ARTS ALIVE! QUEBEC COMING TO HUDSON
What’s wonderful about Arts Alive! Quebec is that it unifies — the merchants, the local residents, visitors and artists.
Songs by Kurt Weil, a music video featuring a band from Latvia, open theatre rehearsals.
Variety is on tap in Hudson with the Arts Alive! Quebec event, gathering local and established artists, this weekend, June 10-12.
“Last year (the first edition) was a huge success,” organizer Kalina Skulska said. “People came to Hudson for a short visit and stayed the whole day.”
Brochures detailing the two-day culture blitz have been distributed to town businesses and restaurants and destinations including the Hudson Village Theatre and the Greenwood Centre for Living History.
Skulska said the 10 participating arts groups and individual artists agreed to expand the Arts Alive! Quebec event beyond one weekend to take full advantage of the summer season. Watch for the Arts Alive! banner in June and July.
Arts Alive! Quebec offers English artists a chance to expand their reach into communities they may not normally visit. Each event features local and visiting artists. Some events are free, others ticketed.
A mix of music and film is at the Hudson Village Theatre on Friday beginning at 8 p.m.
The Berlin to Broadway Cabaret features Brian Jackson, Karen Cromar, Carolina Pla and Glen Bowser singing songs by Kurt Weil and the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago).
The local collective Hudson Music Festival Root System performs jazz standards. The collective is comprised of Tim Walsh, Blair Mackay, Becky Fletcher, Geoff Mitchell, Andrew Skowronski, Stuart Gunyon and Nic Di Lauro.
A music video of the song Sounds Like You, performed by the Latvian group Audience Killers will be screened. The video was shot and produced by the McKinnon brothers, Sebastian and Ben — local boys making their way in the film, photography and graphic design world. (The brothers’ short-film trilogy Kin won Best Cinematography (Quebec) at the Fantasia Film Festival.)
Film director Isaac Sénéchal’s music video Rouge à Lèvres will also be screened. The video was shot at the Hudson Village Theatre. Sénéchal and collaborator Jeremy Thibodeau are the co-founders of Rubicon Pictures & Media.
“All the events ( booked throughout the summer) are detailed in the brochure and many of them have workshops attached,” Skulska said. “What’s wonderful about Arts Alive! Quebec is that it unifies — the merchants, the local residents, visitors and artists.”
The Greenwood Centre for Living History participates in the culture weekend with StoryFest for Kids, Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The day includes author Lydia Lukidis reading, arts and crafts, snacks and puppetry. Tickets cost $5 or $20 for a family. For reservations, call 450-458-5396.
The following day at the Greenwood, novelist Karen Molson reads from her book The Company of Crows, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10.
Also on Sunday, the Hudson Players Club holds an open rehearsal and workshop at the Hudson Community Centre, 394 Main Rd., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The focus of the rehearsal is a play-in-development titled For the Love of Shakespeare. Admission is free.
For information about Greenwood’s StoryFest, visit www.greenwood-centre-hudson.org.
For information about the Friday program at Hudson Village Theatre, call 450-458-5361 or visit www.villagetheatre.ca.