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Meet the members of our 2019/2020 Youth Arts Council! This season’s Youth Arts Council (YAC) is comprised of engaged and inspiring youth from grade 9 – 12 who are keen to encourage other youth to participate in the arts.

Executive Members

Anella Schabler: President

My name is Anella Schabler and this is my third year in the Youth Arts Council. This opportunity to share my passion for the arts with others is incredibly important to me, as I wouldn’t be who I am without it. Art has, is and always will be a part of my life. Many of my childhood memories involve dancing in a tiny tutu’s class, playing the piano, and drawing in my spare time. Art drives me to create, change and grow as a person, and I will never stop creating.

Joseph Kim: Director of Community Events

Joseph is a grade 10 student at John Knox Christian Secondary School in New Westminster. Joseph’s artistic passion is music. He plays several musical instruments and has been exposed to music from a young age. Joseph believes that arts and culture are vital to society, and especially to youth. He joined the YAC to get involved in the community and to learn valuable skills.

Alyn Shao: Director of Internal Relations

Alyn is a grade 10 student enrolled in the IB Diploma Program at Port Moody Secondary. She joined the Youth Arts Council because she has long been a part of Place des Arts and would like to give back to the community. She has been learning piano since the age of six and also enjoys graphite sketching, classical literature and cinema. She believes that she could bring new ideas and new perspectives to the Youth Arts Council.

Bonita Shao: Director of Marketing

Bonita is a grade 10 student at Port Moody Secondary. She is passionate about music, literature, and visual arts. She joined YAC to promote arts to youth in the community while improving her leadership skills. Bonita believes that art is important to people of all ages, and hopes to encourage more teens to take an interest in it.

 

Eugene Fei: Director of Finance

My name is Eugene Fei, and I’m a member of the 2019-2020 Youth Arts Council! Currently, I am taking pottery classes for the 6th year, this being my first year at Place des Arts. In addition to the arts, I am a competitive curler, this year being my 10th year in the sport. I also play baseball, enjoy reading and working with computers. This year I hope to make an impact on the arts community in Coquitlam especially by contributing as much as possible in YAC.

Members at Large

Jared Batac Co

I am 13 years old and a junior high school student at St. Thomas More. I have taken many classes at PdA since Mr. I’s Musical Rainbow in Kindergarten. Currently part of the Coquitlam Youth Theatre, I am a proud new member of the Youth Arts Council. My hobbies include basketball, badminton, game development/coding, listening to music and hip-hop dancing. I am passionate about theatre arts, reading, gaming and everything Japanese! I aspire to be a computer game developer one day. I like to think of myself as a little bit serious, a little bit funny, with a healthy dose of quirky.

Yvette Dunham

My name is Yvette and I am part of the Youth Arts Council. I have been doing musical theatre for eight years and am quite fond of the stage. I love to sing and am in the school choir. In my free time I practice the piano and write. Aside from the arts I also do fencing. I am very excited to be part of the council this year.

Yuning Gu

I am Yuning Gu, and I am glad to be a member of this year’s Youth Art Council this year. I have a huge interest in music, and I have been playing piano for over ten years. Since I was five years old, my mother had taken me to numerous art galleys, in which, I had my initial understanding of the magical combination of colours and I was amused by how beautiful and diverse they are. Furthermore, with abroad travelling experiences, I can accumulate the knowledge of many other aspects of art.

Nghi Le

Hi, my name is Nghi Le and I’m a member of the Youth Art Council. I’m currently a senior at Pinetree Secondary School. I have a wide range of hobbies including creative writing, watching movies, video games, badminton, hiking, filming, video editing, biking and canoeing. From a young age, I’ve always had a strong connection to the arts. I’m quite a creative person and I find great joy in expressing my passion in the form of literature, media, and films. As a member of the Council, my goal is to gain more experience in hosting art-related events as well as have a platform to share my love of arts to local teens.

Loren Pittini

My name is Loren Pittini and I’m fifteen years old. I live with my two moms and my brother. I have three pets, two cats and a dog. In my spare time, I like to read, listen to music, be out in nature and spend time with my friends. My three strongest passions are dance, animals and helping others. The arts have always been a part of my life so they are very important to me. I have been dancing for twelve years and I love it. Dance has always been a safe place for me to be myself and express myself. Place des Arts has always been like a second home to me and getting to give back to it is an amazing feeling.

Cecile Qu

Hi, I am Cecile. I am in grade 10 at Heritage Wood Secondary School. I love doing arts, I want to be an animator when I grow up. The reason that I came to the Youth Arts Council is that I want to have more friends and have more communication with others because I am shy and quiet.  I also came here to build up my leadership skills and do something for the community.

Olwyn Stowe

Olwyn is 15 years old and a sophomore at Inquiry Hub Secondary. She has always had an appreciation for the arts. For a decade she has been playing violin and has been doing theatre for 7 years. Olwyn is a hard-working leader who genuinely cares about the people around her. Olwyn hopes to use her experiences with the arts to assist in her future careers and interests.

Vitaliy Vekslyer

Vitaliy is a Grade 12 student in Centennial Secondary who sketches, sings bass, plays the guitar, designs graphics, writes stories, edits videos and creates school-wide assemblies. This will be Vitaliy’s 2nd year in YAC, and along with his involvement comes his desire to educate creativity in others and make them believe in their hidden power to create work that is a true expression of who they are. He wants to dedicate his life to science but desires to combine it with art to create a format of our scientific world that is more universally understood and beautiful.

Lauryn Yau

I’m currently in grade 11 at Centennial Secondary School. I’ve been in choir since grade 9, but when I was younger I was always interested in music. I love drawing and painting with watercolours. I decided to join YAC because I wanted to connect with other people who have similar interests as me and give back to the community by providing others with opportunities to be creative.

Edwin Yeung

Edwin is a grade 12 student at Port Moody Secondary. Edwin joined the YAC to help encourage youth to become more engaged in the arts by organizing events and activities. He has been part of the Place des Arts community ever since he was 5, and would also like to give back for all the experience he has gained over the years. Edwin is passionate about musical arts and can play the piano and clarinet.

Eugene Zhang

I am a grade 12 student in the IB program at Port Moody Secondary School. I am actively involved in a lot of after school clubs and volunteering work in the community, and as a BC district soccer referee. I also ref soccer games during the weekend. I have been playing piano for the past ten years and have obtained the ARCT piano performance diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and sometimes I work as a piano accompanist for various musical instruments in recitals. It was a great pleasure to apply what I’ve learned in music through volunteering for the Music and Arts summer camps at Place des Arts in the past years. Currently a returning member of the Youth Arts Council, I would like to continue supporting and promoting arts to the youth in our community.

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