With one year in the books, the Boundary Country Arts Council has asked the city for continued financial support.
The group, formerly known as The Downstage Centre Performing Arts Society, was formed in November 2022 and received $5,000 in city support.
During Monday’s council meeting, BCAC Executive Director Shaun Aquiline asked for $5,000 more dollars to continue bringing various acts to the city.
Aquiline says they’ve signed Lucas Meyers to do a one-man show about Grand Forks – for 2025.
“He comes for a week and bit in the winter, a week a bit in the spring, summer and fall and then goes home and he writes a one-man show playing multiple characters about the town and what it is to become Grand Forkian,” Aquiline told councillors.
Meyers performance won’t be ready until early 2025, he guessed.
As for performances in 2024, Aquiline says they got a grant from the B.C. Tourism Council.
“We ended up getting $8,000 to put on a showcase that we’re calling the Boundary Country RISE and it’s going to showcase four British Columbia country musicians that have been to Nashville and recorded but still live in B.C.”
Those artists are Michael Daniels (Apr. 22), Beamer Wigley (May 18), Ben Klick (June 21) and Melissa Livingstone (Aug. 2).
Aquiline says the first three performances will be a “buildup” to Livingstone as a “downtown core event, free one,” similar to the Coco Jafro performance during the long weekend this year.
The BCAC received a total of $19,800 in grants this year from various organizations and governments.
The fee for service request to the City of Grand Forks been referred to the upcoming budget.