Vexed questions
Patrick Pennefather ___|
Kimberly Tuson __|
boca del lupo _|

Perplexing prospects
Carol Sawyer ______|
Daelik ____|
Attila Clemann ___|
David Gram __|
Stacey Horton _|

Confounding choices
Rachel Ditor ___|
Chris Miller __|
Maiko Bae Yamamoto _|

Uplifting possibilities
Alexandra Diebel ___|
Colin MacDonald __|
Guy Neufeld _|

Associated notions
Darren Copeland _____|
Patrick Keating ____|
Ruth McIntosh ___|
Andreas Kahre __|
Chris Gerrard-Pinker _|

advice

what we do

acknowledgements

_____________________

editorial

Imagine yourself the new kid at the playground watching the big kids play. You really want to ask to join in, but you kinda want to be invited, too. Without knowing all the rules to the game, you have to screw up your courage and dive in. The temptation is to show what you can do-to prove your worth by being the fastest, the strongest, the brightest. Some players, impressed by your energy, pass you the ball (you might screw up the play, but they still pat you on the back.) Others, feeling threatened by your newness, make you sit on the bench to watch and learn. But if you really love the game, you'll do whatever it takes: strut your stuff, jump through hoops-anything to keep on playing. Because eventually, you know the other players will get tired and the game must go on.

This issue of transmissions focuses on emerging performing artists in Vancouver. "Emerging" artists... what the hell does that mean? Mostly, it means that you are not a recognised professional, you do not have a body of work that has been seen by your peers and the press, you do not have an Equity card, you do not get paid for your work... You are not this, you are not that. But what are you?

Interviewing a spectrum of Vancouver-based emerging artists made it clear to us that there is no singular answer. We spoke to artists from several disciplines in the performing arts, all either under 30 years old or within 5 years of having finished post-secondary training. We asked them what was helping and hindering their art practice. The multitude of (sometimes contradictory) responses we received made us realise there is no one path, no universal experience of emerging. But we did find that we are all grappling with the same questions. We have used this swarm of new questions to organise the material, to render readable the tangle of voices.

This issue has provided opportunity for us to fulfil part of transmissions' intent: to give profile and voice to artists who might otherwise remain invisible and silent. All the photographs in this issue are the work of Jesse Toso, an emerging visual artist and founder of Urban Arts Club, a work-in-progress place for youth. Thanks go out to Janet Berman and Chapelle Jaffe for helping us track down some of our interviewees. Thanks also to our proof-readers, Lainé Slater, Sima Elizabeth Shefrin and Ruth McIntosh.

Do not be afraid to read on. This issue is not about the young and the restless. There is no slick mob of young guns ready to shoot it out in front of the Queen Elizabeth. But it would be naïve to say that there are no dissatisfactions. Which brings us to another purpose of transmissions: to provoke discussion. Hopefully this dialogue will help to narrow the gap between the established and emerging communities.

Letters to the editor - email: transmissions@rumble.org

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