It hasn’t been an easy ride for the Port Moody Arts Centre (PMAC) over the past year.
Last fall, the board booted out the Suite E Life Drawing Group over concerns with its rental fee. Its program manager left unexpectedly as did its communications manager.
And last month, citing financial pressures, it also got rid of its executive director and cut back the salary and hours of its three full-time staff. Its latest loss was program manager Stefani Klaric, who moved over to Coquitlam’s Mackin House Museum.
Still, despite the shakeups, PMAC’s two remaining full-time employees say they’ve received overwhelming support from the city and the community to carry on.
Besides the daily contact from outsiders and the recent attendance at Art 4 Life — its Culture Days bash on Oct. 1 — the proof, they say, is in the ticket sales for Girls Night Out, PMAC’s biggest fundraiser of the year that happens next Friday at the Inlet Galleria and Theatre.
“We’ve been blown away by the response,” gallery manager Janice Cotter said during an interview with operations manager Lois Sharpe last week at the St. Johns Street facility. “We’re having groups of friends order six or eight tickets at a time. We even have a woman organizing her birthday around it.”
About 85% of the tickets are now gone for the 12th annual event, Cotter said.
Sponsored in part by The Tri-City News — with new backing by PCT (the city’s largest industry) as well as Odlum Brown, Flavelle sawmill and Coldwell Banker Prestige realtor Lola Oduwole — Girls Night Out features pampering by local retailers as well as laughs from four female comedians.
Emceed again by Erica Sigurdson, who was named the funniest female comic at last year’s Winnipeg comedy festival and is a regular on CBC Radio’s The Debaters, Girls Night Out will also include performances by Katie Burrell and Sophie Buddle.
But the headliner is Katie-Ellen Humphries, a featured performer at the Just For Laughs Northwest Festival, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival and, most recently, at the Pemberton Music Fest.
Cotter and Sharpe said they hope to raise $10,000 from Girls Night Out — half from ticket sales and raffles with funding to be matched by its signature sponsor, Scotiabank.
Proceeds will go toward visual art, ceramics and music programs for students at PMAC, a change from last year when the money went into the Making It Work capital campaign.
Like last year, the event is divided in half: The first part will be pampering, appetizers and psychic readings plus some comedy; the intermission will involve pie tasting from Gabi & Jules while the second half of the show, from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m., will be Humphries’ act.
But unlike last year, which had a Bollywood feel, there will be no theme. “We just want girls to come out and have lots of fun,” Sharpe said. “It’s really an event to relax and enjoy.”
“It’s that breather in between when school starts and Christmas,” Cotter added.
Tickets to Girls Night Out on Oct. 21 are $45, or $40 each for groups of six or more. Call PMAC at 604-931-2008 or visit pomoarts.ca/girlsnightout.
