Local Arts

Music and art-making are the big attractions at the third annual Sechelt Arts Festival coming up July 29 to Aug. 7. Though the word "family" is no longer in the description of the festival, it is still very much about families.

The magic of Celtic music drew hundreds of people to the Rockwood Pavilion last Friday for a stellar concert by teachers and a few students of the Celtic Music Camp held July 10 to 14 in Roberts Creek.

The Coast String Fiddlers (CSF) will host dancers from Belgium this month. They will welcome again Back of the Moon, a Scottish band popular with many people on the Sunshine Coast.

When Grandma dies in a freak snowboarding accident she propels her quirky family into a web of deception, love and sex.

Poor Philippa Beary. The singer can't seem to get through a single opera production without finding a dead body somewhere, either in the dressing room or on stage. Whether in Turandot or the Pirates of Penzance, someone must die.

An important exhibit of the work of Canadian architect Arthur Erickson runs at the Vancouver Art Gallery this summer. The author who turned the world's spotlight on the man is still writing from her home in Garden Bay.

The 2006 International Choral Kathaumixw Tour comes to St. Hilda's Church in Sechelt on Sunday,July 9 at 7:30 p.m., with a concert by the acclaimed Adelaide Chamber Singers (ACS). The concert, co-presented by the Coast Recital Society and St.

CBC Radio has one word for the young talent scheduled to entertain at The Club on July 7: "Wow!" Ndidi Onukwulu was born in B.C. of Nigerian heritage and writes and sings of the anger and pain of growing up ethnic in small-town Canada.

Editor's note: In cooperation with the Festival of the Written Arts, Coast Reporter will be highlighting authors coming in August for this year's festival.

She has been called Canada's first lady of folk, but musician Penny Lang isn't in the business to become a big star. "I'm an entertainer," she says. "The response from the audience is the most important part of the evening.