A gala reception to award prizes to Arts on the Edge exhibition winners, with a live auction of paintings, jazz music and dance, and a flamenco dance/song/music concert fill the last two performance nights at the Kimberley Kaleidoscope arts festival this week.
Friday night sees the 13th annual Arts on the Edge Gala reception take place in the Centre 64 gallery and Studio 64. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the usual complementary finger foods and no host wine bar will be available from 7.30 when the reception and awards take place, followed by musical and dance entertainment and a live auction of the paintings created by the artists on the July 2 art & garden tour. This year’s Arts on the Edge exhibition of 98 artworks is the edgiest yet, featuring many original and novel sculptures and paintings, a factor recognized by the jury in the awarding of prizes. The exhibition continues until August 25 and admission is free.
This year’s Kimberley Kaleidoscope festival ends Saturday night with a highlight event in the theatre at Centre 64 when Vancouver’s Kasandra Flamenco dance ensemble takes the stage. The Kasandra Flamenco Ensemble has established itself as one of Canada’s premier interpreters of the classical art of flamenco dance and music, performing in major centres throughout western Canada, and the festival committee has gone to considerable expense to bring them to our small community. Flamenco dancer Kasandra “La China’, singer Jafelin Josepfina Helten, flamenco guitarist Gareth Owen and Cajun/percussionist Davide Sampaolo will bring a powerful, emotionally charged exposition of this traditional Spanish artform to the Centre 64 stage in what promises to be a dramatic close to the festival. a no-host wine bar opens at 7.30 in the gallery prior to the performance at 8 p.m. in the theatre.
Tickets for Kasandra Flamenco are available at Centre 64 (250-427-4919 or kimberleyarts@gmail.com), online at eastkootenaysnapd.com, or at the door. Admission to the Arts on the Edge gala is by donation.