Downtown Kingston

The Blue Man Group is Coming to Kingston! A Q&A with the Captain

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The Blue Man Group is coming to Kingston! The trio will be performing at the Leon’s Centre on March 21! The group’s Captain, Barney Haas, took a few minutes to answer some questions about the show via email. Read below to learn more about what to expect from their performance! And if you want a chance to win tickets, check out my Facebook or Instagram page to enter to win. 

Keep up with Kingston: How did you start performing for the Blue Man group? What made you want to tour with the group?
Barney Haas: Always having been a drummer, I was fascinated by the show and so I auditioned back in 2012. A series of further auditions finally led to finding myself in the training process in New York, and that’s where the adventure begun. Now it’s been 6 years and the show has taken us all around the globe. Continue reading →

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Venture into Kingston’s Brand New Co-Working Space

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Co-working spaces are becoming more and more common as more people decide to embrace their entrepreneurial spirits and launch small businesses. These spaces fill a niche, by providing a place that offers more than a home office can as well as a community of like-minded people.

There is a new co-working space in Kingston, Venture Club, offering that and more. The new space on the corner of Queen Street and Barrie offers reception service, printing services, meeting rooms, fast internet in full furnished spaces to those looking to rent an office space. Continue reading →

Q&A: Don Maynard on his upcoming Art Installation at the Skeleton Park Arts Festival

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Have you heard? The Skeleton Park Arts Festival   is kicking off on June 20-24! This festival does a beautiful job at sharing and displaying the work of Kingston’s most talented artists and brings the community together for great food and music. A very exciting installation being featured is by Don Maynard called the Skeye Project. It will feature the work of local filmmakers on a floating movie screen held up by helium balloons. Oh the whimsy! Something you should be sure to check out. Don has answered a few questions via email about his work and upcoming show (June 22 – 9 pm in Friendship Park) below. Read on to learn more.

Keep up with Kingston: Please share a bit of your background in creative projects like the Skeye Project?
Don Maynard: It was ten years ago in 2007 in Kingston that I did a similar project, Tidal Mass at the NGB studios, which involved a large public installation in collaboration with about 13 musicians. NGB Studios, Kingston. There were 1,850 used fluorescent light bulbs, steel, 250 compact fluorescent light bulbs, steel rods and it was 29″ x 32′ x 54′.

Continue reading →

#DKShopfest Feature: Fancy That/Roundstone Owner Maria Cronk

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If you’ve found yourself at the corner of Princess and King street in the past 20 years or so, you’ve likely stopped in to clothing stores Fancy That or Roundstone. These shops are a staple of Kingston’s downtown and where you’ll find great deals on June 16 as downtown Kingston celebrates DKShopfest. DKShopfest is a day dedicated to celebrating and supporting our locally owned shops while scoring great deals. I wanted to learn a little more about Fancy That owner, Maria Cronk. She was kind enough to answer a few questions via email. Read below to learn how Fancy That started and what Maria loves most about being a Kingston shop owner.

Keep up with Kingston: Please share how Fancy That started? How many years have you been open?

Maria Cronk: Fancy That Group started in 1974 by Inger Sparring (my mother) in Brockville, ON. We started as one small store in Brockville, ON and grew over the years. At one point we had nine stores across Eastern Ontario! Now, we have two stores in downtown Kingston (Fancy That & the Roundstone) and one store in Brockville (Limestone & Ivy). IN 1979, my brother, Dan, joined in the business, he runs our store in Brockville, and I joined in 1985 to run the Kingston stores.

We came to downtown Kingston in May 1985 with Fancy That. Continue reading →

Q&A: Kay Kenney on Movement Market’s Juvenis Festival Show

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The Juvenis Festival has kicked off in Kingston showcasing the work of some of our city’s most talented young artists! Kay Kenney of Movement Market/SERIES took a minute to answer questions via email about her company’s participation in the festival. This Thursday until Saturday, Movement Market/SERIES will be showing in the old American Apparel storefront on Princess. Read about the new dance platform and upcoming performance in the Q&A below.
Keep up with Kingston: Tell me a little about yourself and your dance background? 
Kay Kenney: I grew up in Kingston ontario. I’ve danced since the age of 4 and studied at the Kingston School of Dance in the old tett centre building. I grew up training in the classical Cecchetti ballet method where I received up to my Intermediate certificate. Over the years I was interested in branching out and began studying all types of methods, such as; jazz, hip-hop, latin, ballroom, musical theatre & contemporary dance, to prepare me for post-secondary training.
I am a 2012 graduate from the Professional Contemporary Dance 3 year diploma Programme at The School of Dance in Ottawa. Since graduation, I have been working as a company dancer for Social Growl Dance, under Artistic Direction of Riley Sims (Toronto) & a company dancer as part of Ottawa Dance Directive, under artistic direction of Yvonne Coutts. I have trained and worked with professionals all over Ontario and Quebec and will be headed to Berlin in June to create a new work for Social Growl Dance to premier in March 2019.

Continue reading →

Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal is coming to The Grand!

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balletsjazzdemontrealphoto5Kingston is in for a treat on April 12th! Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal will be performing at the Grand Theatre and you don’t want to miss this performance. The Grand’s Performing Arts Manager in Cultural Services Jayson Duggan shares why Kingston is so lucky to have BJM.

Can you tell me why you’re personally so excited to see their performance this year?
The  appearance of BJM on April 12th will be without a doubt a highlight of the 10th Anniversary Grand OnStage season. We have been fortunate to present many Canadian icons over the last eight months as part of our anniversary celebrations, and BJM is another outstanding example of the creative brilliance and extraordinary talent flourishing across Canada. I have had the opportunity to see this program performed by BJM and I am looking forward to the reaction and response from the Grand OnStage audience. It is definitely a show that should not to be missed! Continue reading →

Pay What You Want at The Grand Theatre

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I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the exciting events happening at The Grand Theatre this season, specifically within the dance program. Kingston is so lucky to have incredible dance companies travel here and share their talent. In order to make sure that Kingstonians take advantage — without the financial strain —  The City of Kingston is introducing Pay What You Want for next week’s 3,2,1 Dance! on February 15, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.  Continue reading →