Charly Chiarelli to Perform Cu'Fu at KUF

On April 28 at 7:30pm, Charly Chiarelli will  perform Cu'Fu at the Kingston Unitarian Fellowship, 206 Concession Street. Cu'Fu is a play  that keeps pleasing audiences, year after year. The $20 admission includes light refreshments. Tickets can be purchased at the Novel Idea Bookstore, 156 Princess Street, or at KUF on Sunday morning. Charly  has kindly offered proceeds from the evening to go toward the KUF renovation fund. For more information about the show, phone 613-542-1997.

Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli was born in Sicily and grew up in the industrial north end of Hamilton, Ontario (where, in the 1950s there were 10,000 fellow Sicilians in one neighbourhood, all from the exact same town of Racalmuto). He skipped school to act as a family translator - dealing with major purchases and many confusing new-world bureaucrats.

As well as having mastered the lost art of being a "pin-boy" for downtown bowling alleys, Charly has a Master's degree in Social Work (also degrees in Psychology and Linguistics) but Charly does not let these credentials get in the way of his true loves of writing stories and songs, harmonica playing and performance art. Though he has directed his talent to everything from children's stories to a Hollywood movie, he refers to the performance of his one-man show Cu'Fu as his primary mission.

Cu'Fu is a multifaceted work with a hook for every hat. Charly's virtuoso harmonica playing ripples through the elegantly interwoven scenes. He accompanies himself with a musical mosaic of original, Anglo/Sicilian blues and haunting tunes from the old-country.

This amazing solo work has been performed in over one hundred different venues. The city of Toronto presented Cu'Fu as one of the highlights of its 1998 Canada Day celebration. In contrast to this venue, Cu'Fu was also performed for the Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Association of Psychotherapists.
For more information about Charly Chiarelli, visit his web site.

Open House on Sunday

Don't forget about the official opening ceremonies and open house this Sunday, April 15, at the Kingston Unitarian Fellowship. Come at 2:00pm and have a look around the building. At 3:00pm, join us for celebration and cake. You can find us at 206 Concession Street, just 3 doors east of our old building.

If you don't know what KUF is all about but would like to learn more, here's your chance to come have a look and chat with people. We don't claim to have all the answers to life's great mysteries. But we may help you in your search for religious meaning. You can read more about KUF's new building here, at this blog.

New Multi-Faith Religious Building Opens in Kingston

A former Steelworker's Union hall and Digigraphics building on Concession Street has been transformed over the past six months into multiple meeting spaces and shared multi-faith religious rooms, office rentals and performance space, with Bruce Downey as architect and many members of the Kingston Unitarian Fellowship involved in planning and renovations. The newly renovated three-storey building will be celebrated by Unitarians and Kingstonians alike at its Open House on April 15.

The Kingston Unitarian Fellowship moved from its earlier meeting spaces on the Queen's campus and various Kingston locations since its organization in 1954 to its first fully-owned building in 1990 at 214 Concession, and then took the plunge on purchasing the 206 Concession Street site in the summer of 2011.

One third of the building is being leased to private businesses and individuals. Meeting rooms and performance space is available for individual rental use.

An Open House celebrating the new building is planned for April 15, from 2-4pm. Tours are available at 2pm, with celebration words and music performances at 3pm and refreshments and activities for children. A warm welcome is offered to all. The KUF website is www.kuf.ca.

The new building provides larger space for KUF, a welcoming, liberal religious community committed to the Unitarian Universalist principles of recognizing the inherest dignity and worth of every person; promoting justice, equity and compassion in human relations; acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in communities; promoting a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; promoting the right of conscience and the use of democratic process in our congregation and in society at large; promoting the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all; and respecting the interdependent web of existence, of which we are all a part. All ages find KUF a place of welcome and support for ethical and spiritual exploration.

KUF sponsors events such as the annual Child Haven gala held this year at Memorial Hall on March 31. Members are involved in various social justice initiatives in Kingston and beyond. This summer, 20 members and friends will Paddle the Rideau from Kingston to Ottawa to raise funds for ongoing renovations to their new home.