Cultural Renaissance

It's all in the arts family as we unveil our annual fall guide

With a federal election about to burst upon us like an out-of-season snowstorm and the ruling Conservatives already having declared war on the arts courtesy of their $45-million slashback, what better way to keep arts and culture front and centre in people’s minds than by embracing the fall arts season? Whether you’re looking for music or film, theatre or dance, books or visual arts, Victoria is once again overflowing with things to do, places to go and talented people to watch. All any arts group needs is an audience to make them feel appreciated—and there’s really no more effective way to show how important the arts are to society than by getting out and voting with our wallets. Remember, ticket sales translate directly into success for most arts groups, many of which continue to struggle to survive from year to year.

As was mentioned by one candidate at the recent all-candidate arts forum (well, make that all candidates except for the Conservatives, none of whom bothered to show up), the time is now to put the arts on equally mainstream footing as politics, education, labour, the environment or sports (remember, Canadians spend twice as much attending the arts as they do live sporting events). How important are the arts to our communities? That’s easy—without them, all the following pages would be blank. And if you want to do your part to help keep Victoria’s arts scene vibrant this year, that’s also ridiculously easy—just go out and enjoy a show!

While our Fall Guide runs normally in the paper, we've split it up for easier use online—so that means if you're looking for the Fall Film roundup, check the film page; if you're looking for music, check our music page; and so on through our coverage. Easier still, just click on the list of related links to the immediate right of this column, where you'll find all the content broken down for you.

—John Threlfall