbridge and Susan Stewart as the award-winning collective known as Kiss & Tell. In recent years, her distinctive artwork has been exhibited at Kickstart events and also at Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival. She is the author of Two Ends of Sleep, a novel about living with MS, and is working on a PhD at UBC.  Enthusiastic about her new position with Kickstart – Disability Arts & Culture, Kivisild states, “People with disabilities are creating all kinds of astounding art sculpture, spoken word, breakdancing, burlesque: And it doesn’t stop there. I’m excited to be part of it.”

Emma can be reached at emmak@kickstart-arts.ca.

Nisse Gustafson, Operations Director

Nisse Gustafson is a writer living in Vancouver. Following her experience as a volunteer publishing assistant for Artichoke Publishing and occasional contributor to Artichoke magazine, she co-edited the third volume of a series of books entitled Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian discourse, after her mother, Paula Gustafson, a well-respected arts advocate and editor, passed away. Nisse has seven years administrative experience supporting development departments of organizations serving people living with disabilities, including CNIB and the Developmental Disabilities Association. She has been making art since she was a child, and studied theatre in Alberta following high school before moving to Vancouver in 1991. Nisse has recently rekindled her love of writing fiction and painting. She and her husband, a musician, recently returned to Vancouver after a year living in London, England. Nisse is enthusiastic about her new role as Operations Director with Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture and looks forward to a dynamic, exciting year ahead for the organization.

Nisse (pronounced nee-sah) can be reached at nisse@kickstart-arts.ca.

You can download the Artistic Director Job Description here, in [Word] or [pdf] format.

Please help to distribute this notice to potential individual candidates, or to arts and disability networks.

The highest bid as of 9 pm Thursday Dec. 20th: $1,475.00

A huge THANK YOU to the people who bid on this print!

…and to Leonard Cohen and his management for their generous support of Kickstart!

Everyone, go out and buy a Leonard Cohen CD today!!

Kickstart is very excited to be auctioning an original, signed, limited edition Leonard Cohen print. Part of Mr. Cohen’s visual record spanning 40 years, “The Hat” is a large self-portrait, pictured above.

Donated to Kickstart by Mr. Cohen, this unique artwork is valued at $2,875 USD and will be auctioned by email to auction@kickstart-arts.ca for 15 days only, from December 5th to 20th, 2012. All proceeds will go directly to Kickstart for programs related to disability arts and culture.

Kickstart believes in the power of art …and in the power of moments that “shine”; moments of hilarity, sadness or beauty; moments that make you feel profoundly human. We also believe in the power of your dollar! It can help us to maintain our amazing programming, including the upcoming Kickstart Festival 5 in Sept., 2013.

This auction is perfectly timed for holiday season gift-giving for someone very special. It’s also your one-time opportunity to support a unique Canadian cultural organization AND own (or give) an artwork by one of Canada’s most renowned and talented artists!

The lithographic print (number 24 in a limited edition of only 100) is produced with permanent pigmented ink on 30” x 20”, 300 lb. Arches 100% cotton rag, PH-neutral watercolor paper, and is titled, numbered, dated, and stamped with Mr. Cohen’s personal seal by the artist himself. It comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

We are auctioning the print privately. You can email a bid to auction@kickstart-arts.ca and the bids will be posted right here. Please note: We have decided that for the last 3 days of the auction we will update the highest bid several times a day, to keep the information more current. We will acknowledge your bid, and notify you if and when you are outbid, at which point you will have the option of bidding again.

You can also place a “reserve bid” – the highest amount you’d be willing to offer – and we will hold that confidentially, using it in increments of $25 only to maintain “highest bidder” status. You can also wait until the last hour or so of the auction on December 20th, and see what the current highest bid is before placing a maximum bid.

It will come down to the wire at 9pm Pacific Time on December 20th, when the highest bid, or the first in the case of a tie for the highest, will win the print! We will then contact that lucky winner to make arrangements for payment and shipping.

…with the Conspiracy of Beards!

Conspiracy of Beards is a 30-man choir that exclusively performs gritty, original arrangements of the songs of Leonard Cohen.

The strictly a capella group has become known for their live performances at Bay Area venues such as the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Cafe du Nord, The Great American Music Hall, and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and made its East Coast debut in Spring 2008 at the Highline Ballroom and Bowery Poetry Club. The Beards now make an annual spring pilgrimage to New York for a whirlwind of shows around Manhattan and Brooklyn.

“…the troupe breaks Cohen’s haunting warbles into multi-part harmonies, exploring the dark edges with complex, expertly rendered vocal interpretations.”
—Andrew Phillips, flavorpill (NYC)

Transforming Cohen’s simple melodies into complex 4 to 5 part harmonies, the Beards’ sound ranges from tender to robust. One can hear influences of contemporary, jazz, gospel, barbershop, classical and even doo-wop styles in the unique arrangements by chorus members. Using the genius of Cohen’s words, the Beards inspire audiences to ponder romance, politics, sex, longing and spirituality, all amid laughter and cheers.

A fundraising event to benefit Kickstart, the occasion also marks the end of Geoff McMurchy’s 14-year tenure as the Society’s Artistic Director.

Local writer and comedian Jan Derbyshire will MC!

~ 30 men singing the songs of Leonard Cohen ~

8 pm (doors open at 7 pm) Friday, June 1st, 2012 Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street (at 15th Avenue)

Tickets $25 – available at www.teaandoranges.eventbrite.ca
or at the door

A fundraiser for Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture
with Special Guest MC Jan Derbyshire!

Information: www.kickstart-arts.ca or www.conspiracyofbeards.com
Contact: info@kickstart-arts.ca

With a varied international list of films and five brand new, commissioned films by Canadian filmmakers with a disability, the Wide Angle Media Festival was by all accounts a great success!

The Gala Opening and Premiere of the commissioned films was sold out and was covered by AMI-tv; here is the YouTube link.

Many thanks to Festival Producer, S. Siobhan McCarthy, our Co-producers – the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion and posAbilities – our Guest Curators Julie McNamara and Caglar Kimyoncu, and our local organizing team!