Last week, from July 9 - 13, VanArts welcomed our annual guest speaker & founding advisory board member Bill Matthews, retired Manager of Artists' Development at Walt Disney Animation Studios.  We started the week with our traditional Q&A session with senior animation instructor Charles Phillips about his career at Disney, NASA and Sheridan College.  The rest of the week, Bill met with animation students one-on-one to offer career advice and feedback on their work.

Bill Matthews has been a guest instructor and visiting industry professional at VanArts since 1996. He is one of the founding instructors and directors of the Sheridan College Animation Program and is recently retired as Manager of Artist Development and ongoing consultant for Walt Disney Feature Animation. Bill worked on effects animation for Disney's Sleeping Beauty and for NASA, and has been writing traditional animation curricula for public schools and colleges for over thirty years.

Thanks Bill for another enjoyable visit, and for your continued support of our staff & students over the years! 

(Photos by Reem Abdel-Jabbar)

VanArts Acting for Film & Television Graduate Everett Shea is currently on stage in a local production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, running until July 28 at Coast Capital Playhouse in White Rock.  The stage production is directed by Wendy Bollard, who also teaches in our full-time Acting for Film & Television program.

Of Everett's performance in the role of Christopher Wren, reviewer Alex Browne for Peace Arch News says, "Shea's performance as Wren is quite delightful, easily winning over the audience with Christopher's delicate sensibilities, ardent aestheticism and macabre sense of humour – as well as revealing his underlying agitation – without ever resorting to caricature."

Read the full review here >>

Director Wendy Bollard is a singer, actor, producer and director with over 25 years of vocal experience. After graduating from Anthony Holland's Vancouver Film and Theatre School she moved to England where she studied at The Actor's Centre in London and performed at various venues throughout London and Dublin. As a trained singer with a critically-acclaimed jazz CD, Wendy has performed at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, the West Coast Music Festival, and was the featured vocalist with the Dal Richard's Orchestra. Wendy sits on the Culture Committee for the City of White Rock, is a board member for Peninsula Productions and recently started her own production company 16th Ave Productions.