The Editor,
On May 31, I had the privilege of MCing at Pecha Kucha Volume 3 Coquitlam. What an amazing night. I am bursting with pride that ArtsConnect has been able to bring this unique event to Coquitlam. Our presenters ranged from a documentary filmmaker to an Arctic traveller to a city of Coquitlam councillor who acted as a surrogate mother for a friend. The common thread among all nine of our speakers is a creative approach to life and a passion and fearlessness in exploring their interests.
Pecha Kucha Night (PKN) celebrates the artist in all of us and the stories shared by our presenters who live and/or work in our region are testament to the amazing cache of creative intelligence we have in our community.
PKN originated in Japan in 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration of creativity in all aspects, with PKN events happening in more than 400 cities worldwide. We were extremely fortunate that our application was accepted.
Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat," it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple concept: Present your story or project in 20 images times 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
This was our largest PKN to date and we are confident the event will grow. When the presentations were finished, the conversations continued and no one wanted to leave the theatre. ArtsConnect's next Pecha Kucha night has been scheduled for Monday, July 25. I encourage everyone in this region to come out and see what all the buzz is about.
Marianne LaRochelle,President, ArtsConnect
Editor's note: In addition to her volunteer position with ArtsConnect, Ms. LaRochelle is an advertising consultant with The Tri-City News.
