NORA O’MALLEY
nora.omalley@westerlynews.ca
Warm up those vocals and start shining your shoes, West Coasters.
Solera Performance Arts Society is seeking local talent to perform at their inaugural fundraising event scheduled to take place on Sunday, Nov. 6 between 3-8 p.m. at the Ucluelet Community Centre.
Janine Wood, the Society’s artistic director, hopes to see a range of artists take the stage.
“Dancers, singers, musicians and poets are all encouraged to come out and share their talent with the community,” she said. “We’re even hoping to have children perform as well.”
Artists who sign-up for the event can expect to sing one song or dance to one song, and Wood said that they can look forward to pocketing a little cash from the family-friendly gig as well.
“All of the proceeds from the door will be distributed among the performers,” she said. “We support the arts and part of that is supporting the artists so we thought we’d donate the door proceeds to the performers even if they are little ones. The idea that it would be a bursary towards their education, that sort of thing.”
The multi-faceted event will include the service of healthy food such as homemade chili and perogies, a silent auction, bake sale and jumble sale. Door admission is set at five dollars.
“Everybody can come out. The more the merrier. You can even do a little early Christmas shopping if you’re in the mood,” said Wood.
She noted that people can stay as long or as little as they want and that most performers will be scheduled to go on during the middle of the event when more people have filled the hall.
“This will be the first fundraiser that Solera has organized. If it goes well then certainly we’ll make it an annual.”
Originally established in Tofino in 2012, Solera also serves the communities of Ucluelet, Ahousaht, Bamfield, Nanaimo and Victoria by supporting workshops, performances, dance camps and classes throughout the year.
“The dance program that takes place in Ahousaht, we subsidize the instructor to go out there. Instead of focusing all the money on a one time dance camp what they are doing now is having a dance instructor go out and teach them on a monthly basis so there is a little more continuity,” said Wood.
Last year, the non-profit organization also brought principal dancer Andrea Bayne from Ballet Victoria to the West Coast for an all ages dance workshop.
Anyone interested in performing at the Solera Performing Arts Society fall fundraiser or volunteering is encouraged to contact Janine Wood at soleraperformingarts@gmail.com.
