Vancouver Island Mayworks is presenting the annual Women and Work event at Zocalo Café on May 9 and 10 at 7 p.m. each day.
As this event was so popular last year, it was decided to hold it over two evenings, with the same program each evening.
In keeping with the overall theme of Mayworks, Women and Work highlights women’s work, paid and unpaid, including the creative work of female artists and performers.
The evening will start with Sue Pyper, an award-winning Canadian singer/songwriter originally from England.
Her personal travels, both geographical and emotional, have inspired gentle, insightful, and heartfelt songs that look at life from all angles and visit themes of both hope and hardship.
The second set of the evening will be presented by Bernice Friesen who is a visual artist, writer and poet.
Her most recent book, The Book of Beasts, was included in the Globe and Mail’s top 100 and top first fictions and was longlisted for the Rogers Writers Trust of Canada Fiction Prize. Her writing has been included in two League of Canadian Poets winners anthologies, and Best Short Stories, 2002, (Oberon).
She has lived in England, New Zealand and British Columbia, has taught herself to read French and Italian, and is currently trying to understand quantum physics.
The third performer of the evening will be Meaghan Cursons, well-known Comox Valley community animateur.
Meaghan has been a key organizer of many valley events, including Vancouver Island MusicFest and has been the driving force behind Elevate the Arts, Backyard Farmers Unite, Cumberland’s Bean Dinner, Miners’ Memorial Day and many other community-building events.
Perhaps less well known is the fact that Meaghan has a beautiful singing voice and a wide repertoire of working songs.
There is no admission charge for Women and Work. Everyone is welcome.
— Vancouver Island Mayworks