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Culture Days Stories: The Saskatchewan Arts Alliance – Regina, SK

November 30th, 2011 by Culture Days

The following story “Buzzing about buttons with the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance” was submitted by David Sereda, Communications & Outreach Officer of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance, and documents their Culture Days 2011 activites.

There’s something magical about making buttons. Bringing several existing parts together but adding your own dash, statement and individuality. We thought this could be a Culture Days activity for all ages, hands-on, and that the activity would draw people in because of the fun factor. While we were making buttons together, we could have a conversation about what the arts meant to each participant. Some of those ideas would end up on one-of-a-kind buttons that would travel the city, the province and beyond. Every day is Culture Day at the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance.  Every day we look for ways to increase the visibility of arts and cultural activity, and spur conversations about the importance of the arts to a truly healthy society. Culture Days, which celebrates artistic activity, seemed the perfect platform to inaugurate our button-maker.

The Saskatchewan Arts Alliance held two Button Bees in downtown Regina, one outdoors and one inside. We teamed up with two of our member organizations, The Globe Theatre and the Dunlop Art Gallery, who provided set-up space and tables. This was our first time to participate in Culture Days, and we decided that partnering would not only increase our potential audiences but it reflected the work we do as an organization: we represent artists and cultural industries across the province. With the help and encouragement of Johanna Bundon, one of the Saskatchewan Culture Days animateurs, we found others who would be a good fit with our activity then decided that we’d make the most of it by linking with two organizations. We brought materials for people to collage with, a variety of coloured pens and pencils and also had ready-made designs with slogans about the power of artistic activity. These new slogans were the fruit of our online Slogan Brainstorm held this summer on our facebook page: The Arts Live Here, Powered by the Arts and Art Works. (You can download these from our website: www.artsalliance.sk.ca)

The Button Bees were buzzing: we had line-ups on Scarth Street even as we were setting up outside the Globe. There were lots of smiles, intense concentration, and pride in the finished pieces. At the Dunlop, we had dueling machines in the foyer of the film theatre, where the Sound Jam led by composer Jeff Morton was spinning its aural magic. The arts engage us, for even in a simple activity we use so much of ourselves: our aesthetic sense, emotions, and ideas. We share our results with friends and strangers, admire each other’s work and think about the possibilities of what a small circle can hold. It was a wonderful activity, and in the style of bees of the past, an opportunity to share ideas and information in words and in buttons.

If you have something to say about public participation and engagement in arts and culture, post it on the Culture Days blog! Submit your vision or post from your own blog via email at stories@culturedays.ca and Culture Days will share your story with the growing network.

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days 2011, Culture Days stories, Saskatchewan, opinions, seen | Tags: , ,

Culture Days Stories: Sandi – Elgin County, ON

November 28th, 2011 by Culture Days

The following story “Author Bonnie Burnard visits Elgin County Library for Culture Days” was submitted by Sandi Loponen, Coordinator of the Elgin County Library, and documents her Culture Days 2011 activity.

Bonnie Burnard, Giller Prize-winning author of A Good House, appeared at the Aylmer Old Town Hall Theatre on Friday, September 30th for a special engagement hosted by Elgin County Library to celebrate Culture Days. Library staff jumped at the chance to invite Ms. Burnard, whose stories and characters are also based in rural, southwestern Ontario. The library celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2011, so Culture Days provided us with a perfect excuse to bring in an author of Ms. Burnard’s calibre.

Burnard charmed the audience with a reading from A Good House and offered advice to book clubs on approaches to discussing literary works. The audience also enjoyed the opportunity to ask the author questions about her life as a writer and her major works. The evening wrapped up with a wine and cheese reception and an opportunity for fans to have their books signed by the author.

Author Bonnie Burnard (left) is interviewed by, Library Coordinator, Sandi Loponen.

Planning our Culture Days event was a lot of fun for our staff. It was truly a team effort, with everyone bringing their best ideas and input to the table. We had a lot of fun offering a lovely night out for book lovers!

We received a lot of positive feedback from those in attendance. For some, it was an opportunity to join with kindred spirits who love a good book. For aspiring writers, it was a chance to seek advice and learn more about the craft.

Bonnie Burnard confessed that it has taken her longer than she hoped to finish the novel she is currently working on. As encouragement, library staff assured her that they would love to invite her to speak again… just as soon as she finishes her next great novel.

If you have something to say about public participation and engagement in arts and culture, post it on the Culture Days blog! Submit your vision or post from your own blog via email at stories@culturedays.ca and Culture Days will share your story with the growing network.

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days 2011, Culture Days stories, Ontario, opinions, seen | Tags: , , , ,

Tips For Writing A Culture Days Story

November 7th, 2011 by Culture Days

Storytelling is a great way to share your Culture Days experience! But sometimes it’s easier said than done, so Culture Days has compiled a few handy tips to get the creative ball rolling.

Sharing your story will undoubtedly inspire others to take action in their communities and support the arts and culture! Whether you were an activity organizer or member of the public who participated in the over 5,500 activities that took place throughout the country over the Culture Days 2011 weekend, your first-hand experience is distinct and insightful – so don’t be shy!

Because your story is uniquely yours, feel free to use the format in which you feel most comfortable (ie. short story, essay, question and answer, etc.) with a maximum length of 500 words.

Here are some questions to get the ball rolling and to help ward off that pesky writer’s block! Feel free to use them as a guide to help you document your experience.

For Activity Organizers
Who are you and what do you do?
Why did you want to get involved in Culture Days?
What opportunities did you identify for you/your organization/community’s participation?
What did you organize for the Culture Days weekend? Describe your activity and the goals you set out for your activity.
What made your Culture Days 2011 activity unique?
What kind of feedback did you get from those who attended your activity?
Are there any moments from the lead up to and during the weekend that stand out?
Any moments during the weekend that made an impression on you?
What were the keys to your success?
What did you learn from your experience of Culture Days overall?
Do you foresee any long-term benefits for you/your organization and/or cultural community?
Is there anything else about your Culture Days experience that you’d like to share?

For Public Participants
Who are you and where are you from?
How did you discover Culture Days?
Why did you want to participate in Culture Days 2011 activities in your community?
What activities did you participate in and what attracted you to them?
Did you participate alone, with your family or friends?
Are there any moments during the weekend that stand out in your mind?
What did you learn/take away from your experience of Culture Days?
Are you planning on participating in Culture Days again next year?
Is there anything else about your Culture Days experience that you’d like to share?

Please submit your story to Culture Days via email at stories@culturedays.ca and it may be included in an upcoming blog post or newsletter.

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days 2011, Results and impact, community organizers, for activity organizers, opinions, role of arts and culture, seen, uncategorized | Tags: , , ,

Passport to Culture – An Interview with Marlee Robinson

September 19th, 2011 by Culture Days

Culture Days – Who are you and what do you do?
Marlee Robison – I am a retired art historian and event planner. One of the organisations I am involved with is the Erie Ridge Cultural Action Team (CAT) of which I am Chair. Our focal point is the development of cultural activities in our area. Chatham-Kent is an amalgamated community of 22 scattered towns with a total population of approximately 107,000. The Erie Ridge CAT runs along Lake Erie at the eastern end of the municipality.

CD – What made your 2010 Culture Days activities unique?
MR – We created the “Passport to Culture” – a sort of cultural Doors Open. The Passport featured 8 stops covering a wide range of cultural assets in this area of Chatham-Kent in our predominantly rural area.  With funding from the Community Futures Development Corporation, we designed and printed maps and posters, as well as supplied ballot boxes for draw prizes. We tried designing maps that people would want to keep, highlighting local cultural centres.

Chatham-Kent’s diverse history includes early Black settlements. The Buxton National Historic Site and Museum on the original site of the Elgin Settlement, one of the last stops on the Underground Railway for hundreds of fugitive slaves, offered free admission for the day and organised guest artists with deep roots in the Buxton community. Three bead makers from the New Hope Beaders took part using handmade beads from Uganda to make jewellery. Profits from the sale of the jewellery funds schools in the Rift Valley in Tanzania.

We included Ridgetown weekly Farmers’ Market, which features locally grown produce and handmade craft items. A number of crafters did demonstrations on the day.

Two specialty gift shops participated. Mitton’s Jewellery Ltd. (established in 1897 and still run by the Mitton family) arranged the first solo exhibition of local jeweller, Brenda Braun. Mittons, which has received a Mayor’s Heritage Award, now stocks Brenda Braun’s jewellery on a regular basis as result of the Culture Days event. The second store, Antiquated Joys, exhibited painted pottery, glassware, and furniture by Lynda Goldhawk.

Another stop on the Passport trail was the Blenheim Freedom Library and Museum which celebrates the history of veterans in the area. The museum, housed in a former church, contains uniforms, medals, and biographies of veterans who served in the first and second world wars. The library houses 1,500 reference books and videotapes. During the Culture Days event, Veterans talked to people about their experiences and interacted with visitors.

The Blenheim Historical Society is housed in Heritage House of Blenheim & District, a family home dating back to the 1870s. The home was restored and furnished and is now used for the community archives and collections.

The Mary Webb Cultural and Community Centre is housed in the former Highgate United Church. This successful adaptive re-use is in the early stages of transformation into a venue for entertainment, presentations, education, cultural and community activities. For Culture Days, volunteers gave guided tours of the centre and the CK Etsy artisan group demonstrated and sold home crafts.

Finally, we were really excited when the local library asked to participate. The library put up a display of European centres: travel books about Europe, fiction books with stories taking place in European location, and videos of European countries. People from different communities were invited to speak about their culture.

CD – What inspired or surprised you about Culture Days?
MR – Rural communities can be seen as isolated, so by taking part in something that was across Canada, we were given a chance to confirm that we were a part of the national community.  We were pleased that our efforts were acknowledged in our community and that we were one on a list of 26 participants to be highlighted across the country in the Globe and Mail.

CD - What did you learn from your experience of Culture Days that would be useful for other activity organizers to know?
MR - Arts and culture is everywhere. People enjoy learning about different things. Stores and libraries are cultural centres. People need to be open to what is around them. Passport to Culture was a good name, because it was seen as an awakening journey. We would like to do more music and literary arts in the future.

The Mary Webb Centre has already had concerts by a number of Juno winners and now has a poetry reading evening coming up featuring award-winning poets.

CD - What do you feel is the impact of culture in your community?
MR - We are mainly an agricultural community. We are also a manufacturing community, but this industry has had a decline. Municipalities are starting to understand that culture and heritage create jobs - not just for artists, but also for the people who work around culture, bringing new money into the economy. Visible culture brings a higher quality of life attracting entrepreneurs and businesses.

View Comments | Posted in Community spotlight, Culture Days 2010, Culture Days stories, Ontario, Results and impact, community organizers, opinions | Tags: , , , ,

An Inspiration Tune-up

September 15th, 2011 by SaskCulture

Below is a blog entry by Paul Wilson, an active Culture Days Animateur in Saskatchewan. Paul is a writer and publisher, and has been engaging the public through an exercise of creating an “Invisible Library”.


Some writers will tell you that inspiration is for wimps, or that it doesn’t really exist and the only way to produce as a writer is to put your butt in a chair until the ideas come. I take a different approach with inspiration, I want to be inspiration’s friend and I want to know all I can about our on-again, off-again relationship.

When I feel inspired to write a poem, I’m usually so pleased to have creativity on my side again I rarely stop to notice where and when I was given the impetus to write. However when I’ve hit a dry spot in my creativity and nothing seems to inspire me I spend a good deal of time pondering this mysterious process.

I would like to suggest that there are two distinct kinds of inspiration. The first is Primary Inspiration; of course each of us has our own distinct sources of this form of inspiration. For me these sources  include  solitary sojourns into nature, walks in the city which involve people watching, relationships with people I love and people I barely know,  also collect small snippets of conversation I hear in cafes and other public places. Then of course I have to mention my senses which are arbiters of primary inspiration.

Often a phrase or poetic line has arisen from a particular fragrance or an unexpected sound. Suddenly I’m transported to a heightened sense of awareness or become aware of a potent memory which in turn leads to a poem.  Touch and taste play less of a role with my creative process yet I am aware that images involving touch reoccur regularly in my writing. Visual artists, dancers, actors, musicians would likely share some of the same sources of inspiration but may also contrast sharply in other areas.

Secondary Inspiration arises when we are moved by the creative intent within a work of art, not our own. We may be in an art gallery or a library and the instant we see a painting or read a particular story or poem we feel we have been given something that we must in turn share with the world. Writers read, painters look at paintings, dancers study choreography and so on. While artists are compelled to learn more about their art form, it is also natural to be inspired by other artists. As a writer I am inspired by writers in all genres and  I am equally inspired by the works of painters, musicians, dancers, in fact most art forms. If we want to understand the the transformative nature inspiration plays in our lives we must live by the declaration: I will take inspiration from where I find it.

What is an inspiration tune-up?

Does inspiration just happen, do we have any control at all over how, when and where it arrives? Perhaps not but we can become more sensitive to what specific conditions bring our inspired impulses to the forefront.

Try this: for one week keep a small notepad with you at all times. Make a running list of inspired ideas as they arise as well as the time, location and experience that triggered the ideas. Were you in the shower, on a walk, waking up or falling to sleep, waiting in line a Tim Horton’s? At the end of each day review the list looking for connections between the experience and the ideas themselves. Do you always get an idea for a painting or a poem when you get up early and eat breakfast alone? Maybe this is because as a child this alone-time allowed you to write and illustrate your own stories. Over the course of your tune up week you will find that certain experiences fall into the category of “primary inspiration”. As you become more attuned to these experiences take time each day to cherish these moments. Don’t be discouraged when ideas don’t come, just relax in the knowledge that inspiration is on the way and you will be ready to act when the time comes.


Follow Paul on Twitter! @InvisiblePoet11

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days stories, Saskatchewan, opinions, uncategorized | Tags:

My Invisible Library

September 15th, 2011 by SaskCulture

Below is a blog entry by Paul Wilson, an active Culture Days Animateur in Saskatchewan. Paul is a writer and publisher, and has been engaging the public through an exercise of creating an “Invisible Library”.


I’ve been writing poetry since I was a baffled teen, about forty years. I have published four books of poetry and have just completed my fifth collection, “The Invisible Library”. I am also a culture worker, editor, and publisher (Hagios Press). Currently I have the best summer job ever as an Artist Animateur for SaskCulture promoting Culture Days, September 30, October 1 and 2, 2011. Culture Days is a celebration of arts and cultural involvement from coast to coast to coast in Canada. I’m proud to be one of its champions this year. for the last three years as I have worked on a poetry manuscript titled “The Invisible Library”. Invisible books have no substance beyond the context given in the books where they are mentioned. They are fragments of the imagination of the author, but yet somehow they light a flame in the imagination of the reader. What would that book be like?

Once aware of the invisible library I began to notice entries in books I was reading. It seemed a short leap from these discoveries to wanting to create entries in the invisible library myself. In this writing process I have been inspired by the invisible library but all the titles used in my poems are original and not borrowed from other sources. Soon the poems I was writing took on more imagistic and metaphoric weight. I found that the concept was leading me into fascinating thematic and psychological territory.

In June I began a term position as an Artist Animateur for SaskCulture in aid of supporting and promoting Culture Days, Canada’s celebration of arts and culture from coast to coast to coast. This summer I have acted as Poet in Residence (at the Invisible Library) at several events in southern Saskatchewan, where I have read poems from my book and engaged people in the creative act of writing their own “invisible” titles into a book I’ve carried with me. The response when I ask someone to participate is usually a smile or even a chuckle at the thought of them becoming an instant author. While the writer may want to pause and think it over, I encourage them to use the first good thought they have. Many of the participants use their own name but they are also allowed to sign a pseudonym that plays off the title.

Here are a few samples of the anonymous entries I’ve collected:

The creation of a book title, imaginary or or real requires a creative leap and writing the title of an invisible book one that resonates, requires employing one’s intuition. It’s fascinating to watch participants as they contemplate and then write their invisible book title. While many have not written a book, they all have read books and have perhaps entertained thoughts of writing one day. They may tap into a humorous idea or one that speaks to them personally and as they do they are also thinking about the the importance of books in their lives.

So far I have collected over seventy book titles in my Invisible Library, and welcome more via e-mail: wilsonhpaul@gmail.com. At the end of my term I will post the complete list of titles here on my blog and the “library” will be archived with SaskCulture. I look forward to seeing your entry into the world of invisible books.


Follow Paul on Twitter! @InvisiblePoet11

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days stories, Saskatchewan, opinions, seen, uncategorized, ways to get involved | Tags: , ,

Culture Days Stories: Catherine – Kingston, ON (Part 2)

August 25th, 2011 by Culture Days

“Confessions of a First-Time Organizer” a great blog post written by Catherine (aka Kingston Through My Lens) and is the second installment in a series of posts that documents her experience and participation in Culture Days 2011.

Click here to read Catherine’s previous post.

Organizing Kingston Through My Lens has definitely been a whirlwind adventure. We’ve experienced many ups and downs, but already the results are amazing. We’ve inspired multiple other photography projects, and we’re looking forward to the start of the project. Thinking back, there are three things that I have gleaned from starting this initiative. They’re my three tips for successful community engagement practice if you will.

Be excited and spread the word

People need to know what you’re up to, and they need to see that you believe in the project. Bring other people on board who can share that excitement with you as well.

Dream big and be flexible, but never lose sight of your mission

You need to have a clear goal of what you hope to achieve from your project while being able to adapt to the circumstances. We all have the ability to be creative, so tap into that! It’s really important, though, to remember why you decided to start the project in the first place, and to make sure the end result is true to that original vision.

Use your connections and don’t be afraid to build new ones

Starting with the people you already know is a great way to go. Further to that, with technology and online media being what it is today, it’s even easier to send someone an email and let them know what you’re doing. You’ll be surprised with how willing people are to meet you and learn more about your project.

Click here to learn more about the Kingston Through My Lens project and follow Catherine’s Culture Days journey.

If you have something to say about public participation and engagement in arts and culture, post it on the Culture Days blog! Submit your vision or post from your own blog via email at stories@culturedays.ca and Culture Days will share your story with the growing network.

View Comments | Posted in Community spotlight, Culture Days stories, Ontario, community organizers, for activity organizers, opinions, ways to get involved | Tags: , , , , , ,

Waabi-ma’iingan (Grey Wolf) Traditional Teaching Lodge – Thunder Bay, ON

August 12th, 2011 by Culture Days

Nazanin Shoja, the OAC Culture Days Ontario Animator/Coordinator spoke with Cynthia Coons, Assistant Coordinator of the Waabi-ma’iingan (Grey Wolf) Traditional Teaching Lodge about what they offered the residents of Thunder Bay, ON during Culture Days 2010.

Culture Days – Who are you and what do you do?

Cynthia Coons – Waabi-ma’iingan is a teaching lodge which reconnects people with their spiritual side. We have ceremonies 4 times a year, Elders and Youth Gatherings once a year and a sharing circle every two weeks. At Waabi-ma’iingan, we encourage tolerance and offer a comfortable environment where non-aboriginals can learn about Aboriginal culture as well.

CD – What made your 2010 Culture Days activity unique?

CC – We held an Elders and Youth Gathering entitled “Voices from the Past, For Tomorrow.” We had Elders come from 50 different communities, from all over Ontario. Many people were invited to come to the lodge to listen to the Elders speak.

CD – What inspired or surprised you about Culture Days?

CC – The event was very successful. People kept asking when the next one would be happening.

CD – What do you feel is the impact of culture in your community?

CC – There has been a very positive impact. On the last day of the event, the youth were invited to speak. They discussed issues such as racism and expressed their desire to learn more about their culture and reconnect with their native language and heritage. As a result of these discussions, the lodge has been going to St. Pat’s high school, where an Aboriginal counselor visits with the students and teaches them about Aboriginal culture and traditions. They are also in the process of arranging a sweat lodge for them, since they had no access to that before.

View Comments | Posted in Community spotlight, Culture Days 2010, Ontario, community organizers, opinions, seen, uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,

Culture Days Stories: Catherine – Kingston, ON

August 11th, 2011 by Culture Days

Here’s a great blog post written by Catherine (aka Kingston Through My Lens) that documents her experience as a first-time activity organizer.

If you were to look in my desk, you would find a thick brown notebook filled with many of my hopeful community initiatives. The ideas in this notebook range from book swaps to transit reform, small art projects to large institutional changes. The majority of these ideas will remain just that – ideas. However, within those ideas are scattered a few creative seeds that do manage to take root, and will one day blossom into something bigger and better.

Near the beginning of this book, dated sometime in February, you will find scribblings from the start of my current project, Kingston Through My Lens. In a nutshell, Kingston Through My Lens is a 10-day, themed photo adventure that hopes to capture life in Kingston as is. It aims to allow the people of the community to see where their life intersects with the lives of others, and to bring everyone together to affect change within the city. Every day, participants will submit one photo, which will be added to a growing collection to be exhibited both online as well as in print during Kingston Culture Days. At the print exhibit, everyone will be able to experience the photographers’ stories and pictures, and they will get a chance to add their own stories to the collection. At its core, Kingston Through My Lens is about community creation, conversation, and transformation.

Over the last few months, I have been asked on multiple occasions to encapsulate the growing process of Kingston Through My Lens. The story you are about to read is my attempt at putting those thoughts down on paper, of documenting how this idea really came to be. This is a story of what happens when you give one idea a chance – a chance to grow, to develop, and to adapt to the world that it is born into.

For the past five years, I’ve had the privilege of living and learning in Kingston, Ontario. Kingston is a mid-sized town in Eastern Ontario with a lot of history and a bright future. Its claims to fame include being Canada’s first capital city and home to Queen’s University, where I recently graduated from the Faculty of Education. Kingston is no stranger to community events, and with its friendly atmosphere, it seemed the most suitable place for me to try my hand at organizing my own community initiative.

Something you need to know about me is that I am no professional photographer. Mostly, I use my point and shoot camera to capture the world around me. Despite my limited experience, one thing I know for sure is that a picture is worth a thousand words. And with prevalence of cameras being what it is today – phones, digital cameras, SLRs – I thought that photography would be a perfect vehicle for my first community project.

The first thing I needed to do was to get some people on board with my idea. After spending hours online looking at other projects, developing my own idea, and scoping out people who could help me, I decided to go out on a limb and email some of the people I found. The emails were simple – I told them who I was, what I wanted to do, and that I would really like to meet them. Through these emails, I ended up meeting two individuals who would both play a large role in getting Kingston Through My Lens off the ground. The very first person to respond to my emails was Greg Tilson, the program coordinator at the Kingston Arts Council. He was the one who introduced me to the Culture Days movement and who encouraged me to make this project happen right away. The second person I met was Jennifer Chan, the founder of a design thinking organization called Exhibit Change. She was someone that I had stumbled upon through Twitter, and who had a ton of experience in community building initiatives. She agreed to work with me on this project and together we started to hash out our ideas. We really liked the free, participatory, arts-driven mandate of Culture Days, so we decided to register for the movement. The project found itself the name “Through My Lens” and it was decided that Jenn would head up an exhibit in Toronto called Toronto Through My Lens, while I would continue with my vision for Kingston Through My Lens.

April was the month where we really started to get moving on the project. The Kingston Culture Days planning committee held its very first get-together, and I was invited to be part of the group. There, I met Aubrey, the Culture Days Ontario Manager, as well as some movers and shakers from the City of Kingston and other prominent local groups. It was at that first meeting that I really began to build partnerships with other organizations in Kingston who would be able to help me realize this idea.

From there, it has been a whirlwind adventure. The past few months have been full of both wonderful surprises like being given the chance to be featured in a local magazine and frustrating obstacles, such as struggling with how to print all the images. I’ve had to look into countless things, from the larger vision and how to secure sponsorships to individual logistics like how to set up the space on the day of and how many volunteers I’ll need. Days have been spent in front of the computer, setting up the website, starting up social media pages, and promoting the event. Through it all, I have relied on my supports to keep me afloat, and I often need to remind myself to share the workload and to ask for help. When in doubt, I am reminded to go back to the root of the project, which is to give people a chance to see their community in a new light, to document their everyday life, and to share it with others who live around them.

In the end, I know it will all be worth it. To be able to see people in a community enjoy themselves while getting to know their surroundings in a new and creative way – that is the greatest gift.

This post is the first in a series of blog posts that will follow Catherine’s experience and participation in Culture Days 2011.

Click here to learn more about the Kingston Through My Lens project and follow Catherine’s Culture Days journey.

If you have something to say about public participation and engagement in arts and culture, post it on the Culture Days blog! Submit your vision or post from your own blog via email at stories@culturedays.ca and Culture Days will share your story with the growing network.

View Comments | Posted in Community spotlight, Culture Days stories, Ontario, community organizers, opinions, ways to get involved | Tags: , , ,

Culture Days Stories: Susana – Winnipeg, MB

July 28th, 2011 by Culture Days

As the Culture Days weekend approaches, some activity organizers have taken to the web to document their participation in the movement.

Here’s an excerpt from a great blog post written by Susana (aka Lemon Dear).

The key to keep up with all the happenings is to be informed. Recently, misinformation cost me not being able to attend Winnipeg’s very own Soca and Reggae festival, which I had been looking forward to for quite a while (I must keep my senses more open).

After Michelle encouraged me to participate in Culture Days, ideas starting flowing and since then, she has kindly helped me shape them into their current form, her input has inspired me so much and all of her suggestions have made my projects bloom, so this is, in the very core, a thank you note to her and Culture Days.

It is not easy being a newcomer, and being able to participate in this amazing event is a truly beautiful way of feeling welcomed and home at last.

I am developing a personal project (a comic book!), alongside with working on my Culture Days activities, and soon my tiny flat will be an explosion of thread, fabric, paper and super fine pens… actually, it already is!

Thankfully, there are some very kind people out there willing to inform us! I was blessed to meet one of those wonderful persons (Michelle Rosner) during a Freeze Frame workshop given by the great local photographer Dustin Leader in which I was one of his assistants.

It was a pleasant surprise and an honour to find out about Culture Days through Michelle, and when I say an honour, I truly mean it, since Culture Days is, to me, an open arms invitation for all the inhabitants of Canada, regardless of their country of origin, to participate and express themselves and release their creativity – and in my case, to do one of the things I aspire to with my art: to honour my roots.

Click here to read Susana’s blog post in its entirety.

If you have something to say about public participation and engagement in arts and culture, post it on the Culture Days blog! Submit your vision or post from your own blog via email at stories@culturedays.ca and Culture Days will share your story with the growing network.

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days stories, Manitoba, for activity organizers, opinions, ways to get involved | Tags: , , ,
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