Left to right: Brit Bachmann, Corie Waugh, Lucas Glenn, Kevin Jesuino, Wisdom Tettey
Four current BFA students in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies were nominated for 2013 Okanagan Arts Awards, recognizing their contributions and support of the arts in the Valley.
The annual Okanagan Arts Awards were created by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan six years ago to celebrate excellence in the arts in the Okanagan.
The students were nominated in two of the award categories: Kevin Jesuino was nominated for the Supporter of the Arts Award; Brit Bachmann, Lucas Glenn and Corie Waugh were nominated in the category of Arts Association Award for their creation of Zine One11.
“All of us in the faculty of Creative and Critical Studies are very proud of these BFA students,” says Neil Cadger, head of the Department of Creative Studies. “It is really great to see that they are being recognized for their contributions to the local arts scene. The scene has grown through their efforts. I hope we can manage to sustain what they have started.”
Kevin Jesuino has been involved in the local arts community and is committed to engaging with and being of service to the creative community. He has been working at the Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art for the last year. Jesuino has also been involved organizing and promote many events in the community including the Ecotone Festival, and many of the events in the University Theatre put on by the Theatre Course Union at UBC’s Okanagan campus.
“Kevin and I were hanging out one day and I just put two and two together,” says Lucas Glenn. “ARTSCO was asking for awards, and Kevin had been doing a great job cultivating the arts all year round. He is the most involved facilitator I have known in the Okanagan, and he does an exceptional job promoting and getting people excited about the arts. Seems like the man for the award, to me.”
Studio One11 is a small artist co-op affiliated with the Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art. The co-op’s drive is to promote zine culture and self-publishing in the Okanagan by creating hand-made books filled with their artwork and the artwork of other local artists.
“The Zine One11 team has inspired a whole new generation of local independent art/magazine/book makers and it has also encouraged a younger demographic of locals to participate, become involved and interact with the local arts and cultural centre,” says Jesuino, who nominated the group for the award.
“The project itself also exemplified the type of work I like doing myself: team collaboration and using everyone’s best skills to create a final product. It’s great to see a collective this young working together and stirring things up here in Kelowna.”
This year the Arts Awards were held March 2 at the Kelowna Community Theatre for a large audience that included 45 nominees, plus local arts supporters. The Castanet 2013 Supporter of the Arts Award was given to Robert MacDonald, and the Central Okanagan Foundation Arts Association Award went to Creator’s Art Centre.