June 14, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A free family festival to engage with intercultural community arts
Celebrating Canada’s Multiculturalism Day
Burnaby, B.C. – The Intercultural Community Arts Festival will be held on June 27th 2018 from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Burnaby Neighbourhood House, 4460 Beresford Street. This is a free family event featuring an Immigrant Art Exhibition, Children’s activities, and Multicultural performances. Join Culture Chats and our partners at this unique family event.
Community members will display locally made handicrafts and artworks as part of the Art Exhibition. These include Painting on Glass by a local artist, hand woven Persian scarves, East Indian jewelry, Egyptian hand painting on papyrus, African fabrics and traditional First Nations craftworks. “We are curating this festival as a free platform for community artists including newcomers to showcase their talents and build upon their artistic skills. Attendees will have a chance to engage with amazingly diverse world art”, said Asmita Lawrence from Culture Chats BC Association. Group performances will be presented by community members including Chinese dance, Line dancing and others. A variety of children’s activities will be offered such as word games, paper craft, intercultural story time and henna painting.
This event is planned in collaboration with key partners and sponsors including the Burnaby Neighbourhood House, the Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table (BIPT), Festivals Burnaby and with part funding by the government of Canada. “We are excited to support this community based initiative seeking to nurture creativity and excellence in different forms. It fits with our mandate to provide the structure and framework and then let community members take the driving seat!” said Kimberly Barwich, Program Director at the Burnaby Neighbourhood House. The Burnaby Neighbourhood House offers family drop-ins, preschool programs, new immigrants’ services, and senior’s engagement support and youth activities.
The Festival celebrates Canada’s Multiculturalism Day. It is free and open to all. This is one small step to harness the strength of the diversity and creativity in our community. Everyone is invited to attend and encourage local artists exhibiting their works. One of the registered exhibitors shares her motivation to be part of this Intercultural Community Arts Festival saying, “Arts are a window to our thoughts and emotions and experiences. They can help to share a common appreciation of beauty and joy.”
About Culture Chats BC Association
Culture Chats BC Association is a not for profit community based association promoting intercultural connections through engagement with literary and other arts among local communities. More information at http://www.culturechats.org
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