Victoria’s Art Battle, a hugely popular event in the city, is now back after an eight-month hiatus caused by the closure of the Victoria Events Centre (VEC).
Art Battle as a whole is actually an international organization that is now franchised in 80 cities worldwide, the Victoria chapter of Art Battle was launched at the VEC in 2014, and for some time after the venue’s closure, was without a home or an organizer.
The event has a group of six artists at a time create a unique piece within a 20 minute timeframe. Attendees of Art Battle then vote for their favourites before another six artists take to their easels.
Votes are cast once again, and the two artists with the most votes from each round then face off in a finale, with attendees once again voting for their favourite of the night.
In addition to casting votes, the audience of Art Battle is able to bid on the art created at the event in a silent auction format.
Being that Art Battle was one of former VEC general manager Christine Richardson’s favourite events to run, she took the endeavour to keep it going following the venue closure.
“I wanted to keep that community alive and bring it to a new space,” Richardson told Victoria Buzz.
In July, Art Battle Victoria came back from its hiatus at KWENCH, then Richardson put on another event in September at Downbeat.
She says both of these 200 capacity rooms were sold out, so she had to seek a bigger space and landed on Capital Ballroom which will expand Art Battle’s capacity three-fold.
The first Art Battle to take place at Capital Ballroom will be taking place on Sunday, October 26th.
To add to the entertainment of the event, a DJ and host will be on hand to keep people engaged while the artists go head-to-head.
“My host is Jag Jasman, who has got over 20 years of competitive hairstyling experience, is a stage performer, a local business owner and is very involved in the arts scene in Victoria,” said Richardson.
“He is definitely bringing a new level of showmanship to the event, with more music, costume changes—a very magnetic host who could have a show of his own,” she laughed.
Richardson added that the DJ for this upcoming show will be the locally-loved DJ Koji.
Art Battle provides artists with all the supplies they might need to create live at the event, and furthermore, provide an opportunity for artists to showcase their talent, gain recognition and connect with the community.
Richardson says that she hopes more artists will apply for the upcoming Art Battle on October 26th, which will be the first to take place at the Capital Ballroom.
For this event, she says the deadline for artists to apply has been set for Monday, October 13th.
Following the deadline, she and other organizers will review each artist’s bio and motivation, aiming for a mix of emerging and experienced artists whose work reflects the event.
Applications can be made online here, through the link in bio on their Instagram page.
