Fireweed Eco-Fest welcomes acclaimed artists and poets for a weekend of Okanagan inspired works
(KELOWNA, BC, September 7) – Inspired Word Café announces the first annual Fireweed Eco-Fest! The festival takes place over three days, September 23-25, 2022 and features an array of events from spoken word, comedy, music, and more! Visiting artists from across the Okanagan Valley and Alberta will gather to create innovative, ecologically inspired arts in some of Kelowna’s most beautiful and lesser known parks: Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre and Kopje Regional Park.
Working in collaboration with the Regional Parks District of the Central Okanagan, and sponsored by incredible community investors such as City of Kelowna, Valley First, a Division of First West Credit Union, Canadian Heritage, and UBC’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, the festival kicks off Inspired Word Cafe’s 13th season of offering accessible and inclusive performance and literary arts programming in the Okanagan.
The festival will feature multiple performances and events happening throughout the weekend, including an opening show and reception at the Black Box Theatre with special guests Kinfolk Nation, Erin Scott, and Kevin McPherson-Eckoff on Friday, September 23rd. Tickets are available through Eventbrite. The Kickoff Open Mic happens at Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre on Saturday, September 24th and is a free, all-ages event featuring acclaimed Order of Canada poet and dadaist mama Sheri-D Wilson. You can check out more of Sheri-D Wilson’s prolific performance and poetic career here. There will be spots available for community sharing at this event so come early and sign up to share! Closing the weekend will be a performance at Kopje Park in Carrs Landing on Sunday, September 25th featuring John Lent, Laisha Rosnau, and Coralee Miller.
Local poet and performer Erin Scott gushed “Sheri-D Wilson is a Canadian poet icon! Missing her performance would be a big loss for anyone. I can’t wait to hear her at Woodhaven on September 24.”
Artists Moozhan Ahmadzadegan, Xiaoxuan Huang, Mackenzie ‘Ken’ Shaw, and Coralee Miller have been commissioned to participate in the festival, and will create new site-specific art works at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre and Kopje Regional Park. These site-specific works can be viewed at two open houses during the festival: Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre on September 24th between 6-7pm (leading up to our Kickoff Open Mic); Kopje Park Site specific open house on Sunday, September 25th at 1:30-2:30pm, in the lead up to the Closing event at 2:30-4pm. Kopje Regional Park will also host a Mindful Photography workshop with Alison Beaumont and space is limited so pre-registration is advised.
Executive Director Cole Mash reflects that “Eco-art is a vital conversation starter for all of us living in fire affected regions, but particularly for those of us in the Okanagan Valley. Welcoming amazing poets like Sheri-D Wilson, and commissioning original works by a very talented group of artists is our invitation to our community to begin these important conversations about climate change and the lands we live on. Art allows these tough convos to be immersive, beautiful, engaging, and welcoming.”
Fireweed Eco-Fest is an invitation to artists and the Okanagan community to consider the transformative nature of fires, burning, and regrowth within these specific forests and areas. Channeling the energy and abundance of the fireweed in scorched regions, we hope that this generative art exchange at the end of fire season will create new ways of relating and caring for ourselves, our communities, and our environment.
For a full schedule of events, please go to our website at www.InspiredWordCafe.com/Fireweed