2023-01-18 A New Community Partner - Opportunities for Students and Seniors

VCGS has always worked hard to create performance opportunities for students - the twice yearly Student Open Stages and open mIcs were among the earliest initiatives. As a guitar instructor at UBC School of Music, VCGS president Alec Pearson invited his students to perform as openers at our concerts. The student performances converged with an imitative in 2023 by Valerie Boser and Alec Pearson to expand our community outreach. The West End Seniors Network provides activities for over 1,000 members. Valerie and Alec approached WESN to offer free classical guitar concerts four times a year at Barclay Manor featuring mostly students but also other professional guitarists. The collaboration also offered free tickets to our concerts.

The initiative has been a huge success. Our concerts are well attended and much appreciated. And we regularly welcome WESN members to enjoy free tickets to our concerts.

David Sossa playing at Barclay Manor in July 2025.

Cynthal Kishore has been a frequent and popular performer at WESN concerts.

UBC student Yvette Guo performing in 2026 at Barclay Manor.