Playwright-in-Residence Applications Sought

Either week of October 15th or week of October 29th, 2007

For the upcoming, 2007-08 season, Native Women in the Arts continues our Writer in Residency to stimulate Aboriginal women’s writing on art, culture, and the advancement of Indigenous Peoples. This year we are hosting a one-week playwright residency: for an emerging or an established Aboriginal woman playwright.

PURPOSE:
• To generate new theatrical works on subjects pertinent to Indigenous culture.

• To support Aboriginal women playwrights by providing a one or two-week residency in order to create or complete a publishable play.

SELECTION CRITERIA:
Writers will be selected based on an assessment of:
• The relevance of the their work to art, culture and the advancement of Indigenous peoples;

• Examples of writer’s previous works, published and un-published (Established playwrights must have previously published work), demonstrating their capacity to create unique and interesting work on pertinent topics;

• A synopsis of the work the writer wishes to undertake for this residency; as this is residency is meant to further develop a current work in progress

WHO MAY APPLY:
Women and female youth of Aboriginal ancestry who are established or emerging playwrights.

HOW TO APPLY:
1. Personal Information: Include your full name, Aboriginal nation affiliation/community, and updated contact information, including phone number, fax (if applicable) email and mailing address.

2. Synopsis: Include a 1-2 page synopsis of a project you wish to complete during this writer in residency. Please include: a) working title, b) topic to explore, c) hypothesis (if applicable), d) explanation of relevance to Aboriginal issues and art, e) possible sources for publication, and f) estimated length of work (ie: number of words).

3. Example of work: Please submit 2 examples of published and/or completed works for review. Please do not send originals, as work will not be returned. (Established playwrights must submit an example of published work)

4. One copy of your most recent resume.

Deadline: September 10, 2007

Send Application via mail to:

Playwright in Residence
c/o Native Women in the Arts
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 420
Toronto, ONT
M5V 3A8

OR email to:
melissa@nativewomeninthearts.com
Put in subject heading: Writer in Residence
Please do not fax your application unless otherwise advised.

For further information about this project and the application process, contact (416) 598-4078.

www.nativewomeninthearts.com

Call for Submissions New Brunswick Art Bank

New Brunswick visual artists are invited to submit applications to the 2007-08 Acquisitions Program of the New Brunswick Art Bank. Every two years a jury selects artwork to be purchased based on the acquisitions budget of $20,000. Artists who are Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have resided in New Brunswick for 12 consecutive months prior to the application deadline are eligible to apply for the program. Artwork must have been produced during the past two years (between October 2005 and October 2007) and must be suitable for display in government buildings.


The deadline to receive submissions is Oct. 12, 2007. Submission forms and more information about the Acquisitions Program is available at: http://www.gnb.ca/0131/art_bank-e.asp#1.

Time for Harvest Volunteers to Sign Up

It’s time to sign up and join the team. That’s the message from organizers of the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival to its impressive cadre of 700 volunteers. And if you’re not a veteran volunteer with the City’s biggest annual event, the Festival’s volunteer committee is also looking for new volunteers.

In recognition of the value of volunteers to the large, community-based event, the Festival has designated the 2007 festival as The Year of the Volunteer.

New and returning volunteers for the Sept. 11-16 event can register online on the Festival’s website at www.harvestjazzandblues.com or by filling out a registration form at the festival retail store at 81 Regent St.

“Many of us like to volunteer with the same friends each year at a specific venue. We want to accommodate those requests, but it’s important our volunteers sign up now to get their choice of positions,” says Alycia Morehouse, co-chair of the Festival’s volunteer committee.

“It’s a very social scene and a great way to meet people if you’re new to town. Lots of new friendships in this town began by volunteering at Harvest,” adds Morehouse.

The Festival has volunteer opportunities for everything from the new “Green Team” to merchandise sales, admissions to light security. There are still openings for most volunteer positions.

“Harvest is one of Atlantic Canada’s biggest annual music festivals. The only way a community of our size can present an event of this scope and quality, is to ask members of our community to help out,” says Reagan Fitzpatrick, volunteer committee co-chair.

And they do – every year. In order to make the Festival a reality, Frederictonians and even a few out of towners who volunteer, contribute about 9,000 hours of light labour to the event. And that doesn’t include the volunteer board of directors and about 65 people who work year round on Festival committees.

“Volunteering is a crucial aspect of the Festival. First and foremost, we couldn’t do it without them. Secondly, volunteering is at the core of what this Festival is about as a community effort. Volunteering gives us our hometown face,” says Fitzpatrick.

As this is the Festival’s Year of the Volunteer, every effort is being made to let volunteers know how much they are appreciated.

Volunteers will get their own lounge this year on the Festival site. It’s a special tent where they can sit down and relax for a few moments, maybe grab a bite to eat. And the week after the Festival, volunteers get special access to a Colin James concert in the Playhouse.

For more information about volunteering for the Festival, go online at www.harvestjazzandblues.com or call the Harvest office at 454-2583.

More Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

When the opportunity arose to visit the Glamour salon for a new look, I admit I initially wasn't very excited. You see I had this preconceived notion about the Road to Wellness. First, we get in shape, get healthy, find inner peace and discover our true paths, do all the work on the inside and THEN we polish the outside to make it match by getting the new hairstyles, going on a shopping spree, and doing a general make-over. That's the way they do it on all the television shows. But you have to seize your opportunitites when they arise, and here was an opportunity so I needed to shake off my old way of thinking and see it from a different angle. What could possibly be a better way to kickstart the whole wellness journey than by getting a new hairstyle? When I started thinking about it that way, I got excited!


The biggest challenge for me is my hair's thickness. It's pretty thick and it's got a nice bit of natural body, which means I can't do some styles easily like the wispy straight look. And forget about getting a perm! But overall I like my hair, I think I'm lucky because it's pretty easy to take care of and I don't really have any significant problem areas.

I'm any stylist's dream client. I'll try anything once. Dye, cut, whatever, count me in. It's only hair! If I don't like the end result, we can just try something different. It always grows back. In my life I've had long blonde straight hair that I could sit on, short spiky red hair and many colours and styles in between. I've cut it myself. I've let friends and relatives cut it. I haven't really had many regular stylists. I tend to go where the wind blows. I've had high maintenance styles and cuts that required no maintenance at all. The older I get the more I favour low maintenance. Gone are the days when I willingly spent hours in front of the mirror everyday fixing my hair. Now, blow drying equals pampering. I'm a wash and go girl.

And this is basically what I told my stylist du jour, Vanessa McCrae, at Glamour. I liked her right away. She's young with a hip look, the perfect person to give me a younger more modern style. I got even more excited! I think I caught her off-guard with my willingness to experiment and my lack of ideas about the general direction to take that experimentation, but once she felt comfortable that I was going to be okay, no matter what happened, she started getting creative. I liked her committment to customer service. If I had walked in there with a photo from a book and said I wanted that, she would have given me exactly what I wanted. After studying my features and the texture and quality of my hair, Vanessa asked how I felt about an inverted bob, longer on the front, shorter in the back. I'd never done that before, so I said for her to go for it!

I came in with longish wavy locks that I mostly kept up in a ponytail or pinned back in a headband. She cut quite a bit off and then came at me with a flat iron. I actually own a very nice flat iron, but before that day I'd never used it. My hair is so thick, straightening is a pretty major undertaking. So I was excited to see a straight look for the first time since I was a child. When she showed me the results in the mirror, I loved it! The great thing about this cut is that I don't have to use the flat iron everyday, I can still do the wash and go thing and feel good about how I look. But on special occasions I have been spending a bit more time on my look, using the flat iron, and the results have been great! I've received a lot of compliments on this style.


I'm glad I decided to embrace the hair make-over at the beginning of the wellness journey. It really did help kickstart the whole thing. And I'm really glad I got to meet Vanessa and have her do my style. I have found a stylist I trust and I'll definitely be returning to her again.