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THRiVE Festival a landmark for Kamloops

Festival manager Amanda Lynne Ballard directs the Busy Bees at the THRiVE Festival underway in Kamloops.

KAMLOOPS - The THRiVE Festival is underway this weekend.

The three day festival celebrating the arts focuses on participant growth through programs, workshops and exhibits. Festival manager Amanda Lynne Ballard says there are all kinds of courses, concerts and expo events.

All kinds of B.C. artists are performing including award winning poet Shane Koyczan.

With a high level of interest already being shown for the inaugural event, Ballard is excited to be part of the first major, multidisciplinary arts festival in the Interior.

“The ability for me to be a part of something that is slightly historic, a landmark for this community and the Thompson Okanagan region, for me that is what is so exciting,” Ballard says. “It's not just about arts, it's whether someone feels creative,” she says of her driving force to move from Toronto to take on the project “to be able to offer a diversity of programs, to engage communities that think they aren't artistic but actually are.”

Visual arts courses include pottery, installations, photography and cartography while healthy living will include yoga and the power of food. Urban edible landscapes and other gardening courses, chef school and a B.C. authors expo will all take place over the weekend as well.

With several topics set up for the expo people can take part in programs without committing to an entire course. Ballard notes listening to the speakers talk about their inspiration is inspirational in itself.

Speakers on Saturday and Sunday will cover gardening, photography, literature, culinary and visual arts. A coffee house stage will feature a variety of musical talent from throughout the region. Short films will be played throughout the weekend as part of the Kamloops Independent Short Shorts Film Festival.

Among the highlights of the weekend festival at Thompson Rivers University is award winning poet, author and performer Shane Koyczan of Penticton, who kicked off the concert series Friday night. There is even an Iron Chef competition focused on local ingredients and featuring chefs from six local restaurants. Boreallis String Quartet is stopping in at the festival to perform as part of their international tour and Tk'emlups te Secwepemc will also showcase cultural items such as heritage carvings and arrowhead creations.

Run under B.C. Living Arts, the plan is for the three day festival to grow annually and become a 10 day festival by 2018.

To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.

Coyote Tails performs at the THRiVE Arts Festival at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
Coyote Tails performs at the THRiVE Arts Festival at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

Shane Koyczan performed at the THRiVE Festival Friday night.
Shane Koyczan performed at the THRiVE Festival Friday night.
Image Credit: SOURCE/www.shanekoyczan.com
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