Arts on The Ave

We wanted to make sure we thanked all of the volunteers that made Deep Freeze 2012 so incredible last month. Let’s not fool ourselves – the weather made things pretty incredible too – but each one of our helpful hands made things come to life. So thanks to all those that volunteered and helped Deep Freeze Winter Festival. Thank you for welcoming festival visitors to our community. They experienced a magical winter festival on the Ave!
There’s not even that much left of it now, but have a wonderful winter.

Warm regards,
Arts on the Ave board and Deep Freeze Festival production team

Children’s Dance Classes

Parkdale Cromdale Community League will be offering jazz dance classes for kids 5-12 years old beginning January 18, 2011. Classes are free for community league members and will be held at the Parkdale Cromdale Hall on Wednesdays between 5:30 and 7:00 pm.
Contact Megan Petryk for more info or to register- phone 780-477-1171 or email mpetryk@ualberta.ca.
We have lots of cool stuff going on at PCCL if you wish to check out our website – perhaps there is a way we can link to yours and vice versa? http://www.parkdalecromdale.org/

February will find the Carrot Coffeehouse full of festivities celebrating Black History Month, with an event called “Rhythms of the Earth”. You won’t want to miss the artists we have lined up!

All month long you can come and see the visual gallery, comprised of local artists that are also part for the “5 Artists One Love” exhibition at the AGA. The Carrot will feature work by: Khiry Crooks, Lorien Maheu, Adrian Louden, Brett Miles, and Elsa Robinson.

Other highlights for the month include:

A Poetry Slam with established poets around the city, including some of this city’s up and coming young artists, and a hip hop performance by The Overachievers.

Adje Performers will make another appearance on the Ave – if you missed them at Deep Freeze, you won’t want to miss them here! They’ll help get the month warmed up with their drumming this weekend!

After listening to Adje, if you are inspired to learn how to play a djembe, take an African Drumming Workshop with DrumAdrumDRUM.

Dr. Bitupu, Junetta Jamerson, and Tololwa Mollel are all fantastic Storytellers. From their lips you will hear oral stories of immigration that have been passed down through generations, mythology, and other traditional stories.

Mama Afro will do a braiding demonstration, and Jean Nipp talk about her clothing designs, inspired by Northern and Western Africa tradition.

So as you can see, there’s a lot to look forward to this February, as we celebrate Black History Month. Come enjoy a hot beverage celebrate with us!

For a schedule of events, click here.

Thanks to EPIC Photography for over a hundred wonderful photos from our recent Deep Freeze festival. View them right about here …

[Show as slideshow]

123456►

Take a moment to read this recent Edmonton Journal story on the revitalization of The Ave,  with a focus on the important role the police have played.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Police+quarterback+change+Alberta+Avenue/5889766/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

We’d like to take a moment to thank Nathalie Duchaine at Pause Cafè for all of her help during our recent Deep Freeze Festival. The Cafè is located at 8627 Rue Marie-Anne-Gaboury, in Citè Francophone, and we’d love it if you would drop by and pay them a visit. Partners like this helped make Deep Freeze 2012 a big success.

In June of this year it will be five years that The Carrot has been open. To those of us who had a vision of what The Carrot could be, The Carrot has by far exceeded our expectations in terms of its effect on the volunteers that have passed through its doors, the musicians who have played at the open mikes and Friday nights, and the artists who have had their work displayed. While we thought that The Carrot could have an effect on the community, we never realized that it would become a catalyst for revitalization of Alberta Avenue.

What has also amazed us is the stories that have emerged from The Carrot as people became involved as volunteers, musicians and artists.

It is time to start collecting those stories and the pictures that have documented the events at The Carrot. The goal is to have a book published called “Stories from The Carrot” in 2011 which will contain the stories that you, the volunteers, board members of Arts on the Ave., The Carrot Committee, the artists, the musicians and community members have about The Carrot. We are also looking for photographs which document events at The Carrot.

So start thinking about your experiences at The Carrot. How has The Carrot impacted your life? The lives of others? Your community? Write them down. Look through your photos and see what pictures you have from The Carrot. If you aren’t comfortable writing and would like to just tell your story, that’s possible, too.

Forward all material to Arthur Dyck at storiesfromthecarrot@gmail.com.

Enjoy a Deep Freeze 2012 photo gallery from the Edmonton Journal : http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Gallery+Deep+Freeze+Festival/5962704/story.html

Deep Freeze Fest is just around the corner, and we thought we’d highlight some things you may not have noticed in the our packed program, as well as some openings you may have assumed would be all filled up.

Ice

Yes, the ice carving competition is still a go. With the help of some refrigeration, we will have ice to carve, so come out to see the masters at work. There are snow carvings on site, too, for those of you who miss the white stuff.

Hockey

The hockey tournament is a go as well. I believe there its still at least one opening for a team, so if you’d like to play some good ole’ fashioned street hockey, get in touch with us.

Dancing

The Surf’s Up Dance with the Tsunami Brothers will be a blast (and it includes a retro-inspired swimwear fashion show). Some tickets are still available. Don’t forget to bring your swimsuit, towel and such along for the giant outdoor hot tub.

Colorful Explosions In the Sky

You may have missed this in the program, but this year’s Deep Freeze features FIREWORKS marking our fifth anniversary! The show starts at 6 PM, so even young folks with early bedtimes can enjoy it (I suppose there is something good about our 5 o clock darkness). It will be over before long, so make sure you are around right at 6 to take in the display.

Theses are just some highlights but there is a lot more going on this weekend. We’ll see you on site this Saturday. Find out more at deepfreezefest.ca, or download our full program.

Thanks to another Deep Freeze story from The Edmonton Journal, you can get a sneak peek at the weekends snow sculptures, made with more than a little machine-magic-snow. Read the article, Deep Freeze Festival Celebrates Winter, online here …

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Deep+Freeze+festival+celebrates+winter/5953249/story.html