What do church services, circus arts workshops, rock climbing films, and a charity performance by a 158-year-old concert band have in common? They are all events taking place in November and December at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre, located at 140 Charlotte Street in downtown Peterborough.
Actually, there’s something else all these events have in common. Each is hosted by a local organization — Peterborough City Church, Peterborough Academy For Circus Arts, Rock And Rope Climbing Centre, and the Peterborough Concert Band — reflecting the Market Hall’s role as a non-profit organization in offering a multi-functional space that supports and nurtures both the performing arts and the community.
Not only can you can show your support for Market Hall by attending the following events, but you can also become a member. Memberships, which start at $25 a year, offer privileges including advance notification and ticket sales for some events and special promotional offers. For more information on becoming a member, visit www.markethall.org
Sunday morning services with Peterborough City Church
When you think of the Market Hall, you probably imagine performing arts rather than religious services. But the latter is one of the more innovative uses of the venue this year, after the formation of Peterborough City Church in January 2016.
Pastors Chad Trivett and Sasha Trivett hold services every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at Market Hall as part of their non-denominational church.
Both Trivetts are ordained with the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, a pentecostal Christian association. They met at Toronto’s Tyndale University College and Seminary and eventually married. Just after getting married, they moved to Tokyo in Japan, where they started an international, interdenominational church.
In 2007, after spending six years in Tokyo (where their son Ari was born), they moved back to Sasha’s hometown in Peterborough to be closer to family, and decided to form another interdenominational church. Peterborough City Church was born.
But the Trivetts needed a location to hold their weekly services, and realized the Market Hall would be an ideal space. There’s also a connection between the church and the performing arts: Chad is in a band that performs contemporary music at the church.
Peterborough City Church offers “inspirational messages and music in an educational and engaging atmosphere where each can worship, pray and learn at their own pace.” For a calendar of Sunday services at the Market Hall, including topics and special speakers, visit www.ptbocitychurch.com.
While there will be no service on Christmas Day (Sunday, December 25), you can join Peterborough City Church for its first annual Christmas service from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, December 23rd. The service will be followed by light refreshments and a cash bar, and child care is available.
Circus Fusion workshops and showcase performance with Peterborough Academy for Circus Arts
Circus skills have been taught for hundreds of years, but it was Canada’s Cirque de Soleil that really brought these amazing acrobatic feats to the public’s attention. If you’ve ever wanted to soar through the air or become a clown, you can learn about these skills and others by enrolling in workshops from the Peterborough Academy for Circus Arts in November and December at the Market Hall.
Led by artistic director Thomas Vaccaro, the Peterborough Academy for Circus Arts (PACA) is a non-profit organization founded in 2015 and dedicated to the teaching and practice of multidisciplinary circus arts. The circus arts aren’t just for professional performers though. Whether it’s aerials, acrobatics, balancing, or objectve manipulation, you can also do it just for fun.
And from Sunday, November 27th to Friday, December 2nd, PACA is offering a series of classes, workshops and performances at the Market Hall called “Circus Fusion” — topped off by the Finale Showcase performance on Friday, December 2nd.
The week of workshops and special events at the Market Hall is open to both performers and the public, with prices ranging from $10 to $20 for individual workshops to $80 for all workshops. There are workshops on aerials, hoops, theatre, clowning, break dancing, and much more. For more information about the available workshops and to purchase tickets, visit www.academyofcircus.org.
If you’re more interested in watching than participating, then you’ll definitely want to go to PACA’s presentation of the Circus Fusion: Finale Showcase at the Market Hall at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 2nd. The finale will feature stunning experimental circus performances and collaborations, and is suitable for the entire family.
Tickets for Circus Fusion: Finale Showcase are $15 for adults, $10 for students, and $5 for children 12 and under (there’s a $3 service fee for all tickets). You can purchase tickets for the Finale Showcase online at tickets.markethall.org or at Moondance Music (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425), cash only.
VIDEO: Aerial Showcase by The Peterborough Academy of Circus Arts at the Market Hall
Rock climbing films with the Rock and Rock Climbing Centre
If seeing rock climbers hang by their fingertips is more your style, then you’ll want to check out the REEL ROCK Film Tour at the Market Hall at 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 3rd.
Hosted by the Rock and Rock Climbing Centre in Peterborough, the REEL ROCK Film Tour brings the best climbing and adventure films of the year to live audiences throughout the world. It’s the definitive annual event for climbing communities around the world.
This year, REEL ROCK 11 features five new electrifying climbing films showcasing the sport’s biggest stories and athletes.
In Young Guns, the new generation of climbers — 15-year-old Ashima Shiraishi and 16-year-old Kai Lightner — are already taking the sport to the next level. A trip to Norway puts their skills to the test, and Ashima attempts to make history on a V15 boulder in Japan.
In Boys in the Bugs, Will Stanhope and Matt Segal are elite-level crack climbers and world-class goofballs. Laugh along as they go for broke on an epic four-year battle to climb a forbidding 5.14 finger crack high in the Canadian alpine wilderness of the Bugaboos.
VIDEO: REEL ROCK 11 official trailer
In Brette, rising talent Brette Harrington goes on a global journey from her hometown granite in Squamish to the big wall proving ground of Yosemite’s El Capitan and onto a landmark free solo in Patagonia.
In Rad Dad, lone wolf Mike Libecki travels to the most remote corners of the globe to find unclimbed walls and establish first ascents. When Mike becomes a father, he has a new challenge: to reconcile his life of adventure with the demands of parenthood, but he may also gain a new partner for his expeditions.
Finally, in Dodo’s Delight, join Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Ben Ditto, and brothers Nico and Olivier Favresse abourt the good ship Dodo’s Delight as they take a rollicking musical journey across open seas and up unclimbed big walls.
Advance tickets for REEL ROCK 11 are $15 per person, available only at the Rock and Rope Climbing Centre (Unit 16, 280 Perry St., Peterborough, 705-745-2333).
For more information about the REEL ROCK Film Tour, visit www.reelrocktour.com. For more information about the Rock and Rope Climbing Centre, visit www.rockandrope.com.
A festive concert supporting Hospice Peterborough with the Peterborough Concert Band
What better way to get in the Christmas spirit than spending a Sunday afternoon listening to festive music, while knowing you’re helping to support a great community cause?
The Peterborough Concert Band — an award-winning ensemble of more than 40 musicians playing woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments — is staging “Seasonal Sounds for Hospice”, a two-hour concert at the Market Hall at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 11th in support of Hospice Peterborough.
Did you know the Peterborough Concert Band is the oldest performing band in Peterborough? It was originally formed in the 1850s as the Rifle Brigade Band and became one of the finest military civilian brass bands in Ontario. Very early in its history, the band won the Amateur Band Championship for the Dominion of Canada, and in 1904 played at the official opening of the Peterborough Lift Lock. The band continues to honour its legacy as part of Peterborough’s arts community by performing at community events, retirement residences, schools, churches, and parks in Peterborough and surrounding communities.
On the December 11th concert, the ensemble will be performing a variety of seasonal tunes along with some classic concert band pieces, including songs with solo vocals by Peterborough’s Danny Bronson. There will be a reception after the show with complimentary coffee, tea, and confections.
General admission tickets are available for $25 plus fees at the Market Hall box office, by calling 705-749-1146, or online at tickets.markethall.org. Cash-only tickets are also available at Moondance Music (425 George St., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).
Proceeds from this event will support Hospice Peterborough’s “Every Moment Matters” fundraising campaign to build a state-of-the-art facility that will provide a homelike and safe refuge for individuals and their families during the journey through illness, death, and grief.
