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Provides professional arts performances that contribute to the quality of life of people in care. It is the largest performance arts organisation in Canada dedicated exclusively to people in healthcare. Health Arts Society presents performance events in health care sites as ARTSWAY
Health Arts Society not only provides ArtsWay programs, it also supports a variety of initiatives designed to address the interests of people in care. Here are some examples.
ArtsWay Piano Challenge
A piano is at the heart of music making at health care sites. Many pianos have given decades of service but are now worn out. Health Arts Society in partnership with Tom Lee Music has provided 14 new Yamaha pianos to sites subject to a contribution by the site of about one third of the value of the cost. Subject to additional funding the ArtsWay Piano Challenge will be reinstated.
ArtsWay OnLine
A new project in development that will provide a resource for programming of interest specifically to ArtsWay audiences including live events streamed in real time. This innovative project is undertaken in partnership with the University of British Columbia.
Orchestral Transcription Program
A new project for ArtsWay audiences: Orchestral music arranged for instrumental groups.
Hear the CBC documentary from 19th April 2008
As the first project in a series of transcriptions of orchestral music, Health Arts Society commissioned Vancouver composer Chris Kovarik to arrange the whole of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony for a small ensemble. The picturesque symphony is well known as the Pastoral. It eloquently reflects the composer’s feelings for the countryside and its inhabitants. Performed by the ArtsWay Beethoven Ensemble - Kenneth Broadway, piano, Rebecca Whitling, violin, Ariel Barnes, cello and Mark McGregor, flute - the arrangement offers audiences an exciting domestic version of this great piece. CBC Radio Two was at George Pearson Centre to document the effect of the first concert of the series in which the symphony arrangement was played. The Ensemble has also recorded the music and it will be available soon. Please watch this website for details. We are grateful to the CBC (and journalist Jennifer van Evra, Gary Heald recording engineer, producer Matthew Macfarlane, executive producer Denise Ball), and the musicians of the Vancouver Beethoven Ensemble for their kind permission to present the documentary on the Health Arts site.
Visual Arts Program
Health Arts Society has already commissioned a work by Richard Prince, a sculpture “Voyage” for George Pearson Centre in Vancouver. The work was completed for September 2006 and made possible by generous donations to Health Arts Society.
Emerging Performers Program
This is a program developed by Health Arts Society in collaboration with performing arts education institutions. This program delivers performance events principally to elders at adult day centres, community centres and neighbourhood houses. Some work at residential facilities is also be undertaken. The program is directed toward students who have almost reached the end of their performance training and intend to be professional musicians. The program gives the performers an opportunity to meet audiences that are unable to access professional arts performances.
Tickle Trunk Circus
In the summer of 2009 Health Arts Society presented Tickle Trunk Circus, a project with the flavour of Cirque du Soleil. The Artistic Director, Chelsea O’Brian is an accomplished and much sought-after aerial artist. Twenty shows with seven professional circus artists and two musicians were performed in the open air at health care site gardens in August. The 50-minute production, Chuckles, involved aerial work, acrobatics, juggling and clowning. This highly original project was crafted especially for audiences of elders, carers, families and the local community.
