Festival celebrates community ties

UVic celebrates spring with music, words and ideas and is inviting the community to join in at this year's Community Festival from March 31 to April 6. Musical and literary performers and world-renowned speakers will take to the stage while UVic alumni are invited to meet old friends at a reunion at the Crystal Garden Conservation Centre. Proceeds from the performances will benefit local organizations.

"These festival events are an opportunity for UVic to give something back to the community," says Jim Griffith, vice president, development and external relations. "UVic and the community together are one great place with a lot to offer each other and this festival celebrates that."

The UVic Chorus and Orchestra kick off the festival with a concert on March 31 in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium at 8 p.m. The evening's program features "Toward the Unknown Region" and "Symphony No. 1" (A Sea Symphony) by Vaughan Williams. Soprano Alexandra Browning and baritone Michael Eckford will be guest soloists and János Sándor will conduct. Tickets are $12 ($8 for students and seniors) at the school of music general office (MacLaurin B102, 721-7903) or from the McPherson Theatre (386-6121).

Governor General prize winning writers Lorna Crozier and Joan MacLeod are among the UVic faculty and grads reading selections of their work in "The Writes of Spring," a benefit for the Victoria READ Society. Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Eden Robinson and Bill Valgardson, who have all been nominated for Canada's top literary awards, and Derk Wynand, a founding member of UVic's writing department, will also add their voices at the Belfry Theatre on April 2 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 from the Belfry box office (385-6815).

UVic Alumni are invited to enjoy Caribbean cuisine while wandering through the tropical Crystal Garden Conservation Centre on April 3 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are free but space is limited to alumni members and one guest. Contact the Alumni Affairs office at 721-6000, email at alumni@uvic.ca or book tickets on-line at alumni.uvic.ca.

Canada's former foreign affairs minister Dr. Lloyd Axworthy will deliver the President's Distinguished Lecture "Canada's Role on the World Stage" on April 4 at 8 p.m. in the Fraser Building, room 159. Axworthy is currently the director of the Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues at UBC.

In just a decade, UVic's faculty of business has become one of the best small size business schools in Canada. Join the 10th anniversary celebrations on April 5 at a luncheon and a series of seminars on campus from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the evening, celebrations continue with the Annual Commerce Students' Society Business Banquet. For information or registration for the afternoon events check the faculty website at www.business.uvic.ca or call 472-4139. For dinner tickets contact Lynn Newman at lnewman@uvic.ca.

The Big Band Benefit Concert wraps up the festival on April 6 at 8 p.m. in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium. UVic's Big Band and the talented young jazz musicians from Esquimalt, Oak Bay and Belmont high schools will jam onstage. Tickets are $20 at the McPherson box office (386-6121) and include a champagne reception at intermission. Proceeds from this benefit performance will support music education in Victoria schools.

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