Press Releases

Message from the Board of Directors: Announcing our new Executive Director – Laura Grady

March 9, 2022 – New Westminster
From the Board of Directors, Arts Council of New Westminster

It is with a mix of sadness and gratitude, we announce that Stephen O’Shea has chosen to leave his role of Executive Director for the Arts Council of New Westminster, effective June 30, 2022.

Since 2015, Stephen has played a critical role in the development and success of the organization. We will miss him and his inspiring leadership. Having just completed his Masters Degree in Professional Communication at Royal Roads University, he is ready to move on to the next step in his career. We want to thank him for the seven years of dedicated service, which involved many significant accomplishments, including:

Partnering with local organizations for festivals and events such as Music by the River and Fridays on Front.
Streamlining ACNW program delivery into the STRIVE arts education, DRIVE arts outreach, and THRIVE arts enhancement initiatives.
Increasing ACNW staff from one to two full-time and two seasonal staff.
Upgrading of The Gallery at Queen’s Park as a community art gallery
Growing membership to over 300 members

We are pleased to announce that upon Stephen’s departure at the end of June, Laura Grady will be promoted from her role as Program Manager to the Executive Director. Laura knows the local arts community well and has taken on increasing responsibility over her six years at the Arts Council. Thanks to Stephen’s succession planning, she is well-prepared to take on the role of Executive Director. One of her immediate tasks will be to hire an Operations Manager. The details of this part-time position will soon be posted on the ACNW website.

Again, we thank Stephen for the dedication, passion, and enthusiasm he has given our arts community over the past seven years. He will be greatly missed by the staff, Board, members and partners alike. We look forward to following the success of his career and are excited for the next chapter of the Arts Council of New Westminster as we continue to bring community together through the arts.

If you have any concerns or suggestions for the Art Council going forward, please do not hesitate to contact Bob Crockett directly at president@acnw.ca

Sincerely,

Bob Crockett, Dawn Dutriza-Larose, Stephanie Hughes, Alie Mayr, Tim Varro, David Vivian
Board of Directors
Arts Council of New Westminster

From Laura Grady, incoming Executive Director, Arts Council of New Westminster

With the full support of the Arts Council of New Westminster Board and current Executive Director, Stephen O’Shea, I am pleased to announce that I will be stepping into the Executive Director role on July 1, 2022.

Over the last six years, I have worked for the ACNW as Program Manager, and it has been an honour to serve the community through my role in supporting artists and art initiatives in New Westminster. I am passionate about connecting my community to the artists and makers who enrich our city and invite us to be inspired, challenged, and engaged. I am looking forward to this new opportunity and leading this organization in a direction that continues to meet the needs of artists and the community.

Stephen is leaving behind a solid and stable organization for me to step into. I am grateful for his leadership, guidance and support in preparing me for this role. I am eager to continue my work with the ACNW and build on the vital relationships with our partners, volunteers and members. Together with the ACNW Board, I plan to carry on our vision of creating an active and engaged arts council within our creative and diverse city.

Sincerely,

Laura Grady
Program Manager
Arts Council of New Westminster

From Stephen O’Shea, Executive Director, Arts Council of New Westminster

Dear ACNW Members and New Westminster Community,

I have decided to resign as the Executive Director at the Arts Council of New Westminster, effective June 30, 2022. My first official day with the ACNW was on March 9, 2015, and after seven years with ACNW, I have made this choice to make room for a new leader. Those of you who know me well know that I am passionate about serving artists and the positive impact that work has on our community. I am a true believer that every leader should reflect on their capacity to serve and acknowledge when they know their time has come to an end. For organizations like ours to succeed through life cycles of growth and renewal, knowing when to get out of the way can be just as important as knowing when and where to lead.

I am grateful for the valuable experience and the opportunities I received while working at the ACNW. It’s been great to work with such talented and helpful colleagues. I could not have asked for a more supportive Board of Directors, and I treasure the friendships I have cultivated with each one of you. During my time at the ACNW, I grew both personally and professionally, which I know will benefit me with my future endeavours. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Executive Director these last seven years.

While I have a mix of emotions as I move into this next chapter of my career, I will continue in the work that has become so important to me: community building and serving artists. The decision for my transition is one I have been actively planning for years. Good succession planning and leadership transition are incredibly important for non-profit organizations. I have worked hard over the past two years to ensure this process is as smooth as possible. By giving the Board of Directors my intention to resign years in advance, they have had an opportunity to develop a robust succession plan. Additionally, we have worked in upskilling staff, like ACNW Program Manager Laura Grady, to take on bigger roles. And I am pleased to share that we have secured a three-year funding commitment from the City of New Westminster that stretches to December 2024. I now depart with the strongest organizational foundation the ACNW has had in a very long time.

I want to give my deepest gratitude to all who have been so supportive of the organization and me personally over the years: excellent and dedicated staff, passionate and strategically minded Board Members, and most vitally, of course, our artists, partners, volunteers, and ACNW members. Without you, the organization would not be as strong and vibrant as it is. I am so honoured to have been the leader of this incredible organization and will watch with much excitement and anticipation as it makes strides in supporting artists in New Westminster in the coming years. We have a brilliant and strategic Board of Directors who have my full confidence that they and Laura are going to push this organization to new heights.

My immediate plan is to become a Corporate Member of the ACNW and a regular monthly donor. I ask you to consider giving Laura the strongest possible footing for success by becoming a monthly donor as well. Consistent funding is the bedrock that allows confident planning to see the STRIVE, DRIVE, and THRIVE programs continue for artists in New Westminster.

It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to serve in this role. To so fully immerse myself into New Westminster’s arts community has been a huge reward. We have accomplished many great things together in the past seven years and I look forward to what will be accomplished with new leadership in the future. Between now and June 30 we have important work to see this transition through, so now I need to get back to work!

Sincerely,

Stephen O’Shea
Executive Director
Arts Council of New Westminster

Media Release: Comedian & Performer Tin Lorica prepares for Poets+ debut

Media Release
January 18, 2021

Presented by the Arts Council of New Westminster: Comedian & Performer Tin Lorica prepares for Poets+ debut

With the Poets+ virtual performance about to debut, poet, writer and comedian Tin Lorica is preparing to slam for the first time in over a year.

It’s a craft they’re returning to after focusing primarily on comedy, hosting the recurring stand-up event Millennial Line at Red Gate. Poets+ is giving them that opportunity to share their more serious, vulnerable material again.

“Basically, I miss it. I really want to do it again,” said Lorica, about performing slam poetry.

“Even before the pandemic started, a lot of my work and my energy was really being put towards doing stand-up. You can be poetic in comedy and use your words really well in a way that’s not mainstream stand-up, so I was trying to access more of my vulnerability. I missed using that voice because that’s where I started writing, was with poetry.”

While there will be bits of humour sprinkled into their set, most of it will be centred on their experiences of diaspora and yearning to connect with the local arts and culture scene during the pandemic.

They’re excited to get back to sharing the feelings that bubbled up during the pandemic — especially alongside the other poets: Jillian Christmas, Justin Percival, and Tawahum Bige.

“When we were filming, even before people got a chance to see their stuff in front of the camera, I could just feel people being really excited to be in there and share their art,” they said.

Poets+ was curated by Tawahum Bige and organized by Stephen O’Shea from the Arts Council of New Westminster.

The performance can be watched comfortably at home. To learn more, visit the project’s website.

Learn more about Poets+ here.

BACKGROUND:

An exciting new collection of performances from emerging poets of color is debuting through the Arts Council of New Westminster (ACNW) in 2022. To be officially released on Jan. 14, the hour-long compilation was curated by Łutselkʼe Dene, Plains Cree poet and spoken word Tawahum Bige.

In Poets+, Bige performs alongside Nisga’a spoken word/hip hop artist Justin Percival, queer Filipinx comedian Tin Lorica, and creative facilitator Jillian Christmas. Together, they cover themes of identity, oppression, and reconciliation.

The project was recorded and filmed at Fifth Chord Studios in New Westminster last summer. When it is released in the new year, it will be available to view through YouTube and Earshot digital Distribution System.

Media Contact: Aly Laube
To interview the artists or organizers, reach out to me here or at 7788081400.

Media Release: Poets+ curator Tawahum Bige shares selection and creative process

Media Release
January 10, 2022

Presented by the Arts Council of New Westminster: Poets+ curator Tawahum Bige shares selection and creative process

Tawahum Bige, one of the many performers of colour participating in Poets+, has been working with the New Westminster Arts Council for years.

His partnership with the Council’s Stephen O’Shea has produced performance opportunities, reference letters, and mutual pursuit of creative freedom.

So when O’Shea asked Bige to curate the multi-poet online performance, he readily agreed.

“Stephen came up to me and was like, ‘I don’t really have an idea for an event, but I want to make the space for you to have an idea, and for that to be something we work towards because I want to put a little bit more control to the artist,’” says Bige.”

“That’s what was happening, rather than coming with his own institutional programming. I thought that was really awesome.”

With time, Poets+ came into being. And for Bige, one of the most important goals was bringing together poets who are also activists and community leaders.

“My idea is to bring folks who are in fact poets, but they do a great deal of other kinds of work, whether that’s Tin Lorica’s comedy, Justin Percival’s hip-hop music and really intense spoken-word, or Jillian Christmas’s music and spoken word,” he says.

He chose people who are well connected to the community not only to give them a voice, but to thank them.

“If you’re doing poetry in Vancouver, you can’t not know Jillian Christmas, who has made it possible in so many venues for us to do our poetry, whether it’s spoken word festivals or many years of slam organizing,” he says.

“I want to really extend my deep appreciation and gratitude for everything she’s done in the community.”

There are people who have already been around in the scene for a long time, but there’s also a mix of newer talent. Even now, Bige considers himself new — especially compared to poets like Jillian Christmas.

“Then you’ve got Tin Lorica, who runs an amazing poetry and comedy show out of Red Gate, Millennium Line, and really pushes that forward in new ways. I extend that gratitude to them as well,” he says.

“Justin Percival’s up and coming in the community and very involved in the Downtown Eastside, as well as performed through Talking Stick Festival and doing a mentorship with him. He’s a rising star, and I just want to uplift that.”

While he understands it’s an addition to their virtual portfolio as well, Bige hopes the performers involved come out of the event feeling like they’re valued in the community for the work they’re doing.

“I always enjoy receiving a random email one day to get to perform in a project. Then I’ve been picked just for what I do. And I hope they really feel the sense of that when they see everybody’ live together,” he says.

“They were picked because they are some of the best, and I also hope that they feel the sense of pride when it reaches a wider audience than just those who are able to hang out in the room with them.”

It’s a great time to focus on connection, with so many members of the community scattered and stuck at home under public health restrictions. Poets+ provides an opportunity for the folks missing live performances to participate as much as they can, even if it’s from a distance.

Bige’s set will be about 15 minutes of “as much back-to-back poetry and music as [he] can manage,” based heavily on their work as a land protector.

Learn more about Poets+ here.

BACKGROUND:

In Poets+, Bige performs alongside Nisga’a spoken word/hip hop artist Justin Percival, queer Filipinx comedian Tin Lorica, and creative facilitator Jillian Christmas. Together, they cover themes of identity, oppression, and reconciliation.

The project was recorded and filmed at Fifth Chord Studios in New Westminster last summer. When it is released in the new year, it will be available to view through YouTube and Earshot digital Distribution System.

Media Contact: Aly Laube
To interview the artists or organizers, reach out to me here or at 7788081400.

Media Release: Announcing Poets+ curated by Tawahum Bige

The Arts Council of New Westminster is excited to announce: Poets+ curated by Tawahum Bige

An exciting new collection of performances from emerging poets of color is debuting through the Arts Council of New Westminster (ACNW) in 2022.

To be officially released on Jan. 14, the hour-long compilation was curated by Łutselkʼe Dene, Plains Cree poet and spoken word Tawahum Bige.

Bige’s relationship with the Arts Council began in 2019, when they hosted a workshop for New Westminster’s annual literary arts festival, LitFest New West. They are a long-standing member of the poetry community and have been widely recognized for their talent as a spoken word performer and writer. In their words, Bige’s work aims to “expose growth, resistance, and persistence as a hopeless Two Spirit non-binary sadboy on occupied Turtle Island.”

So when Stephen O’Shea from the Council started thinking about releasing a spoken word compilation on contemporary issues facing marginalized artists in so-called Canada, he knew Bige was the person to put it together.

In Poets+, Bige performs alongside Nisga’a spoken word/hip hop artist Justin Percival, queer Filipinx comedian Tin Lorica, and creative facilitator Jillian Christmas. Together, they cover themes of identity, oppression, and reconciliation.

“Showcasing four emerging spoken word artists at this time in their careers is really important for them and the meaningful work that they’ve been engaged in with the Vancouver spoken word and music scene,” says O’Shea.

“Hearing the authentic voices of emerging artists of colour who are addressing historical wrongs and a pervasive narrative of white supremacy — these voices are vital and important, and I think people need to hear them.”

O’Shea says it’s an honour to contribute to the project and work with the artists involved.

“We celebrate not only the journey they’ve had up until now or on this project, but even the work that they will do in the future and the way they’ll change and improve and re-contextualize so-called Canada’s cultural fabric,” he says.

The project was recorded and filmed at Fifth Chord Studios in New Westminster last summer. When it is released in the new year, it will be available to view through YouTube and Earshot digital Distribution System.

Media Contact: Aly Laube
To interview the artists or organizers, reach out to me here or at 7788081400.

Media Release: Arts Council engages two new curators for annual Permanent Collection exhibition at The Gallery at Queen’s Park

November 29, 2021

Media ReleaseNovember 29, 2021For Immediate Release Arts Council engages two new curators for annual Permanent Collection exhibition at The Gallery at Queen’s Park New Westminster, BC – Arts Council of […]