SCA | Quick News | April 25, 2025
Sound and Vickers on the Sobey longlist
We shared this great news last week, but we're sharing it again as our top-line this week! SCA alumni Michelle Sound and Charlene Vickers are both on the longlist, representing the Pacific region, for the 2025 Sobey Art Award. Here's hoping that this is the year that there's a tie for both this region and the whole prize! Congratulations to all of the longlisted artists, who you can meet HERE.
A Magical Time
The SFU Retirees Association and Harbour Publishing have produced A Magical Time: The Early Days of the Arts at Simon Fraser University, a lovely new book about the early days of the arts at SFU, which also set the foundation for us, the School for the Contemporary Arts. Presented by the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, please join us for the official book launch on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, at 5:30 PM (doors at 5:00 PM) in the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, here at the School for the Contemporary Arts (149 West Hastings St., Vancouver). RSVP for free HERE. And in the meantime, sample some of the great history covered in the book via this new website: Early Arts at SFU 1965-1975.
Morelli on En el principio / In the beginning & in the collection
SCA alumnus Didier Morelli reviewed the exhibition En el principio / In the beginning for esse Magazine. Curated by Anna Burckhardt Pérez, and including work by Juliana Góngora Rojas, Matías Quintero Sepúlveda, Juven Piranga Valencia, and Yinela Piranga Valencia, En el principio / In the beginning runs March 29 – July 28, 2025, at the Art Institute of Chicago. Read it HERE (requires a "free profile" to read in full). Also, as an extension of his "FRQSC Postdoc" exploring "sports and play," Morelli is leading another "afternoon in the collection" on Friday, May 2, 2025, at 2:00 PM at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (1920 Baile St, Montreal). More HERE.
Film Academy Summer Course Project Coordinator
Attention SCA filmmakers: the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, our institutional home at SFU, is hiring a Film Academy Summer Course Project Coordinator to "mentor secondary school students in their exploration of film-making at SFU Surrey." The application deadline is 10:00 PM on May 9, 2025. Full info HERE.
Samadi on the BOD
SCA alumnus Niloufar Samadi is a new member of the board of directors at VIVO Media Arts Centre. Follow her on Instagram to keep up with her projects and activities.
Stir on The Frontliners
Read Stir Vancouver on Zahida Rahemtulla's The Frontliners, running May 1 – 11, 2025, at the Firehall Arts Centre (280 E Cordova St, Vancouver), which has SCA alumnus Derek Chan 陳嘉昊 at director, and SCA alumni Jonathan Kim (Lighting Designer), June Hsu (Associate Sound Designer), Bernice Paet (Apprentice Stage Manager) Jamie Sweeney (Production Manager) behind the scenes. Read it HERE.
Pancouver talks to Lefan
Pancouver interviewed multi-talented SCA student Vanessa Lefan, who's currently on tour in Taiwan. Read it HERE.
Red Dress Day
To help remember and reflect on the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S) who have been lost to colonial and gender-based violence, the SFU Sexual Violence Support & Prevention Office and the SFSS Women's Centre are organizing memorial tables for SFU's three campuses to recognize Red Dress Day on Monday, May 5, 2025, accessible anytime between 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM at these locations: the Reception Area of the Student Union Building at the Burnaby Campus, the SRYC Mezzanine of the Surrey Campus, and the Main Lobby of Vancouver Campus. Find out more HERE.
HEAVEN FM at the VAG
Hong Kong Exile, the interdisciplinary arts company formed by SCA alumni Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Milton Lim, and Remy Siu, are having the world premiere of HEAVEN FM on Sunday, May 18, 2025, from 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM, in Courtroom 302 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby St, Vancouver). HEAVEN FM is developed and led by Gan, working with SCA alumni ellis cheadle, Alex Mah, and Alex Tam, and Juolin Lee as co-creators and performers. More HERE.
The Horror in Seconds podcast
Ever-busy SCA alumnus Doaa Magdy has launched The Horror in Seconds Interviews / Entrevistas podcast. Find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! Find out more HERE.
DANCE NATION PR
The Cultch are sharing some great PR videos on their Instagram account promoting DANCE NATION, featuring SCA alumnus Amanda Sum (who's in this video, along with Director Mindy Parfitt and Choreographer Amber Barton). Catch DANCE NATION at The The Cultch's York Theatre (639 Commercial Dr, Vancouver), running April 23 – May 11, 2025, as part of the Warrior Festival. Watch HERE (and click through for the others).
ALL I WANNA DO IS PARTY
SCA alumnus DEBBY FRIDAY is teasing something new for April 30. Watch HERE.
Joey Chaos and The Ghosts play Verboden
SCA alumnus Joey Chaos and The Ghosts are playing May 8, 2025, at the Cobalt (917 Main St, Vancouver) as part of the Verboden Festival’s opening night.
Mechanical Hymns
SCA alumnus Kaila Bhullar is performing as part of, Mechanical Hymns, an exhibition and performance with Anju Singh, on April 25, 2025, at 7:30 PM at What Lab (1814 Pandora St, Vancouver), the last event in What Lab's It's Not a Stage Series. More HERE.
REMAINS
Watch REMAINS, a new short film by SCA students Cleo Luna June and Inkara Julmagambetova on YouTube HERE.
Be Vardų, Be Kojų
If you're in Toronto, Chimerik 似不像, the interdisciplinary art collective with SCA alumni Caroline MacCaull and Sammy Chien as Co-Artistic Directors, is holding an Open Studio presentation of Brigita Gedgaudas' project in development, Be Vardų, Be Kojų, on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Charles Street Video (76 Geary Ave). More HERE.
Be-In ‘67
Here's a cool look into the some of the deepest history of the SCA at SFU: CFA and Trapp Projects are presenting Be-In ‘67, which they describe as "an exhibition focused on art made in Vancouver during Canada’s Centennial year," featuring "the rarely seen Centennial Suite Project that was produced by the faculty and administration of Simon Fraser University with thirteen of that generations most notable artists," that was "realized by master printer Robert Bigelow for the Visual Arts in the Centre for Communications and the Arts at Simon Fraser University." Be-In ‘67 opens Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM at NADA (back alley entrance at 3553 Main St., Vancouver), and runs to May 11. More HERE.
Donate to PuSh for a little K BODY AND MIND
Here's a good deal: If you donate $50 or more to the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival before April 30, 2025, you also get access to a digital version of K BODY AND MIND by A Wake of Vultures (SCA alumni Nancy Tam, Conor Wylie, and Dan O'Shea), which was presented in the 2025 edition of the festival, as well as to Habitat and Géométrie de vies, two other "digital offerings" that ran as part of the festival. We'll let the A Wake of Vultures team tell you more via THIS VIDEO on PuSh's Instagram.
Radical Traditions: New Music for Gamelan
Gamelan Bike Bike, a project of Publik Secrets, which includes SCA PhD student George Rahi, are performing as part of Radical Traditions: New Music for Gamelan on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at 7:30 PM (doors at 7:00 PM) at the Annex (823 Seymour St, Vancouver). More HERE.
To Wash Ourselves Clean Of Desire
SCA alumnus Moroti Soji-George, the Co-Director and Curatorial Lead of The Black Arts Centre and the Director/Curator of Gallery Gachet, guest-curated the programming series, To Wash Ourselves Clean Of Desire, running May 1, 15, & 22, 2025, at The Polygon Gallery (101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver). Presented in support of the exhibition Rotimi Fani-Kayode: Tranquility Of Communion, at The Polygon until May 25, 2025, To Wash Ourselves Clean Of Desire "explores the core facets of presented’s pivotal practice, while introducing Vancouver audiences to a powerful cohort of Black and African queer artists, thinkers, and cultural producers whose work exists within the same lineage." Find out more HERE.
1000xRESIST up for a Peabody
Congratulations to Remy Siu and the Sunset Visitor 斜陽過客 team (featuring a bunch of SCA alumni in the production process, including Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Conor Wylie, Maiko Yamamoto, Felicia Lau, Amanda Sum, Anjela Magpantay, June Fukumura, Mahaila Patterson-O'Brien, Erika Mitsuhashi, and Alex Mah behind the scenes), for their Peabody Awards nomination in the "Interactive" category for 1000xRESIST. More HERE.
Myth and Organosis
Working with SCA alumni Erika Mitsuhashi, Shervin Zarkalam, Niloufar Samadi, and Steve Hubert, and Alex Penney, Sidney Gordon, Dave Ehrenreich, and David Ullock, © Linda Fox (aka SCA PhD student Dave Biddle) is presenting Myth and Organosis, which promises to reveal "never-before-seen patterns in this universe by using an expensive blend of film-projection, spatial-sound, and investigative-journalism," on Sunday, April 27, 2025, with shows at 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM (doors at 7:00 PM) at Lobe Studios (713 East Hastings Street Vancouver). Tickets HERE.
Franca in Telling it Bent
SCA alumnus Maraya Franca is part of the Telling it Bent program, "a writing workshop for queer, trans, Two Spirit, and questioning BC youth, ages 14 to 25," which is part of the IGNITE! YOUTH ARTS Festival, running May 14 – 18, 2025, at The Cultch's Historic Theatre. More HERE.
Mak's Levels
SCA alumnus Lauraine Mak's Levels, "an ongoing series of works centring around the concept of measurement as a means of justifying and understanding phenomena," is on display at the Richmond Brighouse Skytrain Station from April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026, presented as part of the Capture Photography Festival, and co-presented by the City of Richmond Public Art Program and the Richmond Art Gallery. More HERE.
Lamb vs Lamb
Watch SCA student Claine 'Gorgoth' Lamb go against her husband Dean Lamb in a game of Death Metal Trivia. And if you click through to Dean's YouTube channel, Claine is a regular (so worth it!). Watch HERE.