Changes at the top for Penticton & District Community Arts Council

To many, Bethany Handfield is the key ingredient at the Penticton & District Community Arts Council. Officially known as its "administrator," Handfield is not only the face of the organization, which is now in its 63rd year of advocating for arts and artists throughout Penticton, she's also its main idea person, its media liaison and so much more.

During her run, she's restructured PDCAC events into the "Arts Matter Program," reorganized artist tenancies at the Leir House PDCAC headquarters, increased incoming funding on a number of levels, and expanded PDCAC partnerships with local projects an events.

And that's just the big stuff.

Yet even with all those responsibilities, she somehow remains calm under fire. PentictonNow has had numerous dealings with Handfield over the years, and has enjoyed every one.

But now her reign has come to an end. She's moving on to other opportunities, and the PDCAC is hoping folks who know her will "take a moment to thank her for all the incredible work she's done for the community and wish her the very best in her future endeavours."

But at the same time it's introducing two new people into the mix.

One is Haley Regan, who's coming aboard as the "Outreach and Fundraising Coordinator." PentictonNow knows Regan not only as an artist, but as one of the primary drivers and certainly the new public face and next executive director of the Four Seasons Cultural Society, the organization that runs the just-moved-to-the-SOEC Pow Wow Between the Lakes.

"I'm a multidisciplinary artist who focuses mainly on traditional materials, textiles, beadwork, and painting," said Regan in a statement. "Most recently, my experience working within the Penticton Indian Band community as an Indigenous fine arts workshop facilitator, and as a key part of the Four Seasons Cultural Society has broadened my knowledge on interacting with people of all different ages, backgrounds, and skill levels.

"These qualities of knowledge sharing, working together, representing and participating in community, arts, and culture is what I embody every day and what I can bring to the PDCAC."

Also joining the team is new "managing director" Tristan Boisvert.

Born of French and English settler ancestry in the Lower Similkameen, Boisvert spent 13 years abroad, working and volunteering for a variety of art organizations in global art hotspots such as Paris, London and Berlin.

A film photographer, poet, writer and performance artist, their work has been published internationally and recognized by people like Jordal Abel and Margaret Atwood.

A member and advocate of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, Boisvert has also served on the boards of the South Okanagan Similkameen Pride Society, the Similkameen Country Chamber of Commerce and the Similkameen Recreation Commission, and is currently a director with the newly-formed lnclusion Committee in Keremeos.

PentictonNow knows Boisvert from several conversations and a headline spot at a Dream Café Pride Month kick-off event in 2022.

There, Boisvert draped themself in long strips of fabric and assumed the role "Poettris," a gender-less, race-less, identity-less being. They performed a dramatic self-penned piece called "Land Acknowledgement" that brought the house down.

We look forward to what these two progressive thinkers will bring to the PDCAC.