Archive for the ‘creative endeavours/literacy’ Category

Beauty Night Society events in Vancouver are a fusion of visual art and theatre. Tonight we start off at Robert Held Art Glass where the artists will be auctioning off pieces for Beauty Night. We can watch Robert Held create a piece that will be auctioned off for Beauty Night.

Here are the details:

Vancouver, BC…Robert Held Art Glass is pleased to announce their annual Sale & Gala Event, November 20th from 5pm – 9pm.  Get into the holiday spirit early with this festive annual holiday Sale and Gala Event. This amazing collective will not only feature some of the work by BC’s best talents, but will provide the opportunity to shake hands with the artists themselves, including Robert Held, Richard Scheib, Katy Pattison, Jeremy Day Morris, Melanie Rowe, Lynne Chapelle, Joanne Andrighetti, and many more. The artists will entertain with beadwork demonstrations, glass demonstrations, create a collaborative holiday piece as well as have their popular ‘cooking with glass’ showcase with some tantalizing treats for our guests. While nibbling on the glass cooked food or sipping on the fine wine, you can also peruse the gallery and find some fantastic deals for your holiday shopping. With up to 50% off Robert Held Glass, a wide selection of jewellery, glass sculptures, beads, and fused glass work, you’re sure to fill your stockings!

The artists will also be providing pieces to be auctioned off for Beauty Night Society. Beauty Night provides marginalized women and youth tools to change their lives and heal themselves and their communities. Beauty Night National Executive Director & Founder, Caroline MacGillivray will chat about the what Beauty Night Society does and why. After that Robert Held will create a piece on site and auction it off to raise funds for Beauty Night Society. The Gala event is open to the public and the Pre-holiday sale continues all week from November 21 – 28, 10am – 6pm so come down to get the fires burning.

After the event, Beauty Night volunteers will be escorting Beauty Night participants to see tonight’s performance of Demon Voice. More details to come about the world premiere of Shawn McDonald’s play… tomorrow.

Behind each Beauty Night Society (BNS) Program, there is a fantastic program coordinator. Without these ladies, our programs would not benefit our communities through the vast diversity. Each program offers a piece of the body/mind/spirit puzzle that many of us struggle with.  Each program coordinator is a leader in her own right and inspires our participants and volunteers.

Tyla Flexman
Womyn’s Gym Program Coordinator

Tyla Flexman is a recent kinesiology graduate of the University of British Columbia. She is very interested in the health and fitness field and is a personal trainer as well as a community field hockey coach. Tyla has six years of coaching experience including coaching high school sports, development camps and provincial high performance teams. Her hardworking attitude and determination is what makes her a positive role model for young athletes in the community. She is a strong advocator of women in sport and strives to encourage female participation in exercise. She began volunteering for the Beauty Night Society in 2008 and is now the program coordinator for the Womyns Gym Program. She currently plays on the Canadian Women’s National Field Hockey team and was the 2008 recipient of the Gail Wilson Award, given to a female varsity athlete displaying leadership on the field and in the community. Tyla is excited to be a part of The Beauty Night Society and hopes to run the Sun Run this year with Womyns Gym clients!

Alexa Fox
Kid’s Club Program Co-coordinator
Mom & Tot Nutrition Program Co-coordinator

Christie Gray
Mom & Tot Nutrition Program Co –coordinator

 Christie Gray has been a Vancouver resident for a year and a half. With a strong belief in helping people reach their potential and feel good about themselves, Christie finds Beauty Night Society(BNS) a great place to help make a difference. Christie is a Registered Natural Health Care practitioner with a love of cooking and formulating healthy, nutritious recipes. Christie believes that there is a strong connection between eating well and health in mind, body and spirit and hopes to help more people understand that connection through her work with BNS.

Sophia Hughes
Kid’s Club Program Co-coordinator

Caroline MacGillivray
Group Fitness Program Coordinator

Laura Mah
Knit Fit Program Coordinator & Founder

Laura Mah is currently in her final year of high school at Vancouver Technical Secondary. In 2004, Laura was strongly inspired by her cousin and the Founder of Beauty Night Society, Caroline MacGillivray, and created a knitting club at her elementary school. Now known as Knit Fit, this small group has transformed into a diverse program made up of individuals from all around Vancouver. The goal of Knit Fit is to knit scarves for the homeless and less fortunate people of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side and at the same time, to teach people the importance of giving back to our community through a fun new skill and hobby. This year, Knit Fit has expanded to elementary and high school. Six schools in Vancouver have been involved in Knit Fit so far. Every year, Knit Fit hands out scarves at Beauty Night Society’s annual Christmas Stocking Drive event, and we are in highly anticipating this year’s event! Laura cannot wait to see what Knit Fit has in store for the future. Laura is also largely involved at Vancouver Technical Secondary, and has served on the Student Council for the last 5 years; this year, serving at the council’s President.

Tiffany Telford
Makeover Program Facilitator (Vancouver)

This Blanche MacDonald Make up Program graduate started volunteering for Beauty Night’s makeover program in February 2008. She had just moved to Vancouver and was looking for a volunteer opportunity and “loved it”. Tiffany loved it so much in December 2008, she brought Beauty Night to her home town. She facilitated a Christmas make over night in Prince George. When she came back to Vancouver, Tiffany became Beauty Night’s Outreach facilitator. Since May 2009, Tiffany facilitates our makeover program events on a weekly basis. Her fresh innovative ideas help strengthen participant relations, volunteer coordination and creating posters for our events. When she is not at Beauty Night, this makeup artist works on film and television projects shooting in Vancouver.

Saafi Warsame
Makeover Program Facilitator (Toronto)

Saafi has recently relocated from Vancouver and is helping facilitate Beauty
Night events in her new city of Toronto. She truly enjoys interacting with
Beauty Night participants, from sharing life stories to discussing the best way to apply nail polish. Saafi is also a volunteer with North York Women’s shelter as well as a couple of organizations that run in the Somali
community. In her spare time, she reads a lot and is looking to become a
lawyer.

From Caroline MacGillivray:

Beauty Night Founder, Caroline MacGillivray meets and greets Toronto Volunteers

Although we have been running the makeover program in Toronto for over 6 years, many people are surprised to hear about it. Ann Roche, who ran the Toronto programming resigned in December. It is going to be difficult to replace Ann.  She has been a wonderful asset to Beauty Night.

I am in Toronto until April 8th looking for facilitators to run two makeover programs each month. I can be reached at 647-995-4526.

We are also looking for storage space for our supplies that have been stored at CAMH. CAMH is renovating their space and we are looking for new storage space in the downtown Toronto area. Please let us know if you know anyone who might be willing to donate space.

The Toronto events this week are:

Saturday, April 4th
Massage by donation
Aradia Fitness Toronto
721 Queen Street West
2-4pm
Females only
* I am still looking for volunteers for this event

Sunday, April 5th
CAMH
1pm Moving our supplies from one space to another
* CAMH has generously donated space for our storage and drop off location for supplies. We will be sorting and dropping off donations to other organizations that might need it. We will also be sorting through supplies that are older and need to find homes.

Monday, April 6th
Volunteer orientation
6pm
Starbucks Chapters.
We will be meeting at the Starbucks in Chapters at the corner of John and Queen Street West. If you have friends that might be interested in volunteering, please have them email or facebook me.

Although I am in Toronto working on Toronto Beauty Night, things are still active in Vancouver. Katie Benjamin and Tiffany Telford are running the makeover events in my absence. These two dynamic volunteers are busy in their own right.

Tiffany spearheaded the Xmas Beauty Night in Prince George and runs the monthly Beauty Nights in Coquitlam and at the Health Contact Centre. This month, she will be running the makeover program with CHIUS (community health initiative by university students) at Urban Native Youth Association. For these events, we are still looking for volunteers. Please facebook or text me if you are able to attend.

Wednesday, April 1
Health Contact Centre 6-9pm
166 East Hastings Street

Thursday, April 2
Kinsman Hall (Partnering with Soroptimists)
Port Coquitlam
6-8pm
The address for Kinsman Hall is 2175 Coquitlam Ave, Port Coquitlam, built in Aggie Park. The map is on the link below, and your team of volunteers may want to get the directions from the link.

http://maps.google.com/?q=2175%20Coquitlam%20Avenue%2C%20Port%20Coquitlam%2C%20BC.

Wednesday, April 8th
UNYA * please email for addresss
6-8pm

Katie Benjamin, a long time volunteer for Beauty Night has created her own initiative, Womyn’s Gym. Funded through Telus, Womyn’s Gym creates one on one personal training opportunities for Beauty Night clients. Together with Tyla Flexman and Miranda Landry, Katie has been training kinesiologist students to work with our clients. This initiative is in it’s third week. Goal setting, nutrition and fitness are key components of this wonderful program that runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

We are looking for child minding volunteers for the participants children. Alexa Fox has been coordinating the child care. We are in need of volunteers that have their criminal records check, extended first aid, current CPR, and enjoy working with children. Early childhood education is a huge asset.

We are also looking for green space in the Downtown Eastside to start a gardening project. We have had a donor offer donate apple and fig trees to this project. We just need somewhere to plant them. I am hoping this project will harvest food for our nutrition and fitness programs as well as a strong sense of community for the women. Perhaps if this happens before summer, we will be able to move our yoga classes under the shade of the trees.

On April 14th, we are adding our Chillaxing Wellness Nights to our existing programming. We will have a foot care clinic (pedicures) run by health care students and professionals; reiki, massage and reflexology. We are looking for more volunteers for this program. Orientation will be April 13th (Easter Monday). If you are a current volunteer, just let me know your availability.
The night will run in conjunction with our yoga classes, womyn’s gym, child care and women’s writing group that run on the Tuesday evenings. Thera Wise has donated product for our foot clinic and Sage has donated products for the relaxation services.

Thank you for everything that you do.

Sincerely,

Caroline
778-885-4526
647-995-4526

Hi everyone, Happy New Year! Today is the first Monday back at Life Skills for the Makeover Program! I want to thank everyone who supported Beauty Night last year and hope that you continue to be involved this year! Our schedule is up under the volunteer 2009 schedule.

So far our schedule is similar to last year. Most of our programming is at Portland Hotel Society’s Life Skill Centre at 412 E Cordova. 6-9pm.

Makeover Nights Monday Nights from 6-9pm.

Stretch and Women’s Writing Group Tuesday Nights from 6-9pm.

Wednesday (first Wed of the month except July 1st) Health Contact Centre 166 E Hastings 6-9pm

Wednesday, Cheque issue – board meetings, location tba

Thursday,Chair Fit and Women’s Writing Group 6-9pm

On Monday, February 9th, we will celebrate Valentine’s Day. Thanks to the overwhelming response to our Annual Xmas Stocking Drive, we have managed to stuff 8 boxes of gift bags for our 2nd annual Valentine’s Day celebration. Last year, a certain gentleman dolled up in his tux and presented each lady with a box of chocolates and a rose. I am hoping we will be able to do the same thing this year. Our planning meeting for this event will be this Sunday at noon. Location TBA – please call me if you are interested in getting involved.

Starting in February 2009, Katie Benjamin and Tyla Flexman will be starting the Womyn’s Gym project. This program sponsored through Telus will be facilitated by Katie and Tyla. They will be coordinating kinesiologist students with Beauty Night clients. They will work on setting and achieving fitness goals on a one on one basis. Katie has volunteered for Beauty Night for years. Both Katie and Tyla have volunteered for the fitness program since September 2008 and we are excited to add personal training to the group fitness component.

Other developments are through the literacy program. We are just confirming upcoming workshops in blogging, journaling and card making. We are still taking applications for 3rd party fundraisers.

If you are interested in throwing one, please contact carolinem@beautynight.org or rebeccakerbel@hotmail.com. Previous 3rd party fundraisers have included hair cut a thons, fashion shows, auctions, and many more.

Beauty Night Toronto.

Toronto’s executive director Ann Roche has given her resignation. Ann has been a tremendous asset for Beauty Night. Toronto Beauty Night will not be the same without. She has been the life and soul of Toronto hosting two Beauty Nights a month. We are looking for volunteers to facilitate Beauty Night in Toronto. Please email toronto@beautynight.org with a cover letter and your resume if you are interested in getting involved. Looking forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Sincerely, Caroline

Beauty Night’s creative endeavours program is in full swing.  Beauty Night clients fuse a night of arts and culture with a slice of beauty.  On Monday night’s makeover night, Beauty Night founder, Caroline MacGillivray will hold a draw for four pairs of tickets to see Touchstone Theatre’s world premiere of Influence by Janet Munsil.  The recipients of the tickets will win a night that includes a meal, makeup touch up and hair styling, and a chance to be one of the select few that gets to see this show on the preview night.

 According to media contact Cynnamon SchreinertInfluence runs from November 7 to 15 at Performance Works on Granville Island (November 6 Preview) IN FULL… In a room in the British Museum in 1817 the unknown medical student John Keats (Daniel Arnold) wants to abandon his medicine to become a poet. Egged on by his mentor, the now-forgotten history painter Benjamin Robert Hayden (Mike Stack), Keats looks for inspiration in The Elgin Marbles: the fragments of the Parthenon taken from Greece by England’s Lord Elgin, which to this day have created a storm of international debate. Unbeknownst to Keats, Athena (Colleen Wheeler), Goddess of Wisdom and protector of Athens, has .arrived in the city of fog to reclaim her statues and seek revenge for the desecration of the Parthenon. Hephaestus 

(Donald Adams) God of the Forge, and Apollo (Frank Zotter) God of Poetry and Medicine, arrive with their own agendas.  With art, artefact and immortality all at stake, an epic and at times hilarious battle unfolds which will determine the fate of Keats and influence the future forever. 

Victoria-based playwright and producer Janet Munsil is inspired by memoirs of the forgotten, dusty museum cabinets, and curious historical coincidences.  Her plays have been produced by some of the most respected and adventurous contemporary theatres, both at home and abroad – Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, London’s Soho Theatre, and the West Yorkshire Playhouse, among others. Her literary sensibility and wild imagination have put her on the cutting edge of new Canadian drama. 

Beauty Night will need volunteers who enjoy going to the theatre to drive and help facilitate discussion about the show afterwards.

For those who are unable to volunteer but would like to check out the show:

Influence features; Donald Adams (King Lear, Tideline), Daniel Arnold (Poster Boys, The Triumph of Love), 

Mike Stack (Farther West, The Overcoat), Colleen Wheeler (The Tempest, My Chernobyl ) and Frank Zotter (Stuck, The Elephant Man, Calgary).  Set design for Influence is by David Roberts, lighting design by Jonathan Ryder, costume design by Sheila White, with sound and original music by Owen Belton.  

Influence runs from November 6 to 15 (Tues – Sat 8pm, Sat 2pm, Sun 4pm) at Performance Works, 1218 

Cartwright Street, Granville Island. Tickets are $26 adults, $24 seniors, $20 students  

available through Tickets Tonight at 604-687-2787 or visit www.ticketstonight.ca  

Special Performances include: 

Thursday, November 6, 8pm – Free Performance – tickets at the door, first-come first-served 

Friday, November 7, 8pm – Opening Night 

Saturday, November 8, 2pm – Two-for-One – all tickets $13, includes service charges 

Sunday, November 9, 4pm – BMO Pre-show Director’s Chat with Katrina Dunn in the lobby at 3:15pm 

Tuesday, November 11 – BMO Post-show Talkback