Arts, Culture, Education, and Community
Where Shared Experiences Build Lasting Connections
Arts, Culture, Education, and Community
Where Shared Experiences Build Lasting Connections
We Are PEAS
Philter Entertainment & Arts Society (PEAS) is a British Columbia non-profit organization inspired by community, culture, education, live entertainment, and the event production industry.
PEAS hopes to make a meaningful contribution to communities by working alongside others, creating opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and meaningful shared experiences.
Some of life’s most unforgettable moments are shared through live event experiences. Whether at a weekend community gathering or an evening celebration, these shared experiences bring people together. Strangers become neighbours, differences fade, people laugh, celebrate, learn, and create memories that stay with them.
We see what you’re doing, we believe in it, and we’d like to see if we can help.
PEAS grew out of our experience working in the arts, performance, education, and being part of so many different events and community experiences over the years. What stayed with us wasn’t just the event itself. It was the people we met, the relationships that developed, and the opportunities that came from bringing people together.
We started to wonder what might be possible if we looked beyond the event and focused more on what those experiences can create.
Communities are like peas in a pod. We grow stronger when we grow together.
Strong communities can be built from the people, knowledge, and resources that already exist within them. PEAS works alongside community partners to help connect those strengths through collaboration, shared experiences, education, volunteerism, and live event production, creating lasting community value.
That simple belief is the foundation of PEAS.
Our Philosophy
COMMUNITY AS A NECESSITY
Communities depend on people being connected to one another.
When people share their knowledge, skills, experiences, and resources, they create relationships and trust that become part of a community’s social capital.
UNITY THROUGH SHARED PURPOSE
Working together toward something meaningful can turn individual strengths into collective action and create opportunities that might not be possible alone.
BELONGING
Strong communities make room for people to contribute in different ways.
PEAS believes everyone brings something of value, whether through creativity, experience, knowledge, skills, or simply a willingness to participate.
Our People
PEAS IS MADE UP OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
Our organization brings together experienced event professionals, artists, performers, educators, volunteers, community leaders, businesses, and collaborative partners who share a common purpose: Creating opportunities through arts, culture, education, and shared experiences.
Our Programs
Developing the Youth Arts & Community Connection Program
PEAS is currently developing its Youth Arts & Community Connection Program through exploration, collaboration, and learning.
At its heart is a simple idea: Young people learn and grow when they have opportunities to create, participate, work together, and share their ideas.
The program will explore hands-on arts activities, creative projects, storytelling, and theatrical experiences that encourage imagination, confidence, and connection. Workshops and playbuilding activities will give youth opportunities to make, create, perform, and experience together the process of bringing an idea to life.
As the program develops, PEAS will learn alongside the young people who take part, allowing their ideas, interests, and experiences to help shape what comes next.
We believe the arts are not simply something to watch.
They are something to experience, create, and share together.
Developing the Arts & Technical Education Program
The Arts and Technical Education Program creates opportunities for people to discover interests, develop practical skills, and gain experience across the arts, entertainment, creative, and technical fields.
PEAS recognizes that learning does not only happen in a classroom. Skills can be developed through hands-on participation, mentorship, workshops, volunteering, community projects, and opportunities to work alongside people with experience in their field.
The program may support learning and development in areas such as live entertainment and event production, film and media, costume and creative fabrication, technical theatre, production technology, design, and other related creative or technical disciplines.
Participants may enter the program with little or no experience, or with existing skills they want to develop further. Opportunities can range from introductory experiences and workshops to hands-on projects, mentorship, volunteer roles, and opportunities to contribute their developing skills to PEAS activities and community initiatives.
As the program develops, PEAS is also exploring opportunities to provide live event production training for volunteers involved with community organizations. Training may be shaped around the needs of each community partner, while also taking into account the interests, experience, and learning goals of individual volunteers.
Through this approach, PEAS hopes to help strengthen community capacity, support volunteer development, and create opportunities for people to gain practical skills and experience in live event production.
The goal is not simply to teach a particular skill, but to help people discover what interests them, develop their abilities, gain practical experience, and find meaningful ways to participate and contribute.
Developing the Community Production Partnership Program
PEAS is currently developing the Community Production Partnership Program (CPPP) through an initial series of pilot projects.
These pilots will give PEAS an opportunity to put the CPPP program into practice, exploring how collaboration, shared knowledge, volunteer participation, community partnerships, and shared resources can create value that extends beyond a successful event.
Rather than pursuing as many projects as possible, PEAS wants to first understand what meaningful community collaboration looks like in practice, identify what creates genuine and lasting value, and use those lessons to strengthen the CPPP initiative.
We recognize that organizations often have trusted relationships with artists, volunteers, suppliers, production companies, sponsors, businesses, and other community partners. PEAS is not here to replace those relationships.
Our broader aim is to strengthen the network surrounding a project, help identify opportunities for collaboration, and explore how existing and new community resources can work together to create greater impact. PEAS works alongside other organizations and respects their roles.
Following the pilot projects, PEAS will evaluate what it has learned and use those findings to help shape the program before introducing CPPP through its first external community partnership.
We believe the strongest programs are not simply designed for communities ...
they are developed with them.
Philter Entertainment & Arts Society respectfully acknowledges that we provide our programs and services within the communities and traditional territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples, including the Songhees and Xʷsepsəm (Esquimalt) Nations, and the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples.
The PEAS Model
The PEAS Model brings together the ideas, relationships, and experiences that shape how PEAS works with communities.
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