Tag: arts

The Saskatchewan Film Pool: bringing filmmakers together

It’s not easy being an independent filmmaker. Of all the art forms, film is one of the most expensive, requiring specialized equipment and facilities. But filmmaking is like any other complicated endeavor: it gets easier when you pool resources with other individuals involved in the same pursuit. That’s the philosophy behind the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative. …

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In defense of sweetness and light

It’s Christmas, a time many people claim to dread because of what they might call “sappy” music, or “sickly-sweet” sentiment, or “corny” expressions of goodwill and happiness. For some reason, there are critics–a majority of them, I sometimes think–who believe art is only worthwhile if it’s “edgy” or “dark” or “explores the seamy underbelly of …

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Surprised by joy

South of Saskatoon on Highway 11, just before you dip into the valley where Mt. Blackstrap rears its not-so-lofty peak, there’s a bit of a rise. I’ve driven over it many times this summer, as I head back and forth to Rosthern to appear in the musical Tent Meeting at the Rosthern Station Arts Centre. …

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The Harry Potter books: more than the sum of their hype

I’d be a pretty poor excuse for an arts columnist this week if I didn’t say something about Harry Potter. Harry Potter, for those who have been living in an isolation tank for the past few months, is the young wizard protagonist of a series of children’s books by J. K. Rowling, which are selling …

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Write what you know?

“Write what you know” is one of those tiresome bits of advice that beginning writers are forever having thrown at them. As a science fiction writer, I’ve always rejected this particular maxim out of hand, because, after all, I’ve never been a homeless street musician who ends up sharing a cheap hotel room with an …

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Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre Co.

There are a lot of talented young people in Regina. Some of the most talented will be on stage this week and next, as Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre Inc. presents two musicals, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Alice in Wonderland. Do It With Class, now in its seventh season, began with just …

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Composer David McIntyre

Regina composer David McIntyre, whose first symphony was premiered by the Regina Symphony Orchestra February 12, set his sights high from the moment he began writing tunes. David, who is originally from Calgary, started piano lessons with his uncle when he was four. “I heard my uncle talk about the big names, like Mozart and …

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Alison Lohans

When Regina author Alison Lohans was four, she spent hours pretending to read to her little sister. At five, she discovered that just because you stop dreaming when you wake up, the dreams don’t have to end: she’d lie awake continuing the dreams in her head. When she was seven, her father let her use …

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The Assiniboia Gallery

The Assiniboia Gallery is 23 years old this year. So is its new owner Mary Weimer, who took over from the founders John and Monica Kurtz, in September. Running one of the city’s best-known, established art galleries was hardly what Mary had in mind when her mother called her one day in 1998, while she …

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In praise of the amateur

“Amateur” is a word with a split personality. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. Many of the world’s top athletes are “amateurs,” and nobody suggests they’re not as good as the “professionals.” In fact, I’ve heard many people say they’d rather watch amateur figure skating than professional skating, because the amateurs put more into it …

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Ars longa, column brevis

Welcome to the newest feature of inregina.com, a weekly column on the arts. Which arts? Why, all of them. Music, mime, fiction, film, painting, poetry, drawing, dancing–if it involves human creativity in the pursuit of beauty, truth, or just a good belly laugh, then this column is interested in it. OK, OK, “this column” can’t …

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