May 6, 2020Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts Launches New Digital Art and Culture Series in Response to COVID-19

Downtown Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA) has launched a new digital art and culture series, RCA@Home, in response to COVID-19. The series launches today with the introduction of the RCA’s Virtual Cinema House.

The Virtual Cinema House is one of several initiatives the venue has planned under the RCA@Home banner - all a part of the non-profit venue’s mission to continue bringing engaging art and cultural activities to the Kelowna community during this time of crisis and beyond.

In partnership with Blue Ice Docs film distributors of Toronto and its D.O.C. (Documentary Online Cinema), the RCA’s Virtual Cinema House will offer first-run and award-winning documentaries not available on any other platform or media in Canada. D.O.C. provides an alternate online viewing option for cinematic audiences bound to the confinement of their homes.

“In keeping with our mission to be inclusive while strengthening art and culture in the Okanagan, the RCA is transforming its delivery of arts and culture programming to include substantially more digital delivery. The RCA@Home Virtual Cinema House allows the community to experience outstanding Canadian and international critically-acclaimed film content from home. Our patrons can watch newly-released documentaries while supporting the RCA now and in the future when our theatre doors open again,” says Colleen Fitzpatrick, RCA Executive Director.

Robin Smith, CEO and Founder of Blue Ice Docs continues, “Patrons who have enjoyed a well-curated collection of art and cultural events at the RCA’s Mary Irwin Theatre in Kelowna in the past, can now also enjoy a wide array of newly released documentaries for entertainment and education 7 days a week from the comfort of their own homes through its new Virtual Cinema House.”

The Virtual Cinema House will offer two fresh, first-run, documentary releases each week on a variety of topics and of broad interests. For a small fee of under $10 per film, viewers can access their selected documentaries for up to 5 days. Renting a film through the Virtual Cinema House via Blue Ice Docs supports the Rotary Centre for the Arts, a non-profit organization based in the heart of downtown Kelowna’s Cultural District.

The first two film releases, out today, include D. W. Young’s The Booksellers, a lively, behind-the-scenes look at the New York rare book world and the people who inhabit it and Yung Chang’s This is Not a Movie, the 40-year journey of journalist Robert Fisk and his reporting of some of the most violent and divisive conflicts in the world. Further details on the RCA@Home program can be found at rotarycentreforthearts.com/rca-at-home.


Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts Launches New Digital Art and Culture Series in Response to COVID-19