Zooislander 2021

Zooislander is back in 2021 and we are going digital! The genius team behind the yearly event are looking for creative Penderites to photograph or video their most beautiful, outrageous or creative outfits to be featured in the online Zooislander fashion show! This year we are drawing on the theme “Inside Out” and what that might mean to you. Dressing for staying in, outfits inspired by inner thoughts or even letting out your inner diva! Whatever you are interested in creating we want to see it. There are no limitations to what you create or how you style or record it, an iphone can capture your creativity. We ask that submissions be ready by the last week of March and that video’s be no longer than 5 minutes. Stay tuned for more submission details!

To spark your digital creativity event organizers Madelin and Josephine took to the beach to demonstrate the idea that a short series of photographs can make a beautiful impression! Please follow the Zooislander Facebook page for more examples and information on submissions! https://www.facebook.com/ZOOiSLANDER/

Photo Credit: Roxanne

Magic Lake Lantern Festival Plans 2020

December Update Part 2

While New Year’s Eve will come and go this year without our typical celebrations including the annual Magic Lake Lantern Festival we have some exciting plans that are still to come. If you read below you will see that we have had ever shifting plans for the festival and have been working through a fine balance of maintaining the safety of our fantastic community but still trying to find avenues for expression of local artists. While there is yet no real shift in our situation, but we have high hopes for the next couple of months and in the meantime we are continuously adapting what can be offered. This year has been a true challenge for all who organize events and artistic endeavors that attempt to bring people together. It has been a great lesson in perseverance, adaptability and our creativity to do the most with what we are given any specific day. With this in mind, I’m happy to announce that we’re intending to produce a film version of the festival to be shown in the spring along with lanterns created by the public. We hope it can be an event to usher in a more optimistic year ahead. Exact details of time, and place to be determined.

December Update

As the season changes and safety protocols and regulations change so do our plans for the 2020 Magic Lake Lantern Festival. It has been a struggle to look at ways of celebrating the new year and retaining some aspects of our annual festival, but delivering it in a safe way that will work with any restrictions we are handed. We are planning on creating a video of some of the most beautiful performances and integrating local musicians into the sound track. While the video will not be finished by New Years eve we plan to have a spring release of the winter performances digitally and in person if regulations permit.

We also plan to have take away kits available for Lantern Making! We will have contactless pickup for kits to make balloon lanterns, stars, boxes, or more complex ideas upon request. More details to come on this soon but please contact us via the webform if you have questions.

We also plan to have an interactive wishing tree sculpture located by the Community Hall. We invite any islanders to stop in and hang a dream or a wish from the branches for the new year. Supplies to be provided.

November Update:

This season is looking very different than past years leading up to our annual festival. However, we have not given up on bringing the community together in a safe way for a magical New Year’s Eve celebration at Magic Lake. We are taking the Lantern Festival digital and socially distanced!  As conditions change so are our plans for the festival but preliminary ideas around the event will bring:

• A video performance both online and displayed live at the lake
• Lantern kits to take away and bookable space to create in a socially distanced environment
• Space to display lanterns at the site
• Live music performances and hot beverages on New Year’s Eve

Protocols for live events will involve:

• Mandatory masks and social distancing
• Sign in and out for contact tracing and for control of numbers

Summer Camps 2020

Summer 2020 brought about many changes to the way we think of teaching the performing arts but we felt it was able to create a unique opportunity. This season’s theatre camps were transformed into acting for the screen. Programs were offered for two age ranges 6-11 and 12-16+, each of which would create a film based on a well known story.

The younger group took on their own version of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. They wrote their own version of the story including a few new characters and dreamt up a land where wild creatures rule the land, partying from day to night with endless popcorn and cupcakes. 

Our older group made a beautiful adaptation of Lewis  Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. They wrote the script, designed the costumes, props and puppets; and of course acted in the film. The whole thing was magically captured and edited by the wonderful Kenta Kikuchi and can we watched below! Please enjoy a little snippet of a beautiful week and some behind the scenes photos of our amazing cast and crew!