by Loni Taylor | Mar 27, 2024 | CKTZ News
KSAR is an ‘electrified’ folk band full of color, featuring space horses. Photo by Alex Gupana. Aaron Cockburn has finally made a dream come true, debuting his band ‘KSAR’ to the Vancouver Island region this year, after the pandemic delayed his vision. Cortes Island will be one of their first stops on the tour. Cockburn moved to Victoria in 2019 with a vision of a funky folk ensemble, only to have his plans delayed by the pandemic. He left the city during the shutdown, but returned with his dream intact and founded the band in 2021. Over the past two years, KSAR has taken due time to compose its ensemble and its sound. Casey Ryder was the first solid band mate Cockburn brought onto the project. Ryder originally hails from Quadra Island and he noted, “You allow for a lot of time for an original project to get off the ground and rehearsals and auditions…and it’s just unbelievable, so you have to really believe in the music and the musicians”. KSAR is currently beginning their first tour now and will land on Quadra Island April 26th, and Cortes Island April 27th. Willow, local Quadra Island band will open at 8pm at the Gorge Hall for the Cortes performance. Listen to the CKTZ News...
by Loni Taylor | Mar 26, 2024 | CKTZ News
Cortes Island School built a pollinator garden in the shape of a butterfly in collaboration with Friends of Cortes Island. Photo by Michael Datura. The Cortes Island School has created a new home for beneficial insects as part of a gaming grant with Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI). The environmental non-profit has worked with the school in the past to develop the two existing human food-producing gardens. The school’s principal, Michael Datura, explained how the funds from the gaming grant are outlined, “The mandate of the foci money is to also benefit other-than-human species at the school grounds.” Seeds for the garden are chosen based on flowers and plants that feed and house beneficial insects. The students will be involved in experimenting with starting seeds inside and outside, to determine best results. The garden is shaped like a butterfly to represent some of the future residents of the garden. The school is also welcoming spring with a public fair on Thursday April 11th from 1-3 pm, hosted by the Parents Advisory Committee (PAC). Listen to this CKTZ News...
by Loni Taylor | Mar 21, 2024 | CKTZ News
March 20, 2024 The Cortes Playschool is currently exploring funding options to expand into a year-round program. In the past, the childcare facility has always mimicked the school year, closing operations through the summer months. Offering a year round program would provide a stable source of childcare for working families that continue to work during the summer months, according to staff. Cora Moret is currently applying for funding to try to make the expansion happen. “We’re just carefully planning it so that we don’t disrupt the Playschool activity. So Playschool will stay consistent,” she said, describing the process. In 2022, the playschool successfully expanded its hours, days of operation, and range of ages it served. Moret hopes to continue expanding the hours available to provide full-time childcare Monday-Friday by September of this year. To hear more, listen to the CKTZ News...
by Loni Taylor | Mar 20, 2024 | CKTZ News
March 19, 2024 Principal Michael Datura is looking to the next curriculum for Cortes Island Academy (CIA) and says that climate and art will be a central focus for the school’s third year, the 2024-25 semester. “Climate and art as to the interface between the arts and climate change,” Datura added. Datura reflected on the past semester, which culminated with a showcase at the end of January, noting the biodiversity project, where students created local forage-guidebooks for things like edible berries, mushrooms, and lichens. Listen to the CKTZ News Update about...
by Loni Taylor | Mar 18, 2024 | CKTZ News
March 14, 2024 Tanya Krahn, local chocolatier, has been offering guidance through ceremonies with cacao for locals. Now she is collaborating with established local gatherings like Dance Temple and Kirtan. Within the ceremony, a circle of participants focuses on an intention, at a collaborative altar, and everyone drinks a cacao beverage. Krahn shares how her journey has evolved since Samhain. “It’s a beautiful combination… of ceremony and intention and then use the body in a form of celebration through dance…. I’ve also done a cacao in Kirtan evening, which is also very powerful because they combine the mantra, which means to vibrate the mind.” Krahn will be hosting a ceremony with cacao before the Dance Temple on March 22, marking the Spring Equinox. She noted that significant times in the calendar, like the Equinoxes, are especially effective moments for collective ceremony. To hear more, listen to the CKTZ News...
by Louis Belcourt | Mar 15, 2024 | CKTZ News
March 13, 2024 The Cortes Food Bank has released their annual report for 2023 over the weekend, which shows that it was a very successful year for the Cortes Island Food Bank, but also a highly challenging one. Over the final months of 2023, the Cortes Food Bank served an average of 80 clients per month, which is almost as many clients as in the whole of 2022: a 616 per cent increase year over year, according to the report. “We really ramped up promoting the food bank, and immediately we got a response of so many more people. And it was quite scary because we weren’t expecting that big of a rise,” says Filipe Figueira, coordinator and treasurer of the Cortes Food Bank. “The number of new clients needing help is increasing every single week – from every demographic,”Figueira added. Listen for more on the food bank’s year in...
