The Rotary Centre for the Arts is pleased to announce that $124,500 (net of expenses) was raised through the combined proceeds from Homes for the Holidays and Evergreen. Proceeds raised at Evergreen are used to fund Youth Arts Education Programs and Homes for the Holidays assists with Community Programs at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

We would like to thank all of the generous sponsors, supporters and volunteers who made the events such a success. With their kind support, the Rotary Centre for the Arts is able to offer quality programming at little or no cost to the public and expand upon the programs and services available to all ages in the community.

A detailed listing of our supporters and a photo gallery of Homes for the Holidays and Evergreen will be available online on December 15th and can be viewed by visiting www.RotaryCentrefortheArts.com. Please take note of the businesses and individuals making a difference in our community and support them should the opportunity arise.

Join us at the Rotary Centre for the Arts on Saturday, December 6th from 1:00-3:00pm for a special one-day holiday sale event! An assortment of designer holiday decor along with unique holiday items will be available for purchase!

Don't miss your chance to take home these one-of-a-kind holiday gift items, many of which were featured in this year's Homes for the Holidays event! So, grab a friend and come down to the RCA for some great deals on our 2008 holiday inventory!

Come celebrate the wonderful diversity of the arts with all of the professional artists and artisans at the Rotary Centre for the Arts at the First Thursdays Art Crawl on December 4th from 4:00-7:00pm. The event is free to attend and all ages are welcome!

Guest artist Tina Siddiqui will be joining the resident artists for the event. With over 20 years of experience as an exhibiting artist and an art instructor, Tina's work features a variety of media including pastels, mixed media, water colours, acrylics, collage and charcoal.

The Ryan Grifone Combo will be performing for the event from 5:00-7:00pm in the Atrium. Join all of the RCA resident artists for the First Thursdays Art Crawl and enjoy an evening of art and music at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

Resident artist Julia Trops will exhibit "The Eclectic Mix" through December 1 to 31, 2008 at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. "The Eclectic Mix" includes oil paintings and charcoal drawings in the Galleria, a process of sculpture displays in the display cases, and large abstract charcoal drawings upstairs in the Mezzanine.

The works on display were created by Julia within the past year and are all based on the exploration of the female figure, both as nudes and as dancers. The show is free to attend and all of the works are available for purchase.

The public is also welcome to come and meet Julia in Studio 113 at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. She is available Monday to Friday from 10 to about 2 pm, or by appointment at (250) 215-0079. To learn more about Julia please visit www.juliatrops.com.

Come meet Janice, Mal, Cherie, Julia, Bonnie and the Kelowna Sculptor's Network Society: a select group of resident artists from the Rotary Centre for the Arts. These are the artists who have joined together to form a Salon des Refusés.

The Salon is a focused day of accessibility to their works in the Atrium at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Salon des Refusés will be held on Saturday, December 13 from 10:00am-4:00pm. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Tickets for your chance to win a Hailun 151 Player Grand Piano - kindly provided by Moir Pianos - are only available for purchase until Thursday, December 18th.

Don't miss your chance to win this beautiful Player Grand Piano, valued at over $20,000. With the purchase of each ticket, you can help to support Youth Arts Education Programming at the Rotary Centre for the Arts!

The draw date and winner announcement will take place on December 18th, 2008 at 9pm in the Atrium at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. The next time you visit the Rotary Centre for the Arts, purchase your raffle tickets for a chance to win!

December is turning out to be a very busy month for resident artist Cherie Hanson. As a local and international artist, Cherie has exhibited her artwork in juried shows worldwide. One of Cherie's recent accomplishments includes exhibiting abroad at the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art.

With over 800 artists in the exhibition, Cherie left Florence with a certificate of recognition titled "Beyond the Walls" and has been invited back for a one woman show at the Grand Hotel, Florence and for a show in Vienna, Austria in the coming year.

Throughout December Cherie has a variety of local exhibitions including a one woman show at the Unitarian Fellowship located at 1310 Bertram Street and has a piece on display at the Kelowna Art Gallery Members Exhibition titled "Interplay between Self and Form."

In addition, five of Cherie's new works have been juried into the Energy Gallery out of Toronto and four other works have been juried into the Trevisan "Traces of Memory" exhibition in Ferrar, Italy.

When Cherie's not busy working on her art, she can be found teaching classes in poetry, photography, creative writing and digital photographic art upstairs in Studio 205 at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

Through December Cherie will be offering a course focused on scrapbooking called A Gift of Yourself: Creating a Chapbook as a Heritage Item. To learn more about Cherie Hanson and for times and dates on her upcoming shows please visit www.cheriehanson.com.

Local photographer Allison Pickering will be launching her second book, Beyond the Walls, on December 12th from 7:00-9:00pm at the Alternator Gallery. She has been behind the Walls of Ajijic Mexico with her camera for the past 2 years and her new book features hundreds of spectacular photographs.

Beyond the Walls lavishly illustrates the interiors and outdoor living spaces of many Ajijic lakeside homes. Handmade elements such as textiles, metalwork, murals, art, sculpture and other ornamentation combine with the lively Mexican colour sense to create warm and enticing places to live.

All profits will go to the Lakeside School for the Deaf and children with special needs and provide for costs such as hearing aids, guidance for parents of deaf babies and children, audiologists, speech therapists, psychologists, meals, teaching aids, supplies, transportation and medical treatments.

The book is written in both English and Spanish and translated by Dr Bernard Schulz-Cruz, Associate Professor of Spanish at UBC Okanagan.

Join Allison Pickering at the Alternator Gallery for refreshments and contemporary art and assist this very worthy benefit. For further information please call the Alternator Gallery at (250) 868-2298.