What is your group? What do you do?
Three on the Tree is an arts non-profit from Pender Island, BC. We strive to increase arts connectivity in the community by supporting performance events, providing education opportunities, and engaging the youth.
Our most notable event of the year is the Magic Lake Lantern Festival; however we also run youth camps in the summer, work in the school on arts education, run a variety of one off workshops, and fund special events like ZOOiSLANDER.
When was Three on the Tree started? What sparked it?
The group was founded in 2000 by Penderite Jackie Dandeneau and her husband who were both performers. They both had extensive backgrounds in clown, theatre, and pageantry and brought them to lucky Pender.
Do you hold any community events or run any special projects?
Right now, we focus on either big, one-off events like the Lantern Festival or ZOOiSLANDER, and then have a separate stream of youth programming. We see it all as something that works together though, with youth we have taught growing up to take on management in our events and teaching the next generation of Pender creators in our classes.
We’re always on the hunt to help sponsor or find funding for projects that engage less mainstream styles of creativity or projects that bring different ages and backgrounds together. This is what makes our community so special and we want to create projects and programs that mirror this.
When do you get together and who can join?
Our board meetings are few, around three per year, but we welcome volunteers and members at any time. We’re actually in the process of reinvigorating a lot of the ways we handle membership but anyone who would like to volunteer or get more info can reach out via email to threeonthetreeproductions@gmail.com, and ideas are welcome that way too.
Are any of the founding members still in the group?
The board and contract staff have changed but there are certainly still many connections. Just this last season Jackie sent a friend over to the festival and we had a lovely back and forth. There was a big group of young parents who were the key volunteers originally and since then many have moved away, but we still feel their support – sometimes in person, sometimes monetarily, and sometimes with promotions.
Do you need volunteers to run your group? Are you looking for more?
We are finding that volunteer burnout is a big deal on Pender at the moment, but we are very grateful for those who come out. We have only a few board members, numbering about five per year, but we have a pool of maybe 100 who volunteer in different capacities for events.
We really have jobs for everyone from creators to tech wizards, to photographers, set-up helpers – you name a job and one of our events or programs could use the assistance.
What gets your members most excited?
The thing that feels unique is the cross -generational approach to the arts and the way in which we see the youth growing. Seeing people of any age come into their own through their interactions with arts and culture is very special, and being able to fund projects that encourage this is very important to us all.
What’s in the future for your organization? Anything exciting in the works, or dreams you would like to fulfill?
Our biggest dream is to have a space – somewhere to hold our workshops and prepare for events. Space is a big limitation on the island and our storage is currently in two separate places; we are really limited with expansion because of this. We dream of a shared arts use space. Anyone with a lead on that please reach out and chat.
How can people get in touch with you?
Send us an email if you have questions or would like to get involved or follow us on Instagram (@threeonthetreeproductions) or Facebook (Three on the Tree Production Society and Magic Lake Lantern Festival) for updates.