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New Arts4All festival in Surrey to celebrate city’s 25th anniversary

Three-day event offers music, visual art, readings and more from Sept. 28-30
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Alex Browne and his Boulevardiers, shown here at Blue Frog Studios in White Rock, will play a “Bees Knees Swing Dance” at Cloverdale’s Elements Casino on Sept. 29, as part of a new Arts4All festival. (file photo)

A new festival this month is planned to celebrate Surrey’s 25th anniversary of becoming a city.

The three-day Arts4All festival will take place from Sept. 28 to 30 at venues across Surrey, featuring music, visual arts, literary readings, a dance party and more.

A website (arts4allfestival.com) bills the event as “a city-wide celebration of cultural and artistic diversity commemorating the City of Surrey’s 25th Anniversary.”

It’s an initiative of ArtsCan Resource Network in collaboration with the City of Surrey, Culture Days and the Arts Council of Surrey.

Barbara Gould is the founder of ArtsCan, which aims “to provide artists in British Columbia with the resources they need to publish, perform, exhibit and promote their art, and empower their creativity.”

A gala event opens the festival with a performance by the new Surrey City Orchestra at Surrey Arts Centre’s main stage on Friday, Sept. 28. Tickets ($25) for the 8 p.m. concert can be purchased at tickets.surrey.ca.

• RELATED STORY: Surrey City Orchestra idea hits right notes with backers, who eye proposed concert hall as home, from 2017.

Other gatherings at the Arts4All festival include a fine art showcase at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel on Sept. 29, a “Bees Knees Swing Dance” that evening featuring Alex Browne and his Boulevardiers at Elements Casino, an artisan market and craft fair at South Surrey Recreation & Arts Centre, and workshops/performances at Chuck Bailey rec centre.

(STORY CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO)

“We have a bit of everything — there’s music, dancing, visual art, singing, literature,” Gould told the Now-Leader. “I tried to pull the whole community together because that’s why I created ArtsCan.”

Most events are free or by donation, the website notes.

The art show and sale at the Sheraton in Guildford will include works by Arnold Mikelson, Thelma Newbury, Veronica Newell, Christine Rio/Slate Jewelry Co., Judy Vanderveen, Wendy Mould, Lynne Bradford, Joseph Chiang, Doris Biddle, Ali Sepahi, Natalie Way, Donna Schipfel and Jarnail Singh.

Admission to the casino’s “Bees Knees” dance, featuring jazz music from the Roaring ’20s and Dirty ’30s, is by donation, with a suggested minimum of $20. Reservations can be arranged by contacting Tricia McIvor at 604-575-5603 or tmcivor@elementscasinosurrey.com.

On Sept. 29 and 30, literary readings, workshops, artist talks and performances will take place at several public libraries in Surrey, including City Centre, Fleetwood, Newton, Strawberry Hill, Semiahmoo and Ocean Park. The lineup is posted at arts4allfestival.com/libraries.

Several performances are planned at Surrey Arts Centre on both Sept. 29 and 30, featuring Soundscape choir, Xba dance company, the Drama Class improv comedy, Young Peoples’ Opera Society of B.C., Indian dancer Niki Patel, musician Hayley Brown, a Naked Stage theatre company performance of Love, Loss and What I Wore, and more.

“Anyone who has an event is welcome to get in touch with us and be part of this, and we’ll promote them,” Gould said. “We’re trying to spread the word that this is happening, as a way to celebrate the City of Surrey’s 25th anniversary.”

That same weekend, from Sept. 28 to 30, Culture Days will marks its ninth anniversary. Several events are planned in Surrey, including “Heritage Hangout” and “Surrey Civic Theatres on the Road” attractions at Guildford Town Centre on Sept. 30, a “Peter Pan the Panto - Behind the Scenes” rehearsal at Newton’s Valley View Funeral Home and a “Canvas Coffee House” at Newton Cultural Centre on the evening of Sept. 28. More details are posted at culturedays.ca.



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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