News that Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute will become the Emily Carr University of Art and Design has been greeted with skepticism by some postsecondary student and faculty groups. The April 28 announcement came just days after Premier Gordon Campbell announced that his government would bestow university status on Capilano College, Malaspina University-College, Kwantlen University College, and the University College of the Fraser Valley.

The 24th annual BC Book Prizes gala took place April 26 at the Fairmont Waterfront hotel, where a total of $19,000 in prize money was handed out. Mary Novik took home the $2,000 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for her debut novel, Conceit. The $2,000 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize went to Robert Bringhurst’s collection Everywhere Being Is Dancing. Rita Wong’s Forage won the $2,000 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. The $2,000

Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art will officially open its doors to the public next Saturday (May 10), following a week of celebration and ceremony that includes an inauguration by Haida and Coast Salish chiefs.

A Liberal MP will raise the issue of the CBC Radio Orchestra's disbandment in Ottawa. Don Bell, who represents North Vancouver, told the Straight he will present a short statement in the House of Commons when Parliament reconvenes Monday (April 28).

The owner of the Pantages Theatre (152 East Hastings Street) is still waiting for the city to approve restoration plans for the dilapidated former vaudeville venue. On April 16, the Pantages Theatre Arts Society and owner-developer Marc Williams revealed their $26-million restoration plan for the site, which includes a 650-seat main theatre, a 99-seat black-box theatre and rehearsal space, an art gallery, new lobbies, and elevators.

Vancouver-born poet Gary Geddes has been named the recipient of the fifth annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. Geddes, a writer, critic, anthologist, and editor now living in Sooke, has written and edited more than 30 books, including his 2001 memoir Sailing Home: A Journey Through Time, Place and Memory and Falsework, a book of poems published last year. The award, worth $5,000, will be presented this Saturday (April 26) by Lt.-Gov. Steven Point, a

Antony Holland, who founded Langara College’s Studio 58 theatre program in 1965 and ran it until 1984, has convened an 88th-birthday bash for himself. “He’s calling it his living funeral,” actor Allan Morgan says with a laugh.

Jeff Wall was an obvious choice for this year’s Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts.

Graham Clark, one of the rising talents in Vancouver's standup circuit and voted number two in the city in the Straight's 2007 best of issue, triumphed in the Yuk-Yuk's nationwide Laugh-Off on April 13.

Wen Wei Dance has won the 10th annual Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, a real coup for the B.C-based dancers and their choreographer, Wen Wei.

In a survey conducted by the Mustel Group for the City of Vancouver, to help the government allocate its 2008 budget, 45 percent of businesses and 41 percent of residents said arts and cultural support was their lowest priority, in comparison with other funding recipients such as community centres, libraries, parks and beaches, community service organizations, sewage and drainage, policing, traffic management, and fire protection.

Saying they’re fed up with the lack of large-scale dance works coming to Vancouver, local dance producers Barbara Clausen of New Works and Jim Smith of Eponymous will announce Thursday (April 10) that they have joined forces to create DanceHouse, a new presentation series at the Vancouver Playhouse.

The Britannia Community Services Centre is campaigning for city funds to build a new $18.3-million arts centre with two micro theatres, studio spaces, and an art gallery.

After 17 years with Ballet B.C.—seven as a dancer and 10 as ballet master—Sylvain Senez is leaving the company at the end of this season.

A national uproar has ensued from the news that the Vancouver-based CBC Radio Orchestra is to be dismantled.