Craig Spence, President Fed. of BC Writers in Studio

Craig Spence current president of the Federation of BC Writers joins us in studio. He talks about different services and initiatives the Federation offers in the wake of massive BC Arts cuts. Currently, Craig is working on a fiction work called Stained Glass. In this work, a church in Barkerville, BC needs new stained glass windows, but cannot afford them. Things get hairy when the town's prostitutes offer to pay for the windows. For more information about Craig visit his website here.

Craig also offers a unique stance on art, suggesting that artist organizations should do more to partner with corporations, and not rely solely on the government. He states that there is a place for business-minded people in arts to help manage organizations better; where sometimes artists themselves aren't the best managers. In addition, our guest criticizes superficial festivals the BC government has substituted for long term support of artists.

More info about Federation about BC Writers here. 

Click below to list to the show.

Poetry and Music with your hosts RC Weslowski & Mark Steinberg

Today's show featured recordings:

Shauntay Grant is a writer, spoken word performer, broadcast journalist and musician. She is Halifax's third Poet Laureate (2009/10), and she has shared her blend of poetry and music internationally at festivals and events. Read more: http://www.myspace.com/shauntaygrant#ixzz12aTZtUif

Kevin Fortnum has been part of the Toronto poetry scene for close to five years. He has featured at most local series and currently runs his own, She Rusty Sleep, in Hamilton. He recently released his first novel, Defamation of a Scoundrel.

Colleen Costello has been involved in music her whole life, playing and recording for the public since 1996, and touring Canada since 1999. The primary focus being writing and recording original music, performing live and touring. In 2003 she branched out into adapting music for the theatre environment, especially Children’s Theatre, having a special affinity for writing catchy and melodic tunes. Promoting her latest CD led to designing music for soundtracks and TV placement requests. 


Susan Cormier "is the Queen of Crows, a master of vivid and macabre poetry and performance. She pulls back the veil on violence, and the scars and bruises left when the darkness won’t stay inside."
~C.J. Leon, The East Vancouver Network of Love. Read more: http://www.myspace.com/queenofcrowsmusic#ixzz12aVHesPO

Lisa B (Lisa Baird^[1]) is a political spoken word poet based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Since 2001, she has performed spoken-word poetry at shows around B.C. and in Oregon. She describes herself as a queer woman and an incest and violence survivor.^[2]