While some festivals fall, a new one pops up this spring in Victoria – Starfields 2018: A Festival of Hope.
The inaugural Starfields is billed as a festival of hope, expressed through music, dialogue, and spoken word running April 13 to 15.
“The idea is building community, building bridges through the arts,” says Jo Beattie, artistic director for the festival. “It’s a reach out in this era when around the world so many horrible things are happening in the name of religion – just to breach barriers.” The festival came to be a couple years after Beattie started speaking with parish leaders in the area.
“We have people from all walks of life, multifaith, all denominations, non-denominations, all coming together where we have music as the main media and then we have a lot of dialogue,” Beattie said.
Starfields 2018 is guided by a steering committee and supported financially through donations from various sources, combined with ticket sales and other fund-raising efforts. Planning and production of the festival will rely heavily on local volunteers. The 3-day program will feature a diverse mix of faith leaders, musicians, poets, authors and teachers.
Events take place Friday and Saturday at The Church of Christ the Scientist, Our Place, The Metro Theatre and Studio, downtown Public Library, Christ Church Chapter Room, First Met Church; Sunday morning at UVIC Multifaith Chapel, early afternoon at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Gordon Head, late afternoon and evening at St Matthais in Oak Bay.
“We’ve got a lot of things happening, we hope people come out,” Beattie said.
Keynote speaker is Shane Claiborne, poets, authors, social justice and environment focused panels, all workshops free. Find the full schedule at starfields.ca.
“They themselves are outreach workers in their communities. Some of them have faith background some of them don’t,” Beattie said.
Main stage shows at the Church of Christ the Scientist, 1205 Pandora are April 13, 7 p.m. with Leela Gilday Band, Cris Derksen, Hope Bay Common and April 14, 7 p.m. with The Paperboys, The Small Glories, Linda McRae.
Tickets $20 available at Munro’s 250 382 2464 and Ivy’s Bookshop (250-598-2713) or online at www.starfields.ticketleap.com.
