Surrey Fusion Festival Returns at Holland Park

The largest and most diverse festival in Western Canada returns in its 15th year. We celebrated and enjoyed a weekend of multicultural understanding and experiencing diversity in food, culture, live music, and entertainment.

British Columbians and the residents of Surrey once again gathered at Holland park after two years after the pandemic. It's the largest crowd since it started in 2008, perhaps due to the desire of the people to reunite and bring back a more lively scene where everyone can enjoy a wide variety of cultural offerings from different countries in the world.

This year's Surrey Fusion Festival theme is CommUNITY. A single word that describes how the world must be in difficult times where global health threats have affected us to live, interact and socialize.

From the Latin countries of Bolivia, Argentina, and Columbia. Asian countries like India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. African countries like Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. European countries like Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Southwestern Pacific like Tonga and Fiji. And the Caribbean countries like Barbados and the Cayman Islands. These are some of the 40 pavilions that showcased their food, culture, arts, music, and dance.

The pandemic seems over as the crowd cheers for fun and a manic vibe. The delicious authentic food, arts, dance, and music draw people to taste and experience world cultures in one venue.

Other features include a wellness garden where people can learn and experience yoga and meditation in Indigenous Village to learn about their culture through traditional cultural sharing, Global beer and wine tasting to sip some cold beverages from around the world and A cultural cooking arena for a showdown in a cooking competition. Also, there are stages where world-class performers share their talents with the crowd.

It was a great experience to have celebrated the Surrey Fusion Festival for the first time, and I would be glad to make it a yearly event to celebrate and have fun. Community is about the spirit of camaraderie that builds bridges for multicultural understanding and inclusivity. We unite to bring peace, love, and compassion to make our world a better place to live in and for the next generations to preserve and enrich their own culture for the world to see and embrace.

©️ 2022 Del Cusay

White Rock Gallery: Beyond the Frame

To appreciate art is about understanding the most profound emotion, its meaningful realization, and validation of purpose and intention.

That's the uplifting lesson I learned from a visit to an art gallery in White Rock, British Columbia. It's a city by the sea where arts, history, and culture thrive amidst the test of time.

An art gallery may be different from the usual place to visit in the present times. It may not be welcoming but intimidating to others interested in or appreciate fine arts.

Back in my home country, the Philippines, I've learned to admire and appreciate works of art and masterpieces in the Cultural Center since 2012. Since then, I've carried the same passion and admiration whenever I visit another country or place with high regard for culture and the arts.

In Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, every city has a public art gallery open to everyone, and White Rock Gallery is one of the most beautiful places to be. It was my first ever Art Gallery experience in Canada and a meaningful experience.

Nowadays, people choose modern forms of entertainment and have yet to discover and learn about the joys of visiting an art gallery or exhibit. However, fine artists and art enthusiasts have devoted their time, resources, and money to making art more relevant in today's generation.

What makes art galleries intimidating to others is that we need to appreciate and decode their meaning from the artists' perspective or point of view. We couldn't interpret abstract paintings or even find meaning in realistic images.

With our smartphones, we can take a raw picture of a place, edit it, and call it art. It's the most accessible form of art we can do. However, fine art demands time, energy, emotion, and soul to create a more valuable masterpiece, so paintings and sculptures are expensive. 

We tend to ignore or snub expensive things because we can't afford them. Like fine arts, some wouldn't appreciate its value because they can't relate to and find meaning in a painting. But to afford it isn't just about owning it. It's also about enriching our life experience and worth as human beings just by visiting an art gallery, even once in a lifetime.

Art is part of our culture, and a deep appreciation and admiration give us a particular connection with our community. Art evokes various emotions depending on what the artists want us to feel. It makes us joyful, sorrowful, awed, and puzzled. It moves us, touches our souls, and makes us love at first sight.

As I viewed the gallery, some paintings attracted my attention, drew me closer to scrutinizing, and finally gave meaning to them. It gave me happiness and a sense of belonging to a community of artistic people who have the desire for understanding, passion, and motivation for self-expression.

©️  2022 Del Cusay