Arts Revelstoke is preparing for summer, calling all performers to submit applications for REVY.Live Outside now until Feb. 20. Providing free live music for Revelstoke throughout July and August, REVY.Live Outside takes advantage of Revelstoke’s location between Calgary and Vancouver to offer a convenient venue for touring artists to perform, as well as support for local bands.
“We can give [local musicians] the opportunity to perform in their local venue and also get paid for it,” Nora Hughes, Arts Revelstoke’s General Manager told Revelstoke Mountaineer.
When selecting the lineup, Hughes explained Arts Revelstoke’s goal is to provide the town with as many unique experiences as possible.
“Our vision for Arts Revelstoke is to be introducing new experiences, new artists, new genres to our community,” Hughes said. “We’re trying to expand Revelstoke residents’ perception of arts and culture.”
That means working to create a space for women-led and Indigenous-led bands, and keep an eye out for genres that don’t frequently play in Revelstoke throughout the year.
“At the end of the day, we really want to give our community the best series of music that we can possibly offer them, while introducing and creating space for something that they may not have seen before.”
The series runs free throughout the summer, fulfilling another goal Arts Revelstoke has for Revy.Live Outside and in general: Providing art and performance opportunities for as many Revelstoke residents as possible, with few barriers.
“It’s such a blessing to our community,” Hughes said. “All the concerts are free for our community, all the artists get paid.”
Performers also receive boarding in Revelstoke and a meal at one of the local restaurants.
“We’re really happy to be able to offer artists a stay in our community and to also eat and explore the community a little bit.”
That opportunity is due in part to the organizations partnered with Arts Revelstoke, which help put on the concert series, including Taco Club, Paramjit’s Kitchen, Chubby Funsters, Regent Hotel and more. The collaboration of local businesses, Tourism Revelstoke and others help the non-profit provide musicians with pay and an opportunity to experience Revelstoke.
“We get comments like, ‘what a cool thing to have. I wish I lived here,’ and ‘I love this community,’” Hughes said when talking about the results of an audience member survey last year. Of the audience members polled, 47 per cent were local to Revelstoke and 53 per cent were visitors. Hughes noted that a question proposed by Tourism Revelstoke showed the impact Revy.Live Outside had on visitors’ plans.
“A lot of people were staying for one to three nights as opposed to just stopping in.”
Performer applications for REVY.Live Outside are open until Feb. 20 online. A schedule of performers and locations will be shared by Arts Revelstoke and the concert series will kick off this July.
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