About

Philip Pierce is a person who is driven by a deep love of artistic and creative expression. Coming from a very long line of performing artists, it’s in his blood. He began piano and voice lessons at the age of five. By seven he was performing publicly as a soprano, and spent the next 20 years in a blur of different choirs, bands, music camps, musicals, pageants, and of course his Nylons a cappella cover group “The Leotards”. In parallel (starting at age 12) he began training in the martial arts, which became an obsession for over 15 years. Early on in high school, acting/dance/music teacher Matthew Howe saw him stretching and demonstrating kicks on stage at Mt. Doug secondary and asked him to give dance a try… so he did… and he was hooked. A year or two dancing with Matthew bled into a scholarship at Victoria Arts Collaborative where he trained with former Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal soloist Constantine Darling. His love of dance and natural drive caused Philip to quit high school just months before graduation to focus completely on training. Unfortunately, the realities of a competitive martial arts career forced him to retire (or so he thought at the time) from dance in his early 20′s, and after a two year stint as a full-time kickboxer, he woke one day to find himself employed in the Canadian Forces Military Police. Two years later he was back in school. First math, then a computer science degree, then post graduate engineering coursework, and after a decade working in the field, Philip is now Director of Engineering at FLIR 360 Surveillance Inc., an international high-tech software company specializing in IP video technology.

In 2010, Philip responded to the call of the arts again and began putting his background to good use as a performing arts writer. His writing caught the attention of Tourism Victoria, who asked him to write for them as well. Soon, former Off-Centre magazine owner and multimedia producer Leanne Allen saw his work and approached Philip with the idea of co-founding an online magazine – “With your hi-tech and performing arts background, my 15 years in the media business, and our love of arts and culture in Victoria, we’ve got all the fuel we need to make an online multimedia magazine fly here.” It made sense, and CultureVultureVictoria.com was born. Now, as a member of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association and Victoria Independent Film Producers Association, as a Software Engineer and multimedia specialist, and yes… as a performer again (recent work includes performances with The Canadian Pacific Ballet, Lynda Raino Dance, and Monique Salez), Philip feels like he has found his true calling in life – promoting arts and culture through participation, technology and community development.

LEANNE ALLEN – CVV co-creator, editor, business manager, photographer, videographer
VP - Martial Media

Leanne has always been a producer. She lives where art and business meet. She’s created works – photography, art installations, dances, films, radio shows… but it’s never been enough – she’s always felt the need to see it all get to market, to find it an audience. To have her work seen, heard, and reacted to. So what better format than multimedia?

Her career began at age 12 when her grade seven teacher told her she was good on camera. At 20 during a degree in English and Photography, she won a Kodak award for her “Prometheus” photo series, and published her first photographic and written editorial about the Generation X movement in the University newspaper. She finished her degree at 21 and traveled extensively for three years, taking photos and writing the entire time. She spent the next three years in Victoria studying dance and women’s studies and playing drums in a band. A creative entrepreneur, from that point on, she learned on the job.

In 2000 she started a successful alternative magazine in the BC Interior; produced, wrote, directed and performed in a six-episode television show based on the magazine that aired across the border in Washington and in BC, then sold her business to a major media corporation in 2007. She sat on the board of BC Magazines for two years. She co-hosted a pop-culture radio show on CBC for two years, did a guest appearance on GO, CBC’s national radio show, and had radio pieces air nationally. She was then commissioned by CBC at the Banff TV and Film Festival to produce a pilot for one of their first cross-platform programs: a radio and online comedy journalism program called Citizen Janes, where she worked with some of Canada’s top female comedians.

When she returned to Victoria she knew she wanted to be more involved in arts and culture. She returned to the dance studio, and met Philip Pierce. Philip sent her a list of performances she should see, after which she told him that he had to be her cultural editor, since it was so difficult to find an easy-to-use online calendar for Victoria. He sent her a couple of articles he’d written. She told him that in her magazine days he would’ve been one of her writers for sure – he had such a unique voice. When he asked where he should send his work, she encouraged him to self-publish. Within two weeks of his blog going up, she told him there was definitely a business there. Victoria needed an online magazine. And who better to start it?

Not ones to wait, Leanne and Philip launched CultureVultureVictoria.com within six weeks, and now, only one year later, it is a full-fledged online multimedia magazine rivalling even the most established publications in town when it comes to arts and culture coverage.

All of us here at CVV are incredibly excited to have John Threlfall on our team. We have a huge respect for John and his accomplishments and are honoured to have him aboard.

A specialist in media and popular culture, John Threlfall was on staff at Monday Magazine from 1999-2010 as the arts editor and in-house theatre critic, and even survived a four-year stint as the editor-in-chief of Victoria’s award-winning alternative weekly newspaper. He also spent five seasons as the on-air “walking encyclopedia of popular culture” for CBC Radio One’s Definitely Not The Opera, has been a freelance writer for more than 20 years, spent a decade as a stage manager and technical director in live theatre, and has taught university-level courses on such diverse topics as the history of the disc jockey, the representation of witchcraft in popular culture and how to write about popular music.

Currently, John is the Special Projects and Communications Officer for the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria.  In addition, John was one of six Canadian Gen-Xers featured in the NFB documentary Le Temps X, was the co-host of Canadian Biker Television, co-authored the quirky guidebook Victoria: Secrets of the City for Arsenal Pulp Press, was nominated for an Alternative Association of Newsweeklies Award, is currently co-president of the board of directors for Intrepid Theatre (producers of the annual Fringe Festival) and is a frequent instructor and guest speaker at universities, colleges, schools and community groups around Victoria. His published interviews include the likes of musicians Bruce Cockburn, Pat Benatar, Ani DiFranco and Billy Bragg; filmmakers David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Gross and Ron Mann; authors Neil Gaiman, Ronald Wright, Starhawk and Thomas King; and such various personalities as Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, Titanic explorer Tom Zaller, New Age pioneer Shakti Gawain, comedian Ryan Stiles and veteran west coast rock ‘n’ roll DJ Red Robinson.

As a practicing witch for the past 25 years, John is also a Wiccan priest, and likes to  spend his free time artfully arranging his James Bond and Orange Crush collections. His wife, Beth, is a busy local artist and his two dangerously charming children may well take over the world one day.

In “Chariots of Fire”, one of my favourite movies of all time, there is a scene where Harold Abrahams, tortured by pre-race introspection, is speaking with Olympic team mate Aubrey Montague. Abrahams says to him, “You, Aubrey, are my most complete man” referring to the balance and contentment in Aubrey. Well… Brandon Wright is an engineer, but at the same time doesn’t take life too seriously. He’s an avid surfer\skimboarder but still wears ties to work (and loves doing it). He’s young, talented, and successful and appears to have the world by the tail yet he’s one of the nicest, most grounded, most reliable people I’ve ever met. Brandon is my most complete man. He really is. I have a lot to learn from this guy, for sure. Add to that the fact that he is an absolute ninja when it comes to all things web related and yeah… I think I’ll keep this guy around for a while. We are very lucky to have him on board. You can check out more of Brandon’s work at coastalwebdesign.ca. -PP

Maryanne Carmack – CVV writer, Food Etc managerMaryanne was the first person scouted for our 2011 expansion. In my opinion she’s a perfect fit. Not only does she truly know food (and wine), but she has a genuine passion for being active in the community and for promoting environmental awareness through her writing and photography. Her work is engaging, relevant, and fun. I’m personally very excited to have Maryanne on board! You can see more of Maryanne’s work at maryannecarmack.com.
-PP

Self professed analog enthusiast, Pamela Bethel brings something very new to the CVV table. It was her  ability to express herself through her work that drew us to her, but it’s her imagination that has us hooked.  She has a truly fascinating view of life. You just never know where a conversation with Pamela will go. She’s the perfect person to colour in our random category. I know you’re all going to love her. You can see more of Pamela’s work here:  www.pamelabethel.ca and can learn more about her mobile photo studio business here: luxbooth.com -PP