Kwalikum Secondary School is hosting its 22nd annual Premiere Performance at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre.
Students from Grades 8 to 12 get the opportunity to showcase their work they’ve done in school.
Fiona Mathison said, “They have fun working as a group together and I think that was the most exciting as a teacher this year was to see the Grade 8s really enthusiastic.”
Mathison is one of the art teachers at KSS, and she said sometimes the students just get together and create art projects in groups.
There will be self-portraits, works of clay, watercolour pieces and cardboard structures.
“The Grade 9 and 10 watercolours were fantastic. They’re based on graphic novels or superheroes.”
Mathison said hopefully the students will bring their parents and show off their work at the civic centre on April 13.
Ian Lindsay, the founder of Premiere Performance, said this year’s show is going to be quite interesting.
Lindsay said he founded the show because of two main issues.
One was that students were promoting or exhibiting their art outside of the community, and Lindsay said there wasn’t any opportunities for the students in community facilities.
He said the real challenge was because schools were eliminating fine arts programs due to budget issues.
Because of all this, Lindsay saw a need for and an opportunity to support fine arts in school.
He said Premiere Performance is a way to see “art through the eyes of the students.”
After the first year, Lindsay said people were asking if they could leave a donation at the end. Since then, Lindsay said they have put donations toward the KSS Fine Arts Society which helps to “enhance opportunities for students within the fine arts programs in the school.”
Premiere Performance is a good way to introduce the students to members of the community, according to Lindsay.
He he there are so many people in Qualicum Beach who are retired, but have grandchildren living in other parts of Canada. Lindsay added why not try and support someone else’s grandchildren.
The school’s concert band and concert choir will be performing and the drama department will be giving a sneak preview of their special mystery drama.
The show is at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre on April 13. Exhibits start at 6:30 p.m. and performances start at 7:30 p.m.