September has been a blur of exciting events at Arts Orillia as you will see below. But the excitement isn’t ending!
Coming next? The Orillia Jazz Festival! Be sure to reserve your tickets below for the three nights of Opera House events, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 14-16. Make a restaurant reservation because the downtown will be buzzing with performances at Couchiching Craft Brewing Co., Lot 88, Apple Annie’s, Picnic, and Lake Country Grill.
The weekend activities will feature a special Jazz Fest “after-party” on Friday, October 14, starting at 9:30 p.m. Our partners, the Couchiching Craft Brewing Co. on Mississaga Street East, will be hosting. Don’t miss the amazing Denielle Bassels at this event.
Looking back to Friday, September 23rd, Orillia's beautiful Leacock Museum was the backdrop for “Heirloom.” Artists delighted the audience with a concert of classical music, acrobatic dance, and juggling. Over a hundred students and teachers from Regent Park attended! Thank you to Arts Facilitator, Bonnie Black and Experiential Learning Lead, Victoria Iceton, at Simcoe County Board of Education - and to our partners at Fall For Dance North - for ensuring this opportunity for our young people!
Q&A session with Clémence Dinard, Brad Cherwin, Daniel Hamin Go, and Michael Bridge / Daniel Stefek wowing the students with acrobatics / Basile Pucek, Phillipe Dupuis, Daniel Stefek, and Clémence Dinard
Artists Allison Cummings, Val Calam, and Vivine Scarlett came to Orillia this September as Artists-in-Residence in the Dance & Design program. The creative energy was inspiring as these artist-mothers developed their work. Cumming’s solo performance will debut in Toronto at Citadel + Compagnie in 2023/24. Through our involvement in the Ontario Presents Contact On Tour, we are making a touring circuit for our Dance & Design recipients! More about this soon when we host our next Artist-in-Residence, Shameka Blake of Artists in Motion.
Allison Cummings performing BEAR at the Orillia Opera House / Porter Cummings / Allison Cummings, Max Kane, Vivine Scarlett, Val & Luann Calam, and Kate Hilliard
A shout out to our partners at Orillia & District Arts Council for their Culture Days programming — and did you know that students at OSS had the opportunity to meet and work with Randell Adjei as a result of this dedicated Board of Directors?
Randell Adjei at Orillia Secondary School
And finally, a warm welcome to new Arts Orillia Director, Stevie Baker. We are grateful for her expertise as artist, administrator, and cultural advocate. Our family is growing and we’re excited to share our work. Please be in touch.
Our Board of Directors at our new home at Creative Nomad Studios (Taylor Knox, Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Fred Larsen, Stevie Baker, Rex Deverell, Laura Clark, Sagan MacIsaac)
We look forward to seeing you,
The Team at Arts Orillia