Endorsements

This project has generated international interest and support. Here are some of the letters that have begun to pour in.

You have the endorsement and support of Kokoro Dance and the Vancouver International Dance Festival in your efforts to buy the Raja Theatre. Let us know if we can help in any way.

Jay Hirabayashi
Executive Director, Kokoro Dance

Vancouver International Dance Festival
Tel.:(604)662-7441 Fax: (604)662-3886

Kokoro Dance / Vancouver International Dance Festival
339 West Hastings Street - 2nd Floor
Vancouver BC V6B 1H6 Canada

Warren Ellis writes:

My friend Jhayne Holmes is trying to do something amazing right now.

She found an old cinema in Vancouver, built in 1910 and most recently used as a Bollywood house. It used to be The New York, where Neil Young and Sonic Youth once played. And it’s up for sale.

Jhayne wants to turn it into a 21st Century “multi-disciplinary arts facility featuring inspiring work from all over the globe that recaptures and surpasses its previous glory.” And she wants to call it Heart Of The World.

Heart of the World is to address the contemporary artistic and creative needs of the constantly evolving geographic location in which it is situated, offering competitive rates and a multi-faceted performance space. Complete with a full sized stage, a balcony with box seats, and a fully functional projection booth, the bones of the space hold limitless promise - able to show films, dance, theatrical productions, acoustic and amplified concerts, and cabaret events. In the foyer, artists both local and international will be able to advantageously display their work, whether it is photography, painting, drawing or sculpture. As a web presence, Heart of the World will offer podcasts of performances, a gallery of streaming video of performers, the chance to chat with featured artists, and up-to-date interviews, reviews and schedule listings.

What she needs right now is financing. She needs sponsors, she needs investment angels, she needs donors. And she needs endorsements: something as small as writing to pledge that you would perform or exhibition at Heart Of The World.

Dear Jhayne

I am writing to express my enthusiasm for the concept and project that you are manifesting as Heart of the World.

I am the Artistic Director of the award winning FoolishPeople Theatre.

FoolishPeople create theatre that is an essential ritual, which raises a numinous experience within the spectator by combining live art with Hermetica, Gnosticism and the Esoteric. Our work is a powerful tool for positive change, which revolves around the suggestion that a story can be all encompassing, can be intriguing and can be entirely interactive. 

FP would very much like to offer you any help that you may require.

Please feel free to contact us with any assistance you may need with this exciting project.

Yours sincerely

John Harrigan
Artistic Director
FoolishPeople

www.foolishpeople.com

I'm a playwright and a photographer local to Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
What has been going on in Minneapolis and its sister city, St. Paul,
has been an enormous theatre growth.  I won't say an explosion, because
that insinuates that there is some kind of a pop and a leveling out. 
These two cities in the open flatlands of the United States have a
seemingly unending hunger for theatre.  Each year new companies open,
and more and more theatre goers infect the tv populace with the bug. 
Millions of dollars go into and come out of theatre.  And Minnesota is
no exception; I've heard about flourishing theatre scenes from
designers, playwrights, actors, and fans in Hawaii, San Francisco,
Montreal, New York, Chicago, London, and smaller cities, too.  Venues
hold an incredible amount of power right now- production companies,
performers, and artists vie for space, and that kind of competition
leads to higher quality entertainment and to larger audiences and more
revenue.

Now, on a more sentimental note, if Holmes gets this venue- she won't
have to bat an eyelash to persuade talented people to move to Vancouver
and give her all the creativity, ingenuity, and effort they can afford.
  Getting in on the beginning of an undertaking like this is a
monumental opportunity.  We could be a part of something tremendous. 
And we know what Holmes can do, and what a support network of
incredible people she has.  If Holmes has the funding she needs, I own
a crescent wrench, I know how to change the lamp in a stage light, I
can balance a AP/AC budget, and am cute enough to net a Canadian
boyfriend.  I'm in.  I'd be a fool not to be.

-Cole Sarar
Playwright/Photographer
Minneapolis, MN

Dear Ms. Holmes,

My name is Jessica Melusine-I'm a writer, zine creator and burlesque dancer
and I'm committing to performing at Heart of the World if you'd like me:) (I've
performed at Ladyfest Ohio, Bay Area and East as well as at Pantheacon and
the Baltimore stop of the Sex Worker's Art Show--and I've also performed with
the DC Gurly Show.

I hope I get to see you soon-I heard of this from Warren Ellis.

All best,
Jessica Melusine

Jhayne, my name is Christopher Beal and I'm a photographer in Detroit, MI. My work has been published in various fashion and lifestyle magazines and I've exhibited throughout the Metro-Detroit and greater Chicago areas.

I'd be interested to help in any way that I can regarding The Heart of the World (whether through exhibiting there, creating new work for the space, or anything else). I find the notion both intriguing and passionate and I wish you the best of luck. Any services I can provide are yours.

Best regards,

Christopher Beal
http://christopher-beal.com

The instant I heard about what Jhayne Holmes was planning on doing with the Raja Theater I knew I wanted to be (had to be) involved.

Despite the fact I live all the way in another country (Jackson, MS USA to be exact) I e-mailed Jhayne and asked if I could send in my photography work to be in her still future gallery.

Why go through all this trouble?  I mean, there are excellent galleries in Jackson, right?

Because her idea is a Good Idea. 

Because Art is important.

Because when you combine a Good Idea and Art with a pure vision (which Jhayne has in abundance) then you have a chance of being part of something special.

My name is William Patrick Butler of William Patrick Butler Photography.

And I look forward to being one of many future beats at the HEART OF THE WORLD.

William Patrick Butler
11.14.06
www.williampatrickbutler.com

I'm a Vancouver area glassblower and stained-glass artisan, and I'm fully behind Jhayne Holmes' project. I'm willing to help provide any glass related restoration or enhancement the project requires, and to assist in any other way I can. I'm quite able with a wrench, hammer, drill, broom, or practically any other tool you might care to name and willing put these at her disposal for at 5-10 hours/week, if needed.

Aiden Pratchett
Glassblower/Artisan
apratchett@gmail.com

Dear Jhayne,

Please accept my offer of support in your efforts to contstruct The Heart of
the World, a venue which may best be described as "exactly what I have
always wanted."  Sadly I haven't the money to put where my mouth is, but
I'll gladly lend my hands to the project.  Throughout the month of January I
can offer you two afternoons a week to help with the construction efforts in
whatever capacity I may.  I would account myself fortumate simply to be able
to say in later years, "This was what we wanted... so we built it."

Sincerely,
-Ethan Krindle
Coquitlam, BC

I don't know how I missed it - I am not visiting the website very often anymore... but I just stumbled across your last week of postings concerning the Heart of the World.

I had to shiver, literally. My spine tingled.

I write now to send you my support, with a promise to help spread the word to what little areas of the globe I overlap. I'm just a kid, and I can't offer much monetary support but I think it might be important for you to know when someone reads your dreams and feels a certain sense of pride. It's a less common sense of pride, one that I feel less and less accustomed too. It's the sort of pride in my own species. If I could find a way to express that without sounding like a cliche teenager I would jump on it. "Glad to have you along." That's my slogan for you and your existence.

Good luck in your endeavor. It is necessary for me to say.

Thank you,
Travis Blanston
Vancouver, BC

As an arts educator who has taught both music and visual arts for the past decade, I have seen an amazing quantity of talented youth pass through my classrooms.  Their needs have been as varied as their abilities, but one common question has been, 'How will I make a living at this?'