French Quarter Festival

BURLINGTON, Ont. – An exciting array of musical talent presented on three stages will highlight French Quarter Festival, a benefit for Performing Arts Burlington (PAB), taking place on Friday, January 25, 2008, at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The scheduled entertainment includes eight musical performances ranging from jazz and pop to classical and country, ensuring that the signature event will be one of the highlights of the year in Burlington. The musicians include:

• Margo Jamieson
• The Full Circle Band
• Subourbon Street
• Annie Marleau
• The 905 Band
• Maria D’Amelio
• Porkbelly Futures
• Symphony Hamilton
  
  Click here or the image below to take a look at our French Quarter Festival brochure.
  
  

French Quarter Festival is PAB’s premier fundraising event that has grown increasingly in popularity while benefiting the community.

When: Friday, January 25, 2008 - Entertainment 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; Dinner 7:30 p.m.

Where: Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road West

Tickets are $150 per person and include dinner (Live cooking stations by Pepperwood), open bar, live entertainment on three stages, and live & silent auctions. A portion of the ticket price will be eligible for an income tax receipt. Tickets can be acquired by calling 905-631-6666 or on our online order form.

Performing Arts Burlington (PAB) provides innovative and quality arts programming; promotes theatre, music and dance performances and classes; and acts as a resource to the City of Burlington for the continuing development of its performing arts centre.

For more information, contact:

Performing Arts Burlington
Tel: 905-631-6666
Email: pab@cogeco.net
http://www.performingartsburlington.com/

Paid Evening Parking in Downtown Burlington Are you aware?

In April of 2007, City Council was presented with and approved a Draft Financial Strategy for Parking in Downtown Burlington. At the April 17th meeting of the Community and Corporate Services Committee of Council, delegations spoke to one strategy involving the introduction of paid parking in the Downtown area from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Pam Eddenden, Executive Director of Performing Arts Burlington, spoke against extending the hours of paid parking into the evening and in support of the continuation of free-to-user evening parking in the downtown. Performing Arts Burlington has many member performing arts organizations that will rent the future Performing Arts Centre, located at 440 Locust Street, and downtown business members are impacted by this proposed change in paid parking.

A copy of this PAB presentation can be read on our website.

Content highlights are as follows:

• Community renters of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre will need to build audiences and paid parking will further challenge this growth.


• Current audiences of theatre, music and dance performances are not paying for parking at venues throughout the city.


• The Burlington downtown core is not yet economically strong enough to compete with neighbouring Oakville that has all surface lots and meters free-to-users as of 5 pm.

The perspectives presented in April indicated that paid evening parking appeared to be a new initiative that had not been fully discussed directly within the local stakeholders. As a result, Council authorized a meeting with Downtown Stakeholders on August 8, which Pam participated in on behalf of the organization. On September 18th, 2007 Committee and Council will once again be deliberating on this issue. To advocate on behalf of the PAB membership effectively it is critical that we receive your comments on the important topic.

What are your thoughts?

PAB would like to hear from you! Please post a comment on our blog or email us.

A Luminous Affair brought to you by new PAB member, Eclipse Events

A Luminous Affair—Shining Shoes to Make a Difference!

Come and cheer on your local schools as they shine shoes for charity! On Thursday September 13th, McMaster and Mohawk students, as well as local politicians, will be shining shoes at a gala dinner to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis.

A Luminous Affair will cap off Cystic Fibrosis’ Shinerama campaign, a fundraising drive which occurs across Ontario university and colleges every September. “This year is even more special as the Cystic Fibrosis’ Hamilton chapter has added this new event to attract even more attention,” says Shaun Wilson, one of the organizers of the event.

The event starts at 6pm, with dinner being served at 7pm. As well as having a shoe shining competition, there will also be a silent auction with items being donated from Bell Mobility to local artists, from Blockbuster to local restaurants. The night’s entertainment will feature local artist Gerry Tymstra. Tickets are $50 and all money raised will go to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Hamilton Chapter.

For further information please contact Christine Douglas at (905)483-5245.

Federal Goverment Pledges $2.5 million to Burlington's Performing Arts Centre

In a press conference held Friday afternoon at 2:30pm, Federal Minister of Canadian Hertitage and the Status of Women Beverley Oda announced that the Burlington Performing Arts Centre would received $2.5 million dollars in federal funding.

This falls a little short of the $4 million the City of Burlington was hoping to receive. However, Mayor Cam Jackson and MP Mike Wallace are still optimstic about future funding from the provincial government as well as local supporters.

The Performing Arts Centre is designed for shows presented by local arts groups, as well as performers from across Canada and around the world. The Centre is located in the heart of Burlington’s downtown at the corner of Locust and Elgin, just behind City Hall, and a stone’s throw from Spencer Smith Park on the lake.

Conceptual design for the building has been completed and City Staff are in the process of selecting a detailed design architect, who will base the final building plans on the existing concepts. The building will contain two theatres: the Main Stage Theatre, with its full fly tower, is expected to have about 718 seats, and the multi-purpose Studio Theatre will seat about 250 on fully-retractable seats. With these two options, there are endless possibilities for the kinds of performances we will be able to see at this theatre.

The Campaign for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, co-chaired by Keith Strong and Gary DeGroote, has seen great success to date. The Fundraising Cabinet is fast approaching the $10 million mark, with well over $9 million in funding already collected.

For more information, and to donate to the Campaign for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, please contact Sandra Baker, City of Burlington, at 905-335-7600, extension 7484, or by e-mail at bakers@burlington.ca

Burlington Downtown Dining

Burlington Downtown Dining 2007 – a tasty tour showcasing the delights of 19 downtown restaurants – took place on Sunday July 8th, 2007.

For the first time ever Downtown Dining was comprised of four tours, each consisting of five participating restaurants, with Tours 1-3 selling out in a record breaking 48 hours. The tours ran from 11:15 a.m. to 3:00 pm, with twenty groups of 32 guests spending the afternoon strolling the streets of Burlington’s downtown and indulging in food, wine and beer provided by 2020 Lakeside, 5050 Tandoor and Grill, Di Mario's Trattoria, Emma's Back Porch / The Water Street Cooker, Ivanka's Downtown Bistro, Kaareli's Restaurant and Wine Bar, La Costa Nuova, Le Chef Complet, My-Thai By The Lake, Paradiso Restaurant, Pepperwood Bistro, Siam Dish, Sonzi, The Grinning Gourmand, The Landmark Steakhouse, The Martini House, The Poacher, The Queen's Head and The Sugar Bar.

The $27,000 raised was donated to Performing Arts Burlington (PAB), a not-for-profit organization created to promote and develop local performing arts. Proceeds will be used to support PAB’s arts development program, a series of workshops and seminars aimed at helping local performers and performing groups expand their resources and skills.

Next year’s tickets will go on sale May 5th 2008 at http://www.performingartsburlington.com/ or by calling 905-631-6666.