Raya
The
largest Ukrainian street festival in North America will be returning once
again to Toronto's Bloor West Village. The New Pathway's Petro Lopata recently
met with Raya Shadursky, general manager of the Bloor West Village Ukrainain
Festival. Raya dispels some confusion regarding the dates, reveals some
of this year's performers and explains some of what goes into producing
such a large-scale event. There
is some controversy about the date of the festival. Would you care to explain
the change from September to an August date? We
had met with the local Business Improvement Association and they had some
concerns about closing down the street in September. As well we were limited
to police services, city permits and the use of High Park for the main
parade. We felt it was important to work with the local BIA and also to
keep good relations with the city and the police. It’s also the same weekend
as the [Ukrainian] celebrations in Oakville which allows us to [share]
entertainers and allows people to have an additional day [to] experience
Ukrainian culture in another avenue. We feel that we tried to make everybody
happy and as well ourselves. Also there’s the issue of the entertainers
- dance groups and choirs. It allows them to entertain a larger audience
in a shorter period of time. So that’s the main rationale of why we had
to move the date. We are giving people plenty of notice [so] that maybe
they can adjust their schedules. What
can people expect to see on the street this year? The
usual full-fledged parade [is] going to start at High Park. All the pavilions,
the community partners are going to have interactive events going on for
children. We now have a coordinator of all children’s events. We’re hoping
to place the Children’s Midway at the east end. We will have more food
vendors on the street. There are more people calling us then we eever anticipated. Last
year we had an Art Crawl where we had different artists displayed in businesses.
This year there is a group that has gotten together who want to display
[their work] right on the street. Vera Kolos is heading up that committee. What
about main stage entertainment? We
are concentrating on primarily Ukrainian entertainment on the street. We
know we had some concerns from people last year. We haven’t confirmed who
[the] main act will be from Ukraine but I think once we have that confirmation
people will be pleasantly surprised. Can
you reveal any names? Right
now we’re speaking with amazing tsymbaly player Orest Sushko, who won an
Emmy for sound production [and] John Stech, jazz-pianist. We have confirmed
Suzie Vinnik, an R&B singer, and of course our dance groups [and] choirs.
I can tell you that Vasyl Popadiuk has confirmed his presence. What
changes will be made to the structure of the street this year? We
are going to attempt to move our main stage to Jane Street because the
street is wider at Jane. It [also] alleviates some of the pressure in the
businesses that are around the stage area. We are working with the Ukrainian
Architects [Association] to help redesign the street so that we make the
best use of the space we have. They’re helping us “streetscape” it, as
they call it. Wiktor Moskaliuk, Andrew Martschenko, Walter Maceluch, those
three [individuals] are key right now. What they’re doing is they’re trying
to ensure that there is a nice flow of people from one end [of the street]
to the other. Who
are the community partners supporting the festival this year? We
continue with our community partner St. Joseph’s General Hospital as well
[as] the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre, St. Vladimir Institute and St.
Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. What
kind of support are you getting from outside the Ukrainian community? Last
year was the first year we ever applied for grants outside the Ukrainian
community and we were very happy with the support we got. We’ve gone back
to them and every indication is that support will continue, plus we’re
reaching into other divisions of government [for] additional support. I
think we’re very lucky in that attendance boomed last year because it legitimized
the festival and the fact that CFRB came on the street to [further] legitimize
it. So it just gave some more impetus to go outside to seek support. What
volunteering opportunities do you have available? The
volunteers that we need the most are people who will be there on the street
during the festival. We need assistance in the information area, selling
souvenirs, assisting on the entertainment stage [and] assisting in some
of the pavilions. We’re
still looking for volunteers to help because this is a major, major project.
We work really hard about four months before the festival and a month after.
Those who volunteered [before] are continuing to volunteer this year which
is a good signal to us that it was an enjoyable experience for them and
that they want to stay involved with us. Let’s
talk a little about how you fit in with some of the other festivals in
North America. Is there talk about joining forces and creating a superstructure
to coordinate activities and maybe share resources? We’re
starting to talk more and more, particularly [with] the Montreal Festival
and the Dauphin Festival and there is good dialogue. We’re hoping to share
entertainment that comes into the country, particularly [entertainment]
from Ukraine. We share our expertise; we give advice to one another. It
would be great at some point to really coordinate all our efforts. Expand
the exposure. I’m [also] going to be meeting with representatives from
the several other Toronto street festivals and we’re looking at sharing
some of our expertise and helping one another. Prepared
with assisatnce from Michael
Szubelak