In Focus | Katie Brennan of the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan (ARTSCO)

In Focus is our gift to the community. A way for us to help show our recognition for the people, businesses, and organizations that help make our city great. The team at KelownaNow.com is passionate about this community and the people that make it amazing. We want to show our friends, neighbours, family and colleagues that we notice them and the fabulous things that they do.

What is your name?
Katie Brennan

Where are you from and how long have you lived in Kelowna?
I grew up in Vernon and moved back to the Okanagan in 2009. I moved to Kelowna last October.

Who is your favourite person to spend time with and why?
This is always changing for me. Usually, I hang out with whoever I feel most kindred with at that moment. Sometimes that is other artists. Sometimes that is my family. Sometimes that is a heart friend. Sometimes that is other non-profit / business folks who I can jam on new ideas with.

If you could go anywhere in the world right at this moment where would you go and why?
Where is not so important. Why - big time. I’d love to cut out, anywhere, anytime to go make art. Finding time to make art in amongst my daily life is tough sometimes. My second choice would be any 5 Rhythms workshop anywhere in the world. My third - New York. Always. This is where I find myself going to most often.

What is your favourite local store in Kelowna and why?
Opus Art Supplies. Its siren call is always in my ears. Luckily I live nearby now and could pop in 14 times a day if I wished it.

What is your favourite activity?
For my mind: dreaming up new ideas, sharing them with others, turning the best ones into reality. For my body and soul: 5 Rhythms - a meditative, intuitive, transformative dance practice. For every other part of me: make art.

If you had to choose: pizza, tacos, or burgers?
Tacos.

What is a hidden gem you enjoy in the Okanagan?
Kal Lake Park.

What is the most inspiring thing that has happened to you?
So many things. Making art is a big part of that. Probably the instance with the biggest impact was doing an artist residency at the Banff Centre in 2011. It’s really only in the last year that the trajectory of ideas of that body of work has finally started to peter out: work on water, mountains, everything in blue. Although the funny tape balls I started making there, and have been making on and off for a while now (secret art practice stuff), went on to become some sculptures over the summer. Not sure what that is about yet or where it is going next.

Where do you volunteer or give back to in the community?
I like working with emerging artists, the ones who are just starting to get serious about the art game, and helping them to see the bigger picture. I also love helping people hone or polish their ideas. “So you want to do this. Great. Let’s talk through all the steps and figure out if it's feasible.”

If you could change one thing in the world what would it be?
That people would see just how magical they really are and actualize it.

What is your favourite activity in Kelowna?
Meeting up with friends downtown for a coffee or a meal and then wandering around, poking into the local shops. That, or art evenings. The galleries and other arts organizations sometimes schedule things on one night, which I love as this way you can make a whole night of it: gallery openings, concerts, performances, plays, followed by drinks with friends and other people you’ve collected along the way.

Where would you sneak away to in Kelowna to spend some time alone?
Scenic Valley.

Where would you like to see positive change in Kelowna and why?
I’d like to see more cohesiveness in the art community - a coming together, a gathering, a co-mingling of forces. There are signs of this all over the place and I’m fanning the flames wherever and whenever I can, but we’re not totally there yet. We’ve got some exciting plans in the works, so stay tuned.

If you could be granted one wish for work or in life, what would it be?
For the arts to be embraced and given great value and importance; to not have to make a case over and over again for why the arts and all of its facets (creativity, play, imagination, etc.) are hugely important to our well-being and our happiness. For people to fully 100% believe that the arts deserve our time, care, attention, and financing.

Tell us something that not everyone may know about you.
I’m terrible at asking the questions you’re supposed to ask someone when you first meet them: where are you from, do you have any siblings, parents, what do they all do, etc. There’s a long-standing joke in my family that I should be given a questionnaire to give to people so that I can report this information back to others. Instead, I find that my conversations skip the typical info gathering part and jump straight into what people are into, what they’re thinking about, what are they working on; the big meaty stuff. Purpose. Passion. Drive.

What is the name of your business/organization?
Arts Council of the Central Okanagan (ARTSCO)

What does your business do?
ARTSCO is an organization dedicated to amplifying, supporting and celebrating the Arts in the Central Okanagan. We do this through things like the Okanagan Arts Awards, which we held this past May to a sold out house at the Habitat and recognized 13 artists, art supporters and organizations for the artistic excellence they achieved in their work.

2016 Winners included Laurie Koss (Visual Arts), Janessa McGrath (Dance), Andrew Judah (Music) Michael V. Smith (Literature), Robert Mason-Brown, aka Fred Skeleton (Theatre), Todd Ramsey of Yeti Creative (Timed Based Media), Art Felt Collaborative (Applied Arts), Kelsie Balehowsky (Emerging Artist), Carrie Mayhew (Art & Business), Opera Kelowna (Innovation), The Heritage Retirement Residence (Business Supporter) and the Lake Country Art Gallery (Community Impact), and Dr. Sharon McCoubrey received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

We also have a community exhibition program called Artscape which rotates artwork by our members through 8 different venues around the city. We’re opening a call for submissions for this program shortly, so Artists, please go to our website to sign up!

We also give out two Awards at the City of Kelowna’s Civic Awards: Honour in the Arts and Teen Honour in the Arts. This year’s winners were Rosemary Thompson with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and Lauren Meier a recent graduate. And two bursaries to SD 23 students for their achievements in the arts.

We also just finished a whole slew of community events and support for Culture Days. These included the Downtown Gallery project (which placed 57 pieces of artwork by 32 local artists into 36 downtown business), Etch-a-Sketch costumed life drawing at Karmyc Bazaar, and Classics 101 in partnership with Opera Kelowna.

How do people connect with you through social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest)
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Where can people find your business online?
You can find the Arstco website at artsco.ca and my personal website at katiebrennan.ca.

Why did you get into/start this business?
I have a long history in the non-profit / education sector. When I first came back to the Okanagan in 2009 I started teaching up at UBCO in the Visual Arts. That transitioned into curating at the Lake Country Art Gallery and then into running ARTSCO last fall. The arts has just always been what I’ve done. I’m so happy to have stepped into this larger role and be able to make big waves in arts and culture here.

What is the goal of your business?
In order to enrich the cultural life of our community, the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan has undertaken the mission to support, strengthen, and promote all arts disciplines and traditions and encourages education in and appreciation of all aspects of the arts.

What has been your biggest struggle either in work or life?
Finding time to do everything and learning to be ok with fluidity and ambiguity - make art and engaging in the creative process helps with this big time!

If you could start all over again would you do things the same or would things be different?
I’m so happy with where I’m at right now that I wouldn’t change a thing.

Why do you think it is important to shop locally?
I think it’s not also important to shop locally but to engage locally. Paying attention to what is in your backyard, down your street, and around the corner makes your life immediately more enriched. When you do things locally you meet the people making things happen and build person connections with them.

Give someone that you think deserves it a shout out and explain why!
LMNO Productions - Karram Amro, Frisco Ugarte, and Ryan Mowatt. These guys are bringing some fantastic energy to the arts here in Kelowna, including throwing the inaugural Fresh Coast Break Dance Championship last month and bringing the fabulous mural on the back of Hotel Zed by Clandestinos.

My nomination for the In Focus spotlight is:
LMNO Productions - Karram Amro, Frisco Ugarte, and Ryan Mowatt.

Other information:
Katie Brennan is a professional artist based in Kelowna, BC. She completed her MFA at the University of Guelph in Guelph Ontario and her BFA at Emily Carr University in Vancouver BC. She has exhibited work across Canada, the United States and England. Her work has been offered at major retailers such as Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma Home and appeared in interior design work in House Beautiful and House and Home.

She has completed artist residencies at the Banff Centre (2011), the Caetani Cultural Centre (2015) and UBC Okanagan (2015).

She has completed Public Art projects at the University of Guelph and in Lake Country, BC. She has taught at the University of Guelph and the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus. Her writing has appeared in Border Crossings and Galleries West Magazines.

Her curatorial work includes shows at the Helen Pitt Art Gallery, the Concourse Gallery at Emily Carr University, Gallery Vertigo, UBC Okanagan’s FINA Gallery, and the Lake Country Art Gallery where she is served as its Curator from 2011 - 2015. She has also put on several pop-up galleries in 2013, in and around Kelowna. In October 2014, she launched the Okanagan Art Review, an online magazine and member website about visual art in the Okanagan Valley, of which she is the Founder and Editor in Chief. Currently she is the Executive Director of the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan (ARTSCO).

Katie also produces 5 Rhythms workshops in Kelowna BC - the next one is Connections with Julie Plotkin Oct 21 - 23rd. lotusrock.ca

We encourage you to leave your comments and words of support below and submit your own nomination by clicking HERE. You are also welcome to submit a form of your own by clicking HERE. Thank you, Kelowna.