Not only do the games promote a more enjoyable workplace, they also encourage health and wellness among employees. “Promoting a healthier lifestyle is important to many organizations as it not only allows for teamwork, but it also allows for companies to keep up the health and wellness of their employees, which in turn benefits both the employer and employees,” says Cournoyer. Many past and current participants in the Corporate Challenge find that it gives them and their coworkers/teammates a unique sense STORY: TERESA FISHER
of spirit and togetherness when they gather together in a social
Celebrating its 20th year from May 27 to June 11, the Edmonton
environment and have fun through organized friendly competition.
and Area Corporate Challenge Games is “Where Work Comes
An important part of the Challenge is the dragon boat racing
to Play.”
event, which takes place on June 19 at Telford Lake, a week
The two-week event hosts over 175 companies, 18,000
after the rest of the Games. The race is hosted by the Edmonton
employees and 1,900 volunteers, participating in Olympicstyle competitions. Over 20 sports and recreation events are represented, including badminton, volleyball, basketball, horseshoes and lawn-bowling. Since its inception in 1992, the Corporate Challenge provides a platform for businesses to foster employee interaction, teamwork, morale, pride, health and wellness. By offering a
been a part of the Corporate Challenge. “With over 150 teams participating, the Corporate Challenge Dragon Boat Racing Festival is the largest in western Canada,” says Colleen De Roy, Executive Director of the EDBRC. So what is dragon boat racing exactly? It’s a spirited 20-person team effort led by the rhythm of a drum to synchronize the team’s paddle strokes as they race head to head against other
Edmonton will come alive with the talents of young emerging artists
around the downtown area. The festival hub is the Roxy Theatre,
during Nextfest. From June 2 – 12, the visual art, theatre, dance,
at the intersection of 124 Street and 107 Avenue, with The Living
and music of the next generation of the city’s artistic community,
Room Playhouse just north of Oliver Square as a secondary
sedentary office worker of a lesser fitness level.
Challenge, is open to anyone in the public over age 18. Friends
primarily people under the age of 30, will take the spotlight.
venue. However, Nextfest’s boundaries are being expanded this
“Teamwork, active living and social interaction are just some
year. “This year we are making a strong push into the Alberta
of the benefits that teams participating in the Challenge look
event. Contact the team’s Challenge co-ordinator to find out the
Avenue area with venues like the Avenue Theatre and the Old
forward to,” says Liane Cournoyer, Executive Director of TNT
Cycle Building,” says Pirot.
Event Planning, and Games Manager. By allowing companies
One of the defining aspects of Nextfest is how it is programmed.
both large and small to come together and participate, the
Steve Pirot has been Nextfest’s Festival Director since 2001. He describes the festival as the love of his life. “Being a springtime event with hundreds of young, creative Edmontonians showing their stuff for ten days, it is an easy festival to fall in love with,” he says. “On the surface, the festival is very, very sexy. But looking past the surface into the heart of the Festival as I have been doing for ten years, you know that Nextfest isn’t just a pretty face. Nextfest’s highly principled philosophy is rooted in creation, community, and development.” Nextfest’s roots date back to the mid-1990s, when Bradley Moss was working as an artistic associate at Theatre Network. Moss was directed to create a reading series for young playwrights. “Bradley went further than that,” Pirot explains. “He created a multi-disciplinary arts festival dedicated to the expressive voice of
“Festival programming is primarily organized around the different curator,” says Pirot. “Curation is based mostly on a submission
The teamwork and camaraderie that participating in the
process dependent upon the needs and timelines of that
Challenge provides extends beyond the two weeks of the
particular artistic practice.”
event, Cournoyer explains. “People who were once just voices
Nextfest is a production of the Nextfest Arts Company, a not-
on the phone, faces passed in the halls or names at the end of
for-profit corporation that is responsible for the content of the festival. “Each year The Nextfest Arts Company is comprised of hundreds of young artists of every stripe that conspire to make the sexiest festival in town,” Pirot says. As well, the festival is presented by Theatre Network as the culminating event of its subscriber season. Pirot explains that “as
that would showcase their work while simultaneously providing a common ground for those artists to meet, collaborate, and learn from one another,” Pirot adds. “In the most grandiose terms, Nextfest attends to the curated development of the future of the professional arts community in Edmonton.” Nextfest takes place at a variety of locations, mostly in and
Challenge aims to help break through any barriers that may exist between employees.
dance, music acts, and visual art exhibitions.”
artists of Edmonton through a professionally supported platform
sports for everyone, from the athletically-inclined to the more
art forms featured in the festival, and each program has its own
the next generation with fully realized productions of new plays,
“The purpose of the festival was to foster and celebrate the young
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range of different sporting events, the Corporate Challenge has
Dragon Boat Racing Club, and this is the third year it has
an email are suddenly your volleyball or basketball teammates,”
teams on the river. This event, unlike the others in the Corporate and family of Challenge participants can also take part in this team’s policy. “The reason the dragon boat race is being held one week after the games is due to its popularity,” says De Roy. In previous years, there were conflicts with other events in the Challenge, and teams participating in the dragon boat races as well as other events were concerned with not being able to take part in both. With both the Edmonton and Area Corporate Challenge and the Dragon Boat Racing event, organizations both big and small are sure to have fun getting together in a relaxed, fun, and healthy environment. If you and your coworkers are interested in either
she says. “The connections that sports activities ignite often turn
event please visit their websites at:
into friendships that go beyond the workplace.”
www.corporatechallenge.ab.ca www.edmontondragonboat.com
the presenter, Theatre Network provides the primary venue, sells tickets and passes, and conscripts all the volunteers needed to run front-of-house, concessions, drive shuttles, and attend to artist hospitality.” He adds that because “attendance is more important to us than box office revenue,” the pricing of festival passes is deliberately inexpensive. // Contact Theatre Network for tickets, passes, and schedule information at (780) 453-2440. Theatre Network’s website is
www.attheroxy.com. 43