The Arts Council partnered with the City of Fort St. John to deliver the High On Ice Festival. The Fort St. John Community Arts Council delivers the ice and snow carving events, including an international NICA (National Ice Carving Association) sanctioned Professional Ice Carving Competition. This partnership began back in 2005 and continued until 2012 when the city fully took over the event. Each year, professional ice carvers from all over Canada, the United States, and from as far as Russia, Italy, and Japan participate in the competition.
With all of the excitement from the High On Ice Festival building year after year, our residents were not content to simply stand by and let the professionals get all of the glory. We found that we have a whole lot of talent in our neck of the woods, so we now organize an Amateur Ice Carving Competition and a Snow Sculpting Competition. We also arrange for a children’s ice and snow playground to be constructed during the festival. Residents look forward to this event and come out in vast numbers despite chilly weather.
Art That Moves You
The Art That Moves You program is one of the most rewarding programs we deliver because the project focuses on public art and increasing the accessibility of art for the residents of Fort St. John.
The program places original paintings by local artists on the sides of city transit buses, where advertising panels usually are located. The Art That Moves You panels will circulate on city buses from May through September.
Each year we produce bookmarks from the previous year’s panel images and distribute them during Arts and Culture Week in April. The bookmarks are free to the public and are available at the Fort St. John Public Library while supplies last.
Flower Pot Program
Supporting the arts and making our city a quality place to live are both high priorities of the Fort St. John Community Arts Council. Through the Flower Pot Program we raise funds for further arts development, to beautify the city, and to highlight the wonderful talent of our local visual artists.
The City of Fort St. John assists very generously with this project. Each year they have the pots planted and place them throughout the main streets and look after the plants throughout the summer.
The Flower Pot Program began in Fort St. John in 2001 and is part of the Communities in Bloom initiative to make our city a unique and beautiful place to live, work and play. Local artists, including high school and college students, paint 50 new flower pots each year which join the 75 pots from the previous year. Each spring, 50 pots from two years prior are auctioned off to the public for their own use and enjoyment. During the summer months, you will find the pots on the streets of the downtown core and at the airport. During the spring the Arts Council holds its annual Flower Pot Auction where you can bid on your favorites! The flower pots will brighten any yard not to mention that they are original pieces of art!
The flower pots are sponsored at $100 with the proceeds going to the Arts Council. The generous support of our sponsors will continue to enrich the arts community.
To sponsor or to paint a pot, please contact us!
Scholarship & Bursaries
The Arts Council awards several arts bursaries throughout the year including the Lindsay Dumaine Memorial Scholarship (which include separate awards for music, visual arts, and performing arts categories), the North Peace Secondary School Fine Arts Busaries and the Northern Lights College Creative Writing Bursaries.
Art in the Park
The Fort St. John Community Arts Council, with the support of the City of Fort St. John, organizes the annual Art in the Park exhibition on July 1, as part of the Canada Day Celebrations at Centennial Park. Art in the Park showcases and celebrates the talent and diversity of local artists. Awareness and appreciation of the thriving arts community is central to the philosophy of Art in the Park.
First started in 2001, as part of the BC Festival of the Arts held in Fort St. John, Art in the Park inspires hands-on involvement in the arts. The event is enjoyed by the residents of Fort St. John at all age levels and is a highly popular part of the Canada Day Celebrations. Art in the Park consists of two programs: the Local Artists’ Show and Sale and the Children’s Art Activities.
The Artists’ Show and Sale features the work of local artists and frequently include displays of pottery, stained glass, photography, candle-making, quilting, spinning & weaving, doll making, jewelry, pastel art, oil painting, water colour painting, sketching, children’s art from the local Fine Arts School, and tactile inspired art, and more! The Children’s Art Activities is where little ones can paste, paint and create mini-masterpieces. This hands on activity centre is a must-see attraction!
Sand Sensations
SAND Sensations 2013 opens July 27 and runs until August 2 at Peace Island Park in Taylor. The Fort St. John Community Arts Council invites 6 international carvers to create larger-than-life sand sculptures at the second sand event in the Peace Country.
The professional sand sculptures will be designed with the theme of “Walk on the Wild Side“. The students of Taylor Elementary School submitted themes and drawings to depict their ideas for the 2013 theme. Breanna Bigcharles was the winner with a creative drawing of a campsite at Peace Island Park to match her theme idea. The entire school will celebrate on June 10, when the SAND organizing committee gives the students an opportunity to ring the bells to attract more visitors to the SAND SENSATIONS BC 2013.
The international professional carvers from the Netherlands, USA and Canada will reveal their “tips and tricks of the trade” this year by hosting a workshop. The newly added Family / Community Challenge will kick off the exhibition on July 27. Music, food, refreshments and more have been implemented to attract even more visitors to the “playground of the Peace” where the Alaska Highway meets the mighty Peace River.