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Wednesday, January 2, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE

Taking the plunge A record 96 participants plunged into the icy water of Ness Lake during the 18th annual Ness Lake Bible Camp Polar Bear Dip on Tuesday. The event raised $10,981 for the Camper Sponsorship Fund, which provides financial support to help needy children to attend the camp. For more photos, see page 5.

YEAR IN REVIEW

2018 was a stellar year in local arts, entertainment Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

he city’s arts, entertainment and culture scenes were alive and bustling this past year. In many ways, new records and benchmarks were set. Some were ephemeral moments like Cirque du Soleil performing their innovative acrobatic skating show Crystal, comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Russell Peters coming to town and music spectacles from country star Brett Kissel to pop/hiphop sisters Dani & Lizzy to The Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir to opera star Kathleen Morrison to southern rocker John Mellencamp to metal headliners Battlecross to Hedley on the cusp of the sexual assault allegations against their lead singer. Other moments included spoken word superstar Shane Koyczan to standup filmmaker Kevin Smith broadcasting the podcast Fatman Beyond with co-host Marc Bernardin live from Northern FanCon. We lived in interesting 2018 times. These are some of the highlights that made the headlines in this year of floods and droughts, fire and snow, and a never-ending stream of local and imported infotainment. Topping the list was the enormously successful year had by The Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre. In 2018, they became the headquarters for the Symbiosis initiative that brought (and continues to bring) together a plethora of stakeholders in the STEAM universe – the various fields of study in the professions of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.

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LOCAL HOROSCOPE NEWS OPINION A&E

CITIZEN FILE PHOTO

Cirque du Soleil Crystal performers rehearse on April 25, 2018, ahead of the opening of the show at CN Centre. The Canadian Association of Science Centres (CASC) held its national convention in Prince George, centred at The Exploration Place. Staff of the museum, plus a number of other local people and places, were spotlighted for the science presentation industry of Canada. The conference theme was Lhulh’Uts’Ut’En (pronounced “Lull uts soo tan”), a Dakelh phrase meaning “Working Together.” Staff there held a usually-sold-out Adult Speaker Series, a monthly town hall meeting for science, starring some of the area’s

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COMICS CROSSWORD SPORTS CLASSIFIEDS

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most interesting minds talking about their most prized personal projects. All this slingshotting came out of the last month of 2017 when The Exploration Place won a Governor General’s History Award For Excellence In Community Programming for the opening of the museum’s permanent gallery named Hodul’eh-a: A Place of Learning. This in-house display tells the story and archives the physical artifacts of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and increasingly contextualizes the region’s ages-old Aboriginal foundations.

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The Prince George Symphony Orchestra also made headlines for a number of reasons. For one, it was the first year under the artistic directorship and conductor’s baton of resident maestro Michael Hall, who unfurled a classy program of events that included teen guitar phenom Xu Kun “Alan” Liu; prodigal P.G. music sons Karl and Joel Stobbe; a Canadian folk mashup by Ken Lavigne, Tiller’s Folly and Diyet working together; and many more. The PGSO also made headlines for their financial situation. In one of the rarest of instances, in relation to Canadian not-forprofit orchestra organizations, the fiscal discussion was about how spry and vigorous the society’s ledger was. The PGSO board went before city council not to ask for a loan or a loan extension, as had been done multiple times in the past, but instead to give them a cheque. The organization paid in full, several years ahead of schedule, the final $17,733.33 of the $50,000 extended them by city hall in 2005. “In two years the Prince George Symphony Orchestra has gone from an accumulated deficit of $131,000 to being in the black,” said board president Diane Rogers. Meanwhile, Theatre Northwest broke new ground in its 25th anniversary year. One of the professional theatre company’s most notable triumphs was the all original play Hedda Noir. This world premiere performance was a modern adaptation of the classic Henrik Ibsen script Hedda Gabler. Hedda Noir was penned by TNW’s artistic director Jack Grinhaus who wrote the play for his wife, Lauren Brotman, who won critical raves for her starring portrayal of the troubled antagonist character. — see ‘NIAC WILL BE, page 3

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