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It’s heartening to see how the public has willing to return to attending shows and other events at the Cultural Centre following Covid, Connie Surerus, chair of the North Peace Cultural Society told Fort St. John city council at 2023’s last Committee of the Whole meeting.

“It was hard going through it and it’s nice that we’re getting back to the numbers we had in pre-covid days,” Surerus said.

These numbers include sold out shows for Ballet Jorgen’s Cinderella and Stage North’s production of Footloose the Musical, as well as a full concourse during last fall’s Art Auction.

“People were really excited to actually be able to come out to shows again, they were really well received, and well attended.”

NPCS board secretary, Margaret May, echoed Surerus’s sentiments and said that she was pleased to see not only great attendance at Cultural Centre events, but to see all the local groups getting back to their pre-Covid levels of activity.

Collaborations and partnerships with local arts groups are the core of the Cultural Centre, May said. The Society collaborates extensively with School District 60, and with the local dance community, with highly anticipated events such as the resounding successes of North Peace Secondary School’s rendition of Spamalot, and this past weekend’s Stage North production of the Nutcracker.

In addition to providing a venue for productions by individual schools, the Cultural Centre plays host to the School District 60 bands.

The bands and the wide array of musical talent among Fort St. John’s youth will be celebrated in April at the annual Peace River North Festival of the Arts.

“It includes a lot of groups – the Music Teachers’ Association, dance studios, choirs, the bands all participate,” said May. “We have a lot of really talented performers go through for the Festival.”

Not only that, but the BC Festival of Performing Arts will be returning to Fort St. John in June. Each year the provincial arts festival is held in a different BC community, and Fort St. John was chosen to host the 2024 event. It is an excellent opportunity for not only our local performers to showcase their talents, but for the community to enjoy performances from top provincial talent.

“We also do have a number of professionals come to our theatre, either from outside the community or home-grown professionals. Tom Cole is one – we’ve also had touring groups like Johnny Reed, Colin James, and Rumours,” said NPCS’s executive director, Oliver Hachmeister.

Being able to host these groups, and others, “like the Congregation, Ballet Jorgen, Mark Perry, Middle Raged, God is a Scottish Drag Queen – these are all events that we’ve had in the last year, and just the ability to have a strong ballet group, a rock n’roll group, CBC comedy, fringe comedy, world music and folk, and having a venue that provides all that to the community is so important, and so inspiring to artists locally and beyond,” Hachmeister said.

Besides the events in the theatre, the Cultural Centre is home to several other notable programs, catering to all segments of the community.

For the past three or so years, since OSCARE closed, the Cultural Centre has been running the Creative Kids Out of School Care program.

“We tried to keep it with an artistic bent, to keep it within our mandate, and the parents love it,” said Hachmeister. “The kids get structured time to play, structured time to have art, we allow a lot of free play as well and then they get exposed to the art that’s in the gallery, and they can create their own art work that’s inspired by that. They also get instructed by local artists as well. That’s a wonderful program for them.”

Recently, Hachmeister said the kids started going to Peace Villa to do art with the seniors. Peace Villa had an art show earlier this month which featured works by both the seniors and the kids.

There’s also the monthly free Let’s Art program, with one day a week for kids under 12, and another for teens. On Tuesdays and Thursdays after school there is the Pokémon Club, which is a very popular program that’s free for the whole community.

Peace Gallery North is another popular part of the Cultural Centre, with exhibits booked for the next 18 months or so, said May.

“The art gallery continues to be very active. The art gallery is subsidized by the Cultural Centre, it doesn’t generally run a profit, but it provides a lot of opportunities for local artists,” she said. “It’s very popular, the openings have been generally very well attended. They’ve recently added reading opportunities, so they sell and promote local authors and host readings.”

The range of artists exhibiting at the gallery has evolved over the years since it first opened. Exhibits are no longer dominated by landscapes and pastoral scenes, said Surerus, but includes artists who embrace a variety of mediums and unique styles. The Figuratively Speaking exhibit on currently, and the work of Samantha Wigglesworth are good examples of the different styles and media that can be enjoyed at the gallery.

The new year kicks off with several events, including the first Gallery exhibit of the year, featuring The Woolen Canvas, which runs from January 5 to 27. In the theatre, there is the Peace Fusion Dance Company Showcase on January 27, The Sheepdogs on February 1, Stage North’s production Ring of Fire on February 29, and Diyet and the Love Soldiers on March 14. Fundraising events kick off with the Spotlight Dance Competition on February 2 to 4, and the Annual Art Auction on March 16.

Check out the North Peace Cultural Society’s Facebook page for more upcoming events and classes, or the website for tickets, class registration and more https://npcc.bc.ca/