Giant killer hornet extract, marathon running, Scottish bagpipes, Balanese gamelan, Japanese taiko, interactive digital animation . . . blend all these ingredients, shake or stir, and you have Marathonalogue, a new multi-disiplinary, cross-cultural show that promises to be one of the performance highlights of the year.
The show, which runs February 18 to 20 at the Norman Rothstein Theatre, brings together a number of artists including Kenneth Newby, Aleksandra Dulic, Melissa Ftrzelec, Oliver Szeleczky and Brendan Edward Wingrove, who will be creating interative computer-animated projections, and composers Michael O’Neill, Boyd Seiichi Grealy and I Wayan Sudirana. They will be joined by musicians Sylvia DeTar, Elaine Ng, and Eien Hunter-Ishikawa.
The Bulletin asked Aleksandra Dulic and Michael O’Neill to share their thoughts on the upcoming show.

In Their Own Words
Michael O’Neill & Aleksandra Dulic

I loved the concept for this piece from the moment I heard about it. Whose idea was it, and who brought all the artists together?
Michael O’Neill When I saw an article in the newspaper—Naoko Takahashi wins women’s marathon after drinking an extract distilled from giant killer hornets at the Sydney Olympics—long after Naoko had won at Sydney, I was struck by the imagery that it conjured up, unforgettable, and I immediately thought of the raspy, buzzing sound of bagpipes as a representative, or stand-in for hornets and taiko for pounding of feet on pavement. I thought of Boyd, who I know from working with Uzume Taiko. Some time later, I was investigating a processional form of gamelan from Bali, called Beleganjur, and thought, hey, bagpipes, taiko, and gamelan are all processional instruments, ensembles. At least they can be. I’d heard of, or was part of, collaborations between each pair—pipes/taiko, gamelan/pipes, and taiko/gamelan—I thought it was time to bring all three together. Wayan Sudirana from the gamelan at UBC, is both a composer and fabulour player, and he had composed new music for Beleganjur ensemble, so he was a natural to be invited into this ensemble. I had just finished working with Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic on a gamelan shadowplay, so it was easy to imagine this developing idea as a shadowplay, with video. They listened to the idea and immediately ‘saw’ it as animation.

Besides Naoko Takahashi and her downing of giant killer hornet extract, was there any other inspiration for this piece?
MO For me it brought to mind previous experiences that related to this image–Noaoko and giant killer hornets. Running. I’ve always loved running and thinking about this got me outside running in different size circles. A loop around city blocks, the nearby park, to the video store. And speaking of videos, it may have been the video Gerry that made me imagine a global marathon, which is what our work is stretching into being. In Gerry, two guys go for an afternoon walk to a ’point of interest’ and get horribly lost on the way. They never reach their destination and the landscape they travel through begins to look a lot like the wrong continent. So for me, I’m interested in this idea of being in a state of self-propelled solitude. And to speculate, or envision what would happen to your consciousness, your imagination, in this situation.

Aleksandra Dulic From the first moment, we wanted to explore visually the idea of transformation. Because the main concept was to visualize the experience of running the marathon, which is in a way a steady state, and at the same time a very rhythmic experience. We thought that the visual transformation would provide the richest ground for visual research. Because animation as a medium has no physical limits, the limits are only conceptual, we were clear that animation would be the right approach for the project.

One of the main trajectories is the transformation of running body from human to animal. The idea was that these transformations would reflect the various states and places that the marathon runner goes through. Another trajectory for transformations is the movement from external to internal world. The external world is represented through physical transformation form runner to animal, while the internal world is represented through abstract animation. The abstractions take a form of visual music, as a pure non-narrative exploration of rhythm and form. We are developing techniques where the visual medium is played like a drum, a kind of musical instrument that visually expresses the same kind of abstraction that is inherited in music. The musical dynamics of visual material represents the internal and embodied experience of running.

MO Then there were a host of other discoveries, some of which will find their way into Marathonologue: We encountered Atalanta, the fleet huntress who joined the Calydonian boar hunt. She demanded that each of her suitors race her, the winner to be rewarded with marriage, the losers to die. Hippomenes finally won her by dropping three golden apples that she stopped to retrieve; the Tarahumara people of Northern Mexico who regularly run 100 mile races in thin huaraches (sandals) made from old tires; Pheidippides, a professional runner who is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to inform the Athenians that they had won the battle against the Persians, thus running the first Marathon (‘Marathon’ is Greek for fennel). He uttered the words “Chairete nikomen” (Greetings, we have won), then dropped dead; the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami who complements his writing (which entails many hours immobile at a desk) with running (which entails many hours…). Check out his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

I’ve heard taiko and bagpipes together and I’ve heard taiko and gamelan together, but never the three at once. Is it a challenge blending the three instruments, given that they are each so distinctive?
MO Somehow we are hardly thinking in terms of ‘blending’ the instruments. It’s the ensemble of people and instruments that we’ve got and we’re just working together to make it sound . . . satisfying. Each composer knows their own ensemble best and tend to use the instruments that they’re more familiar with. But we’ve all composed for all three ensembles. And there is movement between ensembles as well. The taiko players are playing gamelan. The gamelan players are playing taiko. And everybody, hopefully including Aleks, will play a ‘macanAulos’, a little homemade reed instrument made from a plexiglass tube with a practise bagpipe reed stuck into the end of it. We sound like a swarm of hornets on some kind of human hormone.

Of course we’ve gone to great lengths to find gamelan instruments that will blend harmonically with the pipes. Especially the gongs. They were chosen specifically to complement the tuning of the pipes.

AD I love this project for this curious cultural blending. Each instrument and musical approach has its own character and intensity, and yet they blend together seamlessly. This project is so much a reflection of Vancouver reality . . . . I am from Serbia, Eastern Europe, and Michael at one point remarked that my runner looks like a character from a Greek myth. I guess we all bring our cultures to the play, and these cultures fuse together somehow so well.

Are the three given equal weight in the composition, or does one play a more dominant role?
MO I’d say equal. We haven’t had a chance to stand back and weigh yet. But it has been like a potluck dinner. Everybody has brought something different, but all parts complements each other to make a fabulous 15 ‘course’ whole that no one person could have imagined or produced.

Aleksandra, I see that Marathonalogue makes use of “interactive digital animation.” I take it this mean that the visuals are not pre-set, but will evolve as the show progresses. Could you explain how the visuals will play out in the context of the show?
AD Well the visuals are partly set, in that there is lots of pre-animated material. For example, the character animation is done as many separate loops that can be stitched seamlessly on demand. Which allows us to perform the character, in the same way we perform, or move around, the characters in computer games. Also there are many layers of pre-animated animations, so combining these layers in response to the music is another level of interaction. We developed many techniques that enable our animations to respond to music rhythmically, by triggering the selected set of materials at the right time. Finally there are some aspects of our interactive system that are purely generative, such as a swarm of bees flying around the character or character’s movement across the screen. Computer algorithms in real time animate these generative elements and we can interact with the algorithmic processes. Finally our performing animator, animation performance software that Kenneth and I have been developing over the last five years allows for many different inputs. From layering different materials and influencing computer animation algorithms, which I already mentioned, to controlling the compositing parameters, color, scale, movement, etc. As well, we can integrate live stop motion animation with all the layers of pre-animated materials. Basically we are VJ’s.

Another important element to understand compositionally is that we collectively created a structure of the work. We have been working on that structure from the beginning. While we know what happens when and how, within that structure there is a lot of room for improvisation. This is where the performance becomes very exiting. The ability to respond to events that are happening on the stage, to respond to other performers and to the audiences with your own visual material is most exciting part of working in this medium of interactive animation. The production is not finished in the animation studio, but it is completed on the stage.

I see my interaction with the performing animator equivalent to playing a musical instrument, or more precisely playing a visual (music) instrument.

Taiko, gamelan and bagpipes pretty much epitomize acoustic music, yet you are blending them with digital animation, which is at the other end of the spectrum. How are you bridging the potential aesthetic gap?
MO I don’t really experience an aesthetic gap and perhaps for these two reasons: The content of the video is a runner which most of us still imagine taking place, for the most part, outdoors. Especially marathon. I think it’s acoustic instruments that are still more easily associated with performing outdoors. Along the way I saw a YouTube video of a great group of taiko players playing alongside the track at the Tokyo Marathon. The taiko drums, and the movement made a very natural combination. And that was video and acoustic music. Reason 2: the video in our performance will be performed live, synchronized in performance with the music. And vice versa. I think this direct interaction of the visual and audio realms will create an aesthetic ‘bond’ rather than ‘gap’.

AD Well, on that level there is no aesthetic gap, in that all the pre produced animation material is drawn with hand on paper, frame by frame. Then we scan all the drawings and transform them into the loops and foreground and background layers, which we can interactively manipulate.
Our runner has a basic running cycle, from which she can transform into various animals and creatures, such as a lion, a bird, Minotaur etc. depending where she is in the evolving marathon story. But the runner and all transformations are drawn by hand with ink on paper.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank our students who worked with us on developing animated material for this performance. We are working with three talented students from University of British Columbia, Melissa Ftrzelec, Oliver Szeleczky and Brendan Edward Wingrove. They developed various elements of the pre-animated material.

Marathonologue
presented by the Cultural Olympiad
and Gamelan Madu Sari
February 18, 19, 20, 8pm
Norman Rothstein Theatre,
950 West 41st Avenue (at Oak)
tickets: ticketstonight.ca, 604 684 2787, $20 (general) $15 (students/seniors)
info: 604.683.8240

I remember she came down hard on me one time about a statement I made in a piece I had written about the internment. I don’t recall exactly what I said—it was something about the conditions in the camps, I believe—but she let me know in no uncertain terms that having not been there, I had no business making sweeping generalizations. It is something I never forgot and have since made an effort to be more careful in my writing.
Lois took issue with much that was written in The Bulletin over the years—particularly when it came to the Internment—but I respected her for her determination to speak her mind, even when I didn’t agree with her point of view or her approach sometimes. I always knew when an article or letter was going to draw her ire and I remember waiting for the ensuing indignant e-mail with a degree of trepidation.

Several years ago, her son Gordon, who goes by the name Hashimoto, released a CD and Lois was tickled when I gave it a positive review. It made me smile to receive an e-mail a few weeks later, thanking me for it.
My sincere condolences to Lois’s family on their loss.

This month, as we head into the Olympics and the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, we focus on the performing arts, with a look at some of the many performances on offer over the coming months. In tandem with our look at upcoming shows, we also focus on the recently-announced cuts to arts and culture funding by the provincial government and their affect on artist and organizations. These are devastating cuts that will have a profound effect not only on working artists, but on non-profit organizations like the Powell Street Festival, National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre and Tonari Gumi, to name just a few.  If you believe that arts and culture are crucial to a society that you want to be a part of, and that organizations like those listed above deserve support, please lend your voice to those who are protesting the Liberal Government’s move to hamstring arts and culture organizations across the province.

Two Great Traditions. One Great Story.

This May, Vancouver audiences will be treated to a unique double bill as City Opera Vancouver presents the immortal story Sumidagawa, from the 15th Century, together with its 20th Century twin, Curlew River, a Canadian first.

“We are building great bridges,” said City Opera artistic director Dr Charles Barber. “We are bridging five centuries and two cultures in one narrative. We tell the story of a woman driven mad by the loss of her child. It is agonizing and beautiful.”

Sumidagawa will be told by the Toronto chorographer, dancer and butoh artist Denise Fujiwara in a choreography made for her by Natsu Nakajima.

Then, the same story will be told again from a Western perspective through Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera Curlew River. It offers the same characters, the same plot, and the same dramatic arc but from a Western vantage.

“Think Roshomon,” said Barber. “Just when we think we understand, we are called upon to think again. This will be a wonderful evening of theatre, dance and music. This rare combination will touch mind and heart.”

Curlew River will be directed by John Wright, and is a co-production of City Opera, UBC Theatre and Film, and Blackbird Theatre. This double bill will be given at UBC’s Frederic Wood Theatre from May 26 to 30.
It has been endorsed by the Japanese Language School and Hall, the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre, the Powell Street Festival, and UBC Asian Studies. An application to explorASIAN is in progress.

“Presenting Sumidagawa and Curlew River in one evening helps us speak to one another,” Barber said. “This is the Vancouver we are becoming.”

INFORMATION and TICKETS:
www.cityoperavancouver.com

Recent cuts to arts funding in BC have had a terrible effect, threatening community arts organizations that have few other sources of funding to support their public programs and activities.

One such group is Katari Taiko, started 30 years ago by a group of young Asian Canadians eager to reclaim part of their cultural heritage lost during the war and the subsequent largely unconscious drive to assimilate.
Members volunteer their time, attending up to three weekly sessions to rehearse and develop original taiko music. Almost all of the group’s repertoire has been composed by former or current members and is performed in public at a professional level. Over the years, some Katari Taiko members have become professional musicians and composers. But becoming professional was not the intention of Katari Taiko as its music is firmly rooted in community development and outreach.

Community-based arts organizations like Katari Taiko must cover considerable costs including studio rental and storage, liability and instrument insurance, drum purchase and maintenance, costuming, venue and production costs. These organizations are largely volunteer-based. Existing grants tend to support new projects that are directed by paid, professional artists and do not fit the mandate of community arts groups.
Direct Access to Charitable Gaming, a funding program which was suspended last year, covered 30-40 percent of Katari Taiko’s expenses. The rest has been covered through earned revenue from festival, community and corporate performances and donations. In the performing arts, whether taiko, theatre, dance or chamber music, earned revenue seldom covers more than 30 per cent of the costs to create and present new work to the public. These costs continue to increase.

Funds through Direct Access are not guaranteed and although the department will be accepting applications for funding this year, there are questions regarding the level of funding that will be available, the increased competition for funds after a year of cutbacks and how applications will be assessed. Arts organizations have been encouraged to develop long term strategic plans through special infrastructure and organizational development programs but these seem bound to fail without a more stable financial environment and without greater support for and recognition of the value of the arts by federal and provincial leaders.

Arts and cultural organizations contribute enormously to the quality of life in British Columbia, not just for the wealthy who can afford to attend ticketed events but also to those who attend free events and festivals such as at the Heart of the City and Powell Street Festivals. Images, recorded music and live performances have been used to promote tourism and to launch major events, skytrains and businesses as well as to draw attention to issues of first nations, women, injustice and poverty.

Collaboration with other community-based artists helps overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, nurturing greater understanding of both our neighbours and our visitors. With major cutbacks to a community that is already stretched and overly dependent on the passion and the kindness of others, much of BC’s vibrant cultural life will be lost to residents, tourists and businesses alike.

The cuts to Arts and Culture are short-sighted and punishing to those who have been efficient, resourceful and responsible in contributing to the life and well being of communities in BC. We might well be entering another Dark Age. The light at the end of tunnel will be those of us living throughout BC who protest loudly that our music, our dance, our theatre and our visual arts be able to continue to nourish our minds, our bodies and our spirits and to reach across our borders.

When Yayoi Hirano arrived in Vancouver in 1992 on a performance tour she was billeted with Roy Kiyooka, an Order of Canada recipient with a long and storied career as an artist and teacher. She spent two weeks living in his Strathcona duplex and was introduced to many of his friends and acquaintances including Kokoro Dance’s Jay Hirabayashi. Remembers Hirano, “The organizer of the festival said, ‘You are so lucky to stay with him. He is a one of the greatest Japanese Canadian artists in Vancouver.’ But for me, coming from out of town, he was just the same as anybody, he didn’t have an air of importance or anything like that. Thinking back to those days, I really admire him as a real artist.”

That admiration stayed with Hirano over the years and last year, when she was casting about for ideas for her next work she settled upon a piece she calls Identity – Ancestral Memory, inspired by the life and art of Roy Kiyooka. The piece is choreographed by Jay Hirabayashi and features Hirano, Hirabayashi, Carolyne Chan and Tomoko Hanawa, with video participation by, among others, Harry Aoki, Roy Miki, Linda Ohama, Judy Nakagawa and Takeo Yamashiro.

Identity – Ancestral Memory
Inspired by the Life & Art of Roy Kiyooka
April 22 – 24, 8pm
Centre A, 2 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Symposium April 24, 1pm
Free Admission. Information: 604-739-7760

The other thing is that the Olympics will provide is an opportunity to host relatives and friends and spend time with people you may not otherwise see. Also we can showcase the diverse, multicultural society that we sometimes take for granted, living in our beautiful city.

In addition to the sporting events and paid performances, there will plenty of free events to take part in. If you have Internet access, visit the Bulletin/Geppo website http://jccabulletin-geppo.ca/  and click on Presidents message and view the links there. There you will be able to click the links to a number of free attractions and events. I always love the opportunity to listen to music and see the arts in our multicultural city and region.

As driving will be very difficult during this time period, I would encourage everyone to use public transportation, especially the Skytrain, to get to events. You can plan your transit journey by going online to http://tripplanning.translink.ca/ . Take appropriate clothes and gear and if you are travelling in a group, plan out where to meet in case you become separated. I know this anxiety first-hand.

I hope you all enjoy this Olympics and please be safe!

Back to GVJCCA business, I would like to thank all our sponsors and donors for such a great Keiro-kai, which was held on January 9 at Nikkei Place. If we did not have the support of our donors and sponsors, the expense of honouring our Nikkei seniors would be daunting, especially given our present economic times. We had a wonderful program and I know all our 180-plus seniors who are over 70 years enjoyed themselves. The GVJCCA also thanks the many volunteers , Tonari Gumi, and Nikkei Place for all their support.

I also would like to thank the Shinnen-kai Committee for such a great turn out and event. The annual New Year’s Celebration is always a special treat for all of us. Your dedication and hard work is always appreciated.
On March 20, 2010 the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadians Citizens’ Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting at Nikkei Place from 2 – 4 PM. Nominations are being accepted for our Board of Directors for the upcoming term. The GVJCCA is seeking individuals who will be able to work within the framework of the Japanese Canadian community and its budgetary confines in maintaining its mandate and its purposes. Its purposes are outlined below:
•    developing and maintaining a communication network with multicultural societies in Canada and internationally
•    promoting the appreciation and study of the arts and culture of Japanese Canadians through the organization of community and cultural events
•    educating the Canadian public about the history and cultural heritage of Japanese Canadians and the preservation of these values
•    the education of the citizens of Canada in the various responsibilities expected in Canadian citizenship
•    protecting and promoting the rights and freedoms of all individuals without any discriminatory practices
•    and publishing a forum in the means of a journal for issues significant to its members, persons with Japanese ancestry and others of interest.

Please join us in working to build a stronger tomorrow for our children and children’s children.
Have a great 2010 Olympic month!

Ron Nishimura, President GVJCCA

One component of the Keirokai that always proves popular is the post-meal exercise led by long-time volunteer Kay Fujishima. The exercises, which can all be done while seated, are a great way to get everyone involved and bring a smile to everyone’s faces.

To close out the festivities, door prizes were handed out, along with gifts for selected guests as listed below:
Oldest men:  Hajime Inouye 100, Jiro Kamiya 99
Oldest women: Kiyoko Ishiguro 101, Yae Kariya 101, Tsuya Imoo 100
Longest married: Mr. & Mrs. Inouye 66 years
Born year of tiger: Teruyo Fasse, Maruji Hiramoto,Jane Uyesugi, Astu Ikoma, Toshiye Katsuyama, Suzue Kimoto, Lily Matsushita, Ralph Shimizu, Kiko Tasaka.

KEIROKAI 2010 DONORS AND VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEERS
Alison Nishihara, Alison Scott, April Shimizu, Ayuko Iwata, Chizuru Yamada, Dorothy Matsune, Gary Matson, Gladstone Japanese Language School, Himali Kuwabara, Janine Oye, Jobee Yoshizawa, John Endo Greenaway, Joyce Lui, Jun Kumagai, Kazuko Sugawara, Kay Fujishima, Leona Lui, May Hamanishi, Mieko Amano, Moko Kuwabara, Roger Watanaka, Ron Nishimura, Sayuri Sugawara, Shag Ando, Suki Wada, Sumako Kakiuchi, Kiyomi Wada, Taeko Yamamoto, Tomie Morimoto, Tomomi Takayama, Tonari Gumi Minyo Dance Group

PERSONAL DONATIONS
Barbara & Wataru Shishido
Barbara K Shishido
Mits & Emi Hayashi
Annie, Shirley Conner, Sang Kwan Eum, Ann Foster, Thomas Foster, Sayuri Katayama, Hee Yoon Lin, Keiko Norisue, Pamela Sproule, Ingrid Sweiss, Thelma Webb
Robert & Jane Nimi
Ken & Michiko Kochi
Robert & Kazue Abe
Mary Hamakawa
Yukio & Robert Nasu
Miki Matsumoto
Akiyasu & Yasuko Masuhara
Mitsuo & Emmie Hayashi
Anonymous donations (cash box @ Keirokai)
Jim Wong Chu

BUSINESSES DONATIONS
Amano Foods
Angel Seafood Ltd.
Baxter-Kobe Flowers
Beverage Concepts
Canadian College of Shiatsu Therapy
Canadian Floriculture Wholesale Ltd.
Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites
Choices Market
Consulate General of Japan
Daiso Store Canada
Frank Y. Hanano Law Office
Fujiya
Glico Canada Corporation
Holy Cross Japanese Anglican Church
Japan Airlines
Kikori
Marketplace IGA
Matsushita Accounting
Mennonite Japanese Christian
Fellowship
Mikado Enterprises Ltd
New Westminster Evangelical Free Church
O.K. Gift Shop
Oops (J Wave Communications)
Sato Pharmaceutical Canada Inc.
Safeway
Save on Foods
Seicho-no-ie Vancouver
Select Wine Merchants
Sonray Sales Ltd.
Tenrikyo
Vancouver Buddhist Church
Vancouver Japanese Gardeners Association
Vancouver-Japanese United Church (Japanese speaking congregation)
Vancouver Shinpo-Sha Publishing Ltd.
Whole Foods Market
The Fish House

We apologize if we have made any errors in the donor and volunteer list. Please let us know so we can correct in the next issue.

If there is such a thing as the “Olympics effect,” what would it be for those of us making up the Nikkei/ijusha community? First of all, exchanges with Japan from personal and family visits to projects in visual arts, music, sports and other areas, as seen in the pages of this magazine, have probably become more common over the years. We still recall vividly the visit here by the Emperor and Empress last year. And now, over a period of a few weeks, we will see a sudden influx of athletes including media favourites, team officials and tourists from Japan arriving in a locale which already has significant historical and cultural ties with Japan. Not surprisingly, many of the athletes are those from Hokkaido, Tohoku and elsewhere who grew up with winter sports. So some of them might develop an affinity for Canada, which also has a “snow country (yukiguni)” environment.They must try salmon nigiri, the best that “the sushi capital of North America <my theory>” can offer. All these elements above might interact synergistically to trigger an upsurge of good will. (As for economic effects, forecasts mostly appear to be just wishful thinking.)

Japanese media reports leading up to the Vancouver games have inevitably tended to dwell on macroscopic impressions and hardware like competition venues and facilities, which are rather removed from our microscopic day-to-day existence. In the way of personal involvement, keen sports buffs among our readers probably have bought tickets to go watch the events. Some of you might be planning to offer words of personal encouragement to Japanese and other foreign athletes they might run into downtown..

I’m sure there are also those contributing their labor as volunteers during the games. Yet others might be offering their homes as lodgings for officials, visitors and so on. To digress a bit, I’m sure we will be witnessing the likes of both male and female “pin cushions.” Olympic pins and badges…there’s something special about them, as I discovered for the first time during the 1964 Tokyo summer games when I was helping out with media coverage of the Olympic village. Among officials, media reporters and their helpers who come into contact with foreign athletes and team officials, some will inevitably catch the “Olympic pin/badge collection bug,” which also happens to be one small way of promoting international good will as well. People from more or less one hundred countries bringing numerous pins and badges of fancy designs, often in the colors of their national flags, to exchange. So once you start collecting them, it’s hard to stop. I bet some keen collectors even go to the Olympics just for that.

Through such microscopic involvement with the games, it would be nice if one could contribute, however little, to the aforementioned “synergistic interaction” so that Japanese and other foreign athletes, officials and “tourist-spectators” will go home with favorable memories.

Going back some 70 years in time, to August 1939 to be exact, the Japanese daily Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun (forerunner of today’s Mainichi Shimbun) pulled off quite a feat for the time when a Mitsubishi-built two-prop transport plane the “Nippon,” manned by a crew of seven and sponsored by the newspaper, successfully completed its around-the-world flight in 56 days. Moving is an account of the occasion when the 7–member crew paid a courtesy visit to “Little Tokyo” in Los Angeles. The local men and women who took turns giving speeches welcoming the guests, who had come “all the way” to the US West coast, would inevitably get choked up, overcome with emotion. Pretty soon, everyone including the honored guests was in tears. It gives you an idea of what a momentous occasion the historical visit must have been.

In this day and age, when it’s become so much easier to go back and forth across the Pacific, would people—and not just today’s “cool” youth generation—get worked up over “just a big sports fest” like the Olympics, especially amidst the drawn-out economic depression? Will we get excited when Canadian and Japanese athletes start grabbing gold and silver medals? Again, who knows? Is the “Olympic magic” that seems to transcend generations still alive?
Having followed the Olympics and other big international feats over the years, one thing that makes me happy is that we hardly ever witness any more scenes of athletes and teams choking with unbearable tension, almost paralyzed by their sense of responsibility for representing Japan. It’s a joy to watch victorious young Japanese athletes thrusting their fists up in the air (“yattaaaa!!!”) and exchanging hugs with “foreign” counterparts congratulating them. It’s also a relief that most Japanese athletes nowadays are able to concentrate on their efforts unencumbered by distracting doubts like “are we good enough to compete internationally?”

Finally, allow me to share with you readers, most of whom probably love both Canada and Japan, each for what it’s worth, the “litmus test of patriotism” some of us “multi-culturalists” (thank you Mr SJ Kim) entertain ourselves with. In a situation where a Canadian and a Japanese are competing for a medal, who would you root for? “I’m happy with either one winning,” you might be announcing to those around you . . . and be a little surprised to discover that in your heart, you’re really rooting for one of them. It’s only the Olympics—or is it?

Funding the Arts . . .

by Jay Hirabayashi

The BC Government has slashed funding to the arts by 80 to 90 percent over the next two years. 40% of those cuts will be to the BC Arts Council, which funds companies like Kokoro Dance. Gaming funds through Direct Access grants will be cut completely by next year. We will lose $50,000 in funding support from Gaming alone. We will taxed further, when the HST is implemented in July, for things that previously were not taxed such as tickets to arts events. This will also have an impact on our revenues.

In a BC government fact sheet of September 22, 2008, deputy ministers were given an average salary increase of just over 7% to bring their average salary to $217,758; assistant deputy ministers now average $157,608/yr representing a 21% increase in salary. The average salary for artists is about 26% below the average salary for all workers according to a study compiled by Hill Strategies Research Inc. In May, 2009, the average wage was $790.22/wk or $41,091.44/yr or $19.76/hr. The average salary for artists, therefore, can be estimated to be $663.78/wk or $34,516.81/yr or $16.59/hr. If we are to take 40% off of that salary because of BCAC cuts to our funding, we will leave the artist with an annual salary of $20,710.09 or $517.75/wk or $8.77/hr. After thirty-two years as a professional artist, I earn $20/hr for 40 hours per week, $0.24/hr better than the average. My job, however, requires that I donate another 20 to 30 hours a week without compensation. If I take a 40% cut in my salary, I can look forward to earning $12/hr for those hours that I am paid, and unfortunately, I do not have the time to get another job to supplement my artist’s salary because I am already working evenings and weekends as a volunteer in service to the organization that I started. I do not have mortgage payments because I do not own a home. I do not have RRSP’s either, however, so I cannot really afford to retire. I am sixty-two years old and these cuts come at a point when I should be thinking about retirement. If I have to retire because of these cuts, I have nothing to look forward to except social assistance. Kokoro Dance Theatre Society is a nonprofit charitable organization that produces the annual Vancouver International Dance Festival. We annually pay wages and fees to over a hundred artists, technicians, and administrators. Every dollar that we receive from the BCAC is multiplied sixteen times in terms of the amount of funds that we return to BC’s economy. However, every dollar that we are short in balancing our budget can come from nowhere other than my salary. I cannot ask the already impoverished dancers that we hire to take a wage cut. Unlike BC Government politicians, we lead by example so when we are hit by obscene and heinous cuts to our grants from the BCAC, we will take the hit personally.

. . . and Culture

by John Endo Greenaway

Miko Hoffman has been involved in the arts and culture sector for much of her life, with deep roots within Vancouver’s Nikkei community. Her mother, Linda Uyehara Hoffman, is a founding member of Katari Taiko, Canada’s first taiko group, and has been involved with the Asian and arts communities in many capacities over the years. Miko’s father, Avron, is a retired library worker and published poet.

Miko served as General Manager and Programming Director of the Powell Street Festival for six years (and before that was Festival Coordinator for two years) and is currently the Executive Director of the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre in Burnaby where she oversees the operations of the Centre including programs and finances. Having  had so much experience with both the curatorial and funding aspects of running a non-profit society, Miko is keenly aware of the fine line that non-profit organizations tread every day – balancing the ever-present need to raise funds with their mandate to create programming that is meaningful and innovative.

The recent funding cuts by the BC government have affected not only arts groups but sports and community organizations like the Powell Street Festival, Tonari Gumi and the NNM&HC.

I spoke to Miko Hoffman about the potential impact of the cuts on non-profit community organizations.

In all the furor over the cuts to the arts, other parts of the equation, like cultural and sports groups, were almost pushed to the back. How have the cuts affected the NNM&HC?
We relied on the Gaming grant to help sustain our basic operations. Because we are such a unique organization, being a museum, cultural centre and community centre all in one, we have had some difficulty accessing funding from various government sources. It has been quite discouraging because in recent years we feel we have gained a lot in terms of capacity — we are strengthening our programs, building our infrastructure, and creating a vision for growth and expansion – but now we have lost one of the few government grants we have been able to count on.

The government has justified their slashing of funding, framing it as food for hungry children vs. funding for arts and culture. How do you respond to arguments like that?
Arts and culture is integral to the development of society, especially for children’s development, growth and education.

Given the fact that the Society has lost this funding, how will you make up for the shortfall?
Our staff and volunteer finance and fundraising committees have been hard at work developing plans for diversifying revenues and increasing some of the earned revenues we already receive, such as private rentals. We are planning to apply for many different grants this year. We are working closely with the Nikkei Place Foundation (an endowment fund set up to support the operations of the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre and the Nikkei Seniors Healthcare and Housing Society) to run our annual fundraising campaigns. We also have a slew of fundraising events planned for this year, including the 2nd annual Asian Canadian art auction on April 24, golf tournament on June 27, and our 10th Anniversary Gala in September.

People often feel powerless in cases like this, faced with government edicts. Is there anything that people can do to help?
There are several ways that people can help their favourite charitable organization. They can show their support by donating, or by signing up to be a new member or volunteer. There are also ways to let the government know how you feel. The Alliance for Arts and Culture administers an advocacy group called Creativity Counts, and the mandate is to restore funding for the arts (and I would hope, for culture as well). They have a blog, found here: creativitycounts.wordpress.com/

The Bingo Council of BC has also set up an online petition to reinstate all charitable gaming grants in BC: www.petitiononline.com/VCBS2010/petition.html

We started the VIDF to strategically develop a sustaining audience for dance and to put Vancouver on the international map of dance. Our company, Kokoro Dance, had developed its own audience but its numbers had peaked with the 1,848 people that came to see Sunyata in 1997. Audiences for dance were dwindling after that high water mark. Part of the reason was that there were increasingly infrequent occasions when touring companies would pass through Vancouver. Vancouver audiences and dance artists needed to be stimulated by seeing what the rest of the dance world was doing. We thought an international dance festival would remedy this diminishing interest in our chosen art form, and we thought that it would take no more than a few years to establish the VIDF as a self-sustaining organization. In 2003, however, paid attendance was 1,848 people, the same as our attendance record in 1997, but this was for six companies instead of just us. It seemed that we were sliding backwards. There was also virtually no funding support for the festival. We had started it and paid for it with our own resources and three years later, we had one $7,000 grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage and the rest of the $181,000 in costs still came out of our own pockets.

My wife, Barbara Bourget, and I have constant conversations about keeping the VIDF as it sometimes seems just a drain on our lives. We have made progress, however. Attendance last year was up to 6,364 people and we presented 22 companies. We have more funding for the festival, but it impacts on Kokoro’s resources by over a hundred thousand dollars a year. We remain hopeful.

In the 2010 VIDF that runs from March 12 – 21 at the Roundhouse and Playhouse theatres, we will be presenting dance artists from across Canada, and from Denmark, Taiwan, New Zealand, and the United States. Coinciding with the Paralympic Games, the 2010 VIDF will be part of the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad. The line-up at the Roundhouse starts March 12 – 13 with Vancouver’s Mascall Dance premiering a work featuring a set by renowned public art sculptor Alan Storey (he did the swinging pendulum in the HSBC building). Come early at 7pm and you can see a 30 minute premiere by Kokoro Dance of a new work called L.S.D. (Love, Sex & Death). On March 16 – 17, butoh fans will appreciate the performance of Denmark’s Kitt Johnson, who promises to undergo a metamorphosis from primordial creature to human. The free 7pm shows those evenings are Vancouver’s Flamenco Rosario and Out Innerspace who each will also address L.S.D. (Love, Sex & Death). Next up on March 18 – 19, is Taiwan’s LAFA & Artists, who are proclaimed as the best new contemporary dance ensemble from that country. The final Roundhouse shows feature Bill Shannon, an extraordinary hip hop dancer who performs on crutches as he has been disabled since childhood. On the same program is work by the renowned Canadian dance icon, Peggy Baker. Preceding those shows, at 7pm on Saturday and 5pm on Sunday, is butoh artist Michael Sakamoto from Los Angeles performing with musician Amy Knoles. At the Playhouse, on March 16 – 17, Toronto Dance Theatre brings their fine assemble of dancers in Artistic Director Christopher House’s Dis/(sol/ve)r— a work, built on the theory of quantum mechanics, that accumulates moving images of profound human relationships. On March 18 – 19, New Zealand’s acclaimed Black Grace brings their Samoan/Maori influenced contemporary dance to the Playhouse stage—highly physical and energetic together with aboriginal spirituality. The Playhouse series ends March 20 – 21 with Ronald K. Brown’s Afro-American Evidence Dance Company that includes a performance of Grace, originally choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

We hope you will help us celebrate our 10th anniversary (and help keep us going) by attending these shows. www.vidf.ca