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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: , , , , , ,

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: , , ,

Share YOUR Vision

July 20th, 2011 by Culture Days

Here’s a great personal vision as to what Culture Days is about from Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director of the Alliance for Arts & Culture and active member of the Culture Days British Columbia Task Force.

Click here to read Amir’s blog post.

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 we’ll share your story with the growing Culture Days network.

View Comments | Posted in Culture Days stories, opinions, role of arts and culture | Tags: , ,

The Elevator Pitch: A Short Explanation of Culture Days

July 14th, 2011 by Culture Days

As the Culture Days event weekend grows nearer, lots of people are talking about it. However, you may be wondering how to explain what Culture Days is all about. Without getting too lengthy or going into too much detail, how do you talk about Culture Days?

An elevator pitch is a great way of highlighting key aspects of what makes Culture Days unique to someone who is unfamiliar with the movement. An elevator pitch is a clear and concise description, and its name reflects the idea that one should be able to deliver a short summary in the span of an elevator ride.

When telling friends, family and anyone else about your activity or Culture Days in general, an elevator pitch is an enticing and efficient way to share your message!

Below is an elevator pitch you can use when talking about Culture Days.

Culture Days Elevator Pitch

  • Culture Days is a collaborative pan-Canadian, volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities.
  • Culture Days is a grassroots movement that self-mobilizes to implement concurrent, annual, province-wide public participation events that take place throughout the country over the last weekend of September.
  • This year, Culture Days is taking place throughout the country on September 30, October 1 & 2.
  • Thousands of artists, individuals, organizations and communities are involved in organizing Culture Days.
  • Culture Days events feature free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind the scenes,” to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.
  • Culture Days is the largest-ever grassroots campaign to celebrate the arts and promote cultural participation in Canada.
  • You can find out more via the Culture Days web site: CultureDays.ca
View Comments | Posted in community organizers, for activity organizers, marketing & PR | Tags: , ,

Community Spotlight: Ed Schleimer – Woodcut Printmaker, New Hamburg, Ontario

April 14th, 2011 by sbattle

As many across the country are starting to organize activities for Culture Days 2011, people are writing in, sharing their stories and what they’re planning for this year’s event, happening September 30, October 1 & 2. Here, we’re profiling individual artists who will be sharing their craft with those in their communities over the 2011 Culture Days weekend.

We heard about Culture Days through Martin DeGroot’s Saturday column in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record and we’ve elected to participate to give the public a window on our world and an opportunity to explore the possibilities of the woodcut medium.

For Culture Days, I would suggest that the interested come in with a drawing to be reversed and transferred using a mirror or carbon paper. I recommend a straightedge slant because the image has to be transferred to wood, and grain is a determining factor. Participants will therefore be able to work through the wood and translate their ideas to a print using ink and press. I will show some examples of colour approaches, but the basic exercise will be in black water soluable ink – I have done reduction cuts as well as offset multiple blocs in colour, but there is much more involved – jig saw puzzle approaches are another variant of colour possibilities.

Woodcut Printmaking is the oldest method of reproducing images. Its earliest application in the Western World was to give “everyman” the opportunity to understand scripture through the “universal language” of art.  I have embraced that slant and was told early on, before I put knife to wood, that my work had a religious flavour. Curiously enough, my wife and I now find ourselves retired from the workplace in a refurbished 123 year old church I call the “Chapel of the Glass Stoneman”. We are adrift in this Ark on a See [sic] of Landscape.  In the last 3 years out here, I have done about 55 blocs inspired by the land, its history and architecture on my mythic journey.

Self-portrait by Ed Schleimer

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

Spotlight: Onalee Groves – Barrie, Ontario

March 3rd, 2011 by Culture Days

Culture Days 2010 demonstrated that municipalities can play a key role as community organizers. By convening a broad suite of partners and creative activities while leveraging their resources to provide local marketing support, they generated community excitement and participation in the event. In this Community Spotlight feature, you’ll meet Onalee Groves, Cultural Officer, in the City of Barrie, Ontario’s Department of Culture, who played a key role in Barrie’s successful Culture Days event in 2010.


Culture Days: What is your name and role? What city and province are you in?

Onalee Groves: Onalee Groves, Department of Culture, Culture Officer, Development – City of Barrie, Ontario

CD: How did you first hear about Culture Days?

OG: I think our Provincial Consultant sent out emails informing us of it and encouraging us to participate.

CD: What inspired you to get involved and what opportunities did you identify for your community’s participation in Culture Days?

OG: I loved the idea of raising the awareness of the arts on a national scale and felt strongly that it was a wonderful opportunity for collaboration, not just with our arts community, but our businesses, our politicians, our tourism industry, our BIA, and our residents. It was inspiring to feel a part of something that was so grand and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to profile our community through the many ways that Culture Days offers, such as the website, newspaper ads, CBC etc.

CD: How did you approach organizing Culture Days in your community? Who were some of the people and organizations you worked with in organizing and promoting your community’s celebration of Culture Days?

OG: We formed a cross sectoral committee. We had representatives from our BIA, our Art Gallery – the MacLaren, the Barrie Folk Society, one of our Theatre organizations, Theatre by the Bay, members of our Arts Council, several of whom are vested in social media organizations like Rhubarb Media and MH Connects, and some local businesses such as the Flying Monkeys Micro-Brewery. We also involved internal partners from the City, as we utilized our recreation facilities for performances and our Communications department to develop promotional materials.

Each of the organizations on the committee had their own contacts that we called upon in an effort to provide opportunities throughout the entire city.

CD: Please describe what you did to promote Culture Days activities and spread the word in your community.

OG: We utilized the Culture Days website, the City of Barrie’s website and the media opportunities that are available to us through our Communications Department, such as “Barrie This Week” in our local paper, The Barrie Examiner, as well as issuing press releases to profile the events. We created booklets, ‘Passports to Culture’ that outlined all of the activities and we dispersed them to all of the designated locations in advance so they could begin to raise the awareness of Culture Days.

We tried to involve locations where people would not ordinarily expect to see art, so we planned a flash mob with our Opera company, Opera Belcanto in one of our malls. The malls and the businesses and recreation facilities all assisted us by putting up posters that outlined some of the exciting performances and told people where they could get their ‘passports’.

CD: How did your marketing campaign come together? Were you able to convince media and promotional sponsors to get involved?

OG: For a first year we managed to acquire support from the local media, although this year I would like to involve them earlier in the process and perhaps have sponsors for each medium, i.e. one local paper, one television and one radio partner, in order to gain a higher profile.

CD: Are there any moments during the lead up to and during Culture Days weekend that really stand out in your mind?

OG: We could feel a buzz in the community as the event approached – like the excitement was building. I think the performers were giving off a lot of positive energy as the day approached.

CD: After your first experience with Culture Days in 2010, what longer-term benefits or lasting outcomes have you identified for continued annual participation? Challenges?

OG: For a first experience I saw this event as having enormous potential. We started last year with it being a one day event and I plan to grow it exponentially over the next few years, involve more artists, more businesses, more performing locations, more partners etc. I believe that the sky is the limit with this project! Challenges will be to find sponsors to shoulder some of the projected costs as we grow, but I think that we can work on building relationships with those that see the value of the arts, such as the media and business partners.

CD: What advice do you have for other community organizers who are planning for Culture Days 2011?

OG: If I were to give advice to other organizers, I would just say that some of our experiences weren’t quite as positive as others. We had a few single performers for some locations that were not reliable and did not show up, so the business owners were angry with us. This year, I will make every effort to trouble-shoot these kinds of issues, by having volunteers checking every location. If a performer doesn’t show up then we will have extras that we can allocate to fill the performance space. So the advice would be to pull in lots of volunteers, as last year we only placed volunteers in locations where we held multiple performances.

CD: Was there anything you learned in 2010 that you’d count as a lesson for the future or a key success factor?

OG: We are quite excited that this year we are going to be combining our Culture Days event with Doors Open and another event at the MacLaren Art Centre entitled Carnegie Days. We are hoping that by cross promoting we will gain a larger audience and a higher profile. I think this is a great partnership in the making, with huge potential for growth.

CD: Is there anything else about your experience of Culture Days that you’d like to share?

OG: I would just say “get involved” to anyone that is out there sitting on the fence. This is an exciting opportunity for municipalities, large or small, and it has the ability to benefit your entire community, not just the arts sector. What are you waiting for?

Watch the Opera Belcanto flash mob in action at a local Barrie mall.

Share your Culture Days story! Email and upload your Culture Days photos to Flickr. You can also post to the Culture Days blog, add your comments, photos and videos to Facebook or tweet with the #culturedays hashtag and we’ll re-tweet your message.

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

Spotlight: Liesl Jauk – Richmond, British Columbia

March 3rd, 2011 by Culture Days

Culture Days 2010 demonstrated that municipalities can play a key role as community organizers. By convening a broad suite of partners and creative activities while leveraging their resources to provide local marketing support, they generated community excitement and participation in the event. In this Community Spotlight feature, you’ll meet Liesl Jauk who is the Manager of Cultural Development for the City of Richmond in British Columbia and played a key role in Richmond’s successful Culture Days event in 2010. Liesl is also a member of the Culture Days BC Task Force.


Culture Days: Can you briefly describe your current role and your background?

Liesl Jauk: I am the Manager of Cultural Development for the City of Richmond and have been in this position since fall 2008. Prior to that I have worked in the Vancouver arts community for about 20 years. Most recently co-running Rebus Creative which produces The Word On The Street festival, BC Book Prizes and does marketing for the Circle Craft Christmas Market among other things. I did/do graphic design for a range of arts clients, coordinate marketing and some event production. In terms of education I have a BA in Art History and MA in Social History of Art, plus some college courses in visual art (painting, drawing, printmaking, etc.)

CD: How did you first hear about Culture Days?

LJ: Via email from Culture Days. Not sure how I was on list, perhaps through Creative Cities Network, or Alliance for Arts & Culture.

CD: What made you want to get involved? What opportunities did you identify for Richmond’s participation?

LJ: Honestly, my boss, Jane Fernyhough, told me to do it ;)

CD: How did you approach promoting Culture Days? Who were some key people and organisations involved in organizing the community’s celebration of Culture Days?

LJ: First I contacted CD to find out exactly what was being offered and not offered; that is, how were we allowed/expected to use the CD branding, acknowledge sponsors, etc. The key issue was that this was a broad national toolkit, rather than a marketing campaign that would have any resonance “on the ground”. From a marketing perspective (beyond its “cultural call to action” raison d’etre) CD is basically a graphic identity and a website. The CBC and Globe and Mail ads are nice but meaningless outside of a pretty specific audience in urban centres. For CD to have any impact in a community like Richmond, it would need to be promoted on a local level in community newspapers, etc. This would require cash, arts community support and bringing on local promotional partners like The Richmond Review and Tourism Richmond.

CD: Richmond had an impressive marketing campaign for Culture Days. Describe what you did to advertise and spread the word.

LJ: As part of my position, I have compiled an email list of hundreds of local artists, arts organizations, umbrella organizations, businesses, etc. I use this list to get the word out about events and initiatives of interest to the arts community. So, it was through this list that I informed the local arts community about CD, and outlined the promotional opportunities offered through the Richmond campaign. These emails provided clear instructions re: what events would be eligible to participate, deadline dates to be included on printed promotional materials, etc. and over several weeks provided new info as new opportunities arose and updates were announced. Basically, I was inviting everyone to take part and enjoy some free promotion. I also invited them to subscribe to the CD e-bulletin.

CD: How did all the marketing activity come together? How were you able to convince media and promotional sponsors to get involved?

LJ: We met with reps from Richmond Review and Tourism Richmond, inviting them to help us shape the campaign, as this was as new to us as it was to them. I think that by making them true partners in the development of the program, there was a deeper “buy in” to the campaign  as they became creatively involved. It was through those meetings that the idea of the mini-bus tour for media and bloggers came to be, as well as the Fall Arts & Culture Preview issue of the newspaper, which had a 4-page wrap around supplement listing all the registered CD events in Richmond.

CD: Are there any moments from the lead up to and during the Culture Days weekend that stand out in your mind?

LJ: The mini-bus tour was a major highlight. We lucked out with good weather and enjoyed interesting behind-the-scenes tours at the Gateway Theatre and the Museum collections warehouse. Ending outside at the Terra Nova Rural Park to see the newly-built cob oven, experience “heritage” farming in a hands-on way and then eat food made from local ingredients was fantastic. Everyone there was beaming, feeling like they had had a very special experience.

Also, seeing so many people visit the Gateway Theatre for tours, where they had costumes, set design sketches and maquettes, masks, etc. on display was a big highlight. The visitors were clearly really engaged and fascinated to learn about how theatre happens.

Also, we made our Cultural Centre a hub of activity that weekend given many events were happening there. We put a large poster with balloons in the foyer that listed the dates, times and rooms of CD events. That helped attract people who just happened to be there, as did CD-branded directional signage to the various rooms.

CD: After Richmond’s first experience with Culture Days in 2010, what longer-term benefits have you identified for continued annual participation? Challenges?

LJ: Richmond’s Culture Days experience was extremely positive. The newspaper wrap supplement landed on the doorsteps of just about every resident. So just in terms of raising awareness of arts/culture/heritage in the community, as a legacy, this was a very beneficial experience.

Moreover, the participating artists and organizations enjoyed profile as well as the opportunity to share their work and enthusiasm with the general public. There were some community-based volunteer-run groups that participated and, I think, they were surprised at how fun it was and how much they had to gain by increasing their profile.

I can’t think of any specific challenges. For next year, we’ll assign volunteers as “greeters” at the Cultural Centre so visitors have a go-to person for information and directions.

CD: What advice do you have for other community organizers who are planning for Culture Days 2011? Was there anything you learned in 2010 that you’d count as a lesson for the future or a key success factor?

LJ: Establish a partnership with your local newspaper, the one that is delivered to everyone in the community. If you do not have an email contact list of artists/cultural organizations, partner with someone who does. The key is to communicate directly as possible with potential participants, outline in an upbeat way what’s in it for them, and then deliver. In our case, most participating artists do not have the capacity to do much beyond operate their event. They depend on you to provide the marketing, advertising, etc.

CD: What’s in store for Culture Days 2011 in Richmond?

LJ: Obviously, programming will be up to the participating artists and cultural organizations as to what is offered. Otherwise, we were really pleased with how things went so will likely repeat, as-is with perhaps a few minor tweaks.

CD: Is there anything else about your experience of Culture Days that you’d like to share?

LJ: In the first year, Culture Days in Richmond was a success that surpassed expectations, thanks in large part to enthusiastic partners Richmond Review and Tourism Richmond who came to the project as creative partners, eager to work with us to develop a city-wide campaign.

Culture Days went from being “one more thing we are expected to do” to an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Richmond’s cultural community, an opportunity that was enthusiastically embraced by residents and the participants who shared their passions beyond their usual circle.

We managed to not only participate in a national weekend of arts and culture, but to leverage the Culture Days brand for our own purposes, raising awareness among local citizens and raising Richmond’s profile beyond city limits and even nationally.

Share your Culture Days story! Email and upload your Culture Days photos to Flickr. You can also post to the Culture Days blog, add your comments, photos and videos to Facebook or tweet with the #culturedays hashtag and we’ll re-tweet your message.

View Comments | Posted in British Columbia, Community spotlight, Culture Days 2010, Culture Days stories, Local marketing & promotions, community organizers, for activity organizers, marketing & PR | Tags: , , , , , ,

Spotlight: Crystal Kolt – Flin Flon, Manitoba

March 3rd, 2011 by Culture Days

The story of Flin Flon, Manitoba and their Culture Days 2010 celebration, is an inspirational example of what can happen in a small northern Canadian community that has art in its heart. In this Community Spotlight you’ll hear directly from Crystal Kolt who works with the Flin Flon Arts Council and has been described by others in her community as the “spark” that ignited the amazing Culture Days celebration in what she calls “North Central Canada.”

Dancing Down Main Street. Photo: Julian Kolt, Cottage North

Throughout the weekend, Flin Flon, MB,  Creighton, SK and Denare Beach, SK heard opera, jazz, country, hip hop, classic pop, medieval lite, a cappella voice, instrumental music, choirs, solo voice, musical theatre, heavy metal, rock, fiddling, Metis, Aboriginal, and Celtic Music.

They saw acrylic, batik, face painting, pottery, birch bark biting, caribou tufting, weaving, quilt making, water colour, mixed media art, fibre art, mask making and sidewalk chalk art.

We experienced theatre, improv, storytelling, museums, history, heritage, literature, dance, artist studios, Aboriginal, Metis and global cultures.

We celebrated our very first Couture Fashion show, we celebrated our talented youth in film and the unbelievable happened when approximately 300 people Dance(d) Down Main Street to K’Naan’s Waving Flag.

My name is Crystal Kolt and I am the Cultural Coordinator of the Flin Flon Arts Council. I also organized the CULTURE DAYS events which took place in the area that I call North Central Canada which takes in Flin Flon, MB, Flin Flon, SK, Creighton, SK,  Denare Beach, SK and in 2010 this area included Thompson MB, Cranberry Portage, MB and The Pas, MB.  I am also on the Manitoba Provincial Task Force for CULTURE DAYS.

I first heard about CULTURE DAYS through Jean Giguere who Chairs the Manitoba Task Force and is on the CULTURE DAYS National Committee. As soon as Jean explained to me that there was a new Pan-Canadian movement starting that intended to celebrate simultaneously Canadian arts and Culture throughout the country, I was hooked.  I had felt for quite some time that CANADA needed something to boost its belief in the strength of its Artistic self.  Living in a small and rather remote Northern community I was excited to finally have the opportunity to link up with the rest of the Country in solidarity as artists and appreciators of our art.  With the backing of our largest media organizations I felt that it truly might be a possibility that we as Canadians would have the opportunity to share our contacts, artists and communities and network as we have never had the chance to network before.

Initially I had thought that Flin Flon and Creighton would have a minor role in Culture Days.  Nay sayers thought that it would be too cold,  too close to summer for the Schools to be involved,  too close to winter to enjoy the outdoors,  too new for organizations to want to participate, too new to have a vision of what to do, and eventually there would be those that would think that it was becoming too big, too …. whatever.  But of course you always get  some of that whenever you start a new initiative.  The surprise for everyone including myself was that quite the opposite happened.   The weather was gorgeous,  dozens of organizations took part,  thousands of people showed up,  the museums stayed open for hours after closing time,  over 1000 students, virtually every student in the Flin Flon and Creighton area participated in CULTURE DAYS events. Calm Air made it possible for Northern artists to have a presence in the National Culture Days Launch in Winnipeg allowing us to feature the fabulous Thompson Soprano Maria Luz Alvarez with Flin Flon composer/pianist  Mark Kolt and northern artists, Irvin Head, Elaine Angelski,  Sarah Trevor, Linda Mandes and Angelique Merasty. Stittco supplied heat in the outdoor Cafe to keep it cozy in the evenings.  Hudbay Mining saw the vision and kick-started us with our initial funds and all other funding bodies followed suite including The Flin Flon Neighbourhood Revitalization Corp, and the Manitoba Arts Council and of course CULTURE DAYS MB.  Artists and entertainers came from far and wide to take part in the weekend.   Over 100 volunteers manned the over 40 stations that were available for the general public to experience that weekend.  Our MP,  MLA and Minister of Housing cheered us on with a visit during the inspiring Opening Ceremonies where the Tent was blessed with Sweetgrass as male and female Aboriginal Drumming Groups from nearby Cranberry Portage inspired us with chant and drum.  CBC Radio North Country also walked our path recording the event from beginning to end, taking in and sharing with the rest of the north the many beautiful details small and large that surrounded us that weekend.

Initially I approached the Flin Flon Arts Council  (The artistic heartbeat of our area) about becoming involved then went directly to the artists themselves as well as the City of Flin Flon, The Town of Creighton and the Creighton and Flin Flon School Divisions requesting support of any kind.  Absolutely no one refused me.  Both the City of Flin Flon and the Town of Creighton offered venues as Gift-in-Kind.

Creighton School started organizing their very own in house Culture Days.  When a local subcommittee started thinking up ways to offer an equally wonderful experience to every child in the area we came up with programs such as SUPERSTAR! and ALL FOR THE ARTS.  We found storytellers and mask-makers, visual artists and musicians all willing to help out.   Organizations such as the Rotary Club, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Women’s League, and Lion’s Club stepped up to the plate offering what they could… a pancake dinner here,  serving at the Gala Cafe there, offering the Hand-Van to take guests around the town.  No one said no!   And that was what made it into the colossal event that it eventually become that last weekend in September  2010.

Once all these organizations and individual volunteers became involved word spread quickly.  But would people come and how would they know what to do? Of course I had had brochures out advertising CULTURE DAYS for many months,  I had spoken on the local radio station as well as the CBC and posters were made and distributed around the area and ads were placed in the local newspaper, but in addition to that, I decided to make a glossy gorgeous Program to show the folks at home and visitors where to find the activities and what was going on throughout the weekend.  That was a defining decision.  Once people saw the programs around town they knew that CULTURE DAYS was a serious event.  Something they needed to see!

Leading up to the event I had a hunch that it would be a success when I needed to add tables for people at my monthly hour long (to the minute because I like short meetings) luncheon meetings.  During the event itself there were so many memorable moments to count.  I have snapshots in my mind of the smell of Sweetgrass and earth in the outdoor Gala Cafe which was decorated with the original 1950 Christmas lights that were on the Christmas tree that would have been in the centre of town 60 years ago. The sounds of the male and female drumming group.   Visitors that were visiting Canada from Germany heard about our Culture Days events somehow when they were in Alberta and actually came to check it out.  Not only did they have an amazing cultural experience some local people in the community took them out for their other passion… mushroom hunting.  I have snapshots images of a 1000 kids experiencing maskmaking, film-making, hip hop, theatre improv, storytelling and museums.   We had our very first couture fashion show with 50 designs from Patricia Glanville and 30 designs from Leonne Kabole (Kenya) and Laurie Brown (original Flin Flonner now in Toronto).  One of the biggest surprises of course was our Dancing Down Main Street to K’Naan’s  WAVING FLAG.  I really didn’t know if there would be 3 or 4 people ‘dancing’ with me and our choreographer Sarah Moore but I was determined to give it a go.  When a few hundred people showed up and others lined the street to watch, it was one of those Hollywood-style-you-need-to get-a-tissue moments.  Every age from toddler to senior, guys and girls alike danced down Main Street Flin Flon that morning.  Who knew?!  Especially in a small Northern Hockey Playing Mining Town.  But it did indeed happen and it was a thing to behold.

Because of CULTURE DAYS our community for certain and I believe much more of our Province is starting to understand us.  Yes we are a mining community but we are the HEART OF ART in our part of the world and are proud of it.  Regarding the Flin Flon Arts Council, we have a cautious optimism now that we can move forward as an Art organization that can support more of Northern Manitoba’s arts and culture.  There will always be challenges of course, including securing venue rentals and  advertising.  My advice to newcomers in the CULTURE DAYS world is to start small.  It doesn’t have to be as big as it turned out to be in Flin Flon however be prepared for anything.  I was completely surprised by how quickly it grew in my community.  Someone told me a few years ago, ‘When you have a problem to solve, speak to an artist.’ And it’s true that an artist will always find a solution.

What’s next for us?   Well I guess time will tell but we are looking at organizing a CULTURE DAYS CARNIVAL in 2011 at the stunningly beautiful Baker’s Narrows Lodge including their Conference area and outdoor Tent.  We would like it to include a Raku pit, soapstone carving, musicians, literary reading, bannock, smoked fish, story-telling and special Culture Days art classes at our new NorVA (Northern Visual Art) Centre  and … it would be fun to Dance Down Main Street again.

Best wishes to everyone and I hope you give it a try!

Share your Culture Days story! Email and upload your Culture Days photos to Flickr. You can also post to the Culture Days blog, add your comments, photos and videos to Facebook or tweet with the #culturedays hashtag and we’ll re-tweet your message.

View Comments | Posted in Community spotlight, Culture Days 2010, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, community organizers, for activity organizers | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Manitoba Update

July 26th, 2010 by manitoba

Have you checked out the Culture Days celebration schedule for Manitoba lately? Below you’ll find links and updates on how things are coming together for Culture Days in Manitoba’s towns and cities. Winnipeg has some fantastic activities planned, as do Flin Flon, Brandon and Portage la Prairie.

New Culture Days activities for Manitoba are being registered often and we expect to see activities posted in Gimli and Saint Eustache in the coming weeks. There will be lots of opportunity to explore the arts and cultural scene en français in Saint Boniface with activities in the works for the Maison des artistes, the Saint Boniface Museum, The Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre and more!

Keep checking the website for updates and remember it’s not too late to consider organizing your own Culture Days activity!

Big city sizzle

Come Culture Days, Winnipeg will be ready to show us why it was awarded Cultural Capital of Canada this year! Wonderfully creative activities are planned for the community’s Culture Days celebration including interactive art-making experiences at the cre8ery, Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library’s Crafternoon event, a celebration of independent theatre with playwright readings at FemFest 2010 and the CITY STORIES mobile story exchange project to name just a few.

Existing events and festivals are tying into Culture Days, too. Thin Air, Winnipeg’s International Writer’s Festival and its francophone component Foyer des écrivains will have plenty of free events during the Culture Days weekend. Prairie Theatre Exchange is moving Winnipeg’s largest celebration of new plays to September and the full three-day schedule of free play readings, backstage tours and acting workshops will be added to the Culture Days Celebration Schedule very soon.

The first edition of Winnipeg’s Nuit Blanche celebrations is being launched during the Culture Days weekend in Manitoba – watch the blog for more details on this all-night celebration of the arts on Saturday, September 25!

Brandon joins the party
September 25 is shaping up to be a blow-out celebration of arts and culture in Brandon! The Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba invites daytime visitors to contribute to a graffiti mural, a collective needlepoint project and to join in the fun of making a comic book! At 7:00pm it will be time to head down to 10th Street for performances, artist talks and other hands-on activities. Keep watching the website as new information is added to the Culture Days Celebration Schedule for Brandon.

Arts and culture northern style
Culture Days in Flin Flon will have something for everyone from hip hop to animation to quilting, from concerts to modern visual arts to traditional birch-biting displays and plenty of opportunity to meet and mingle with professional artists. Heritage figures will roam the towns to share their stories with passersby and the Gala café in Flin Flon will have entertainment every evening in an elegant setting.

The Flin Flon Arts Council and its many partners have been very active in organizing Culture Days activities. Check out this blog post from Crystal Kolt reflecting on how they’re creating such a vibrant Culture Days celebration for Flin Flon.

Portage la Prairie

In Portage la Prairie, be sure to check out the War Brides exhibition at Portage & District Arts Centre – this exhibition of paintings and multimedia installations from Calgary artist Bev Tosh depicts the experience of young women from around the world meeting and marrying their husbands during World War II, including Tosh’s own mother. The War Brides exhibition has been making it’s way across the country since 2006.

Manitoba’s Culture Days Project Manager

Manitoba’s Culture Days Project Manager Nicole Matiation has been liaising with many other groups across the province about their plans and ideas for Culture Days. There is still time to register a Culture Days activity so be sure to connect with Nicole.

Important note! Plans are underway for a printed bilingual Manitoba Culture Days program guide and other promotional opportunities. Please register on the Culture Days website by August 10 to be included in the Manitoba print program guide. The same deadline applies for inclusion in the francophone and bilingual activity guide.

Nicole Matiation
Culture Days Project Manager for Manitoba
Email: nicolematiation@culturedays.ca
Phone: (204) 942-8221

Keep Reading
Browse through the Culture Days blog for more information on Culture Days in the Manitoba region.

View Comments | Posted in Manitoba, community organizers, for activity organizers, provincial updates, ways to get involved | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

What’s your elevator pitch for Culture Days?

July 13th, 2010 by Erica Mattson

First off, hello – this is my first post on the Culture Days site! I’ve been involved with the project for over a year now, first as a member of the Alberta Task Force when I worked at Calgary Arts Development. Since that time I’ve moved to Vancouver and I’ve just started helping with online communications for Culture Days as the countdown to September begins.

Even though my official role with Culture Days is mostly about the online world, I wanted to write a post about spreading the word in real life (“IRL” if you’re conserving characters in the Twitter-verse!). A lot of the people I talk to either haven’t heard about Culture Days, or they only know a little bit and they’re eager for more details. Either way, it’s an awesome opportunity to share my enthusiasm for the movement and add a bit of fuel to the word of mouth marketing efforts for Culture Days.

I don’t know about you, but the more I talk about something, the easier it gets to understand why I’m excited about it. When I first learned about Culture Days, I immediately thought, “Great, a ParticipACTION campaign for the arts!” And that’s true: a national awareness campaign for Culture Days encouraging all Canadians to celebrate the arts begins this August with generous support from media partners like the Globe and Mail, CBC and St. Joseph’s Media. For me, the idea of a robust, cross-Canada marketing campaign for the arts is tremendously exciting. I’m sure this is true of all artists and cultural workers, and for everyone who cares about the artistic life of our country.

As September draws near, I’m also struck by the openness of the Culture Days movement. I love that so many people in so many communities across the country will have a chance to get in the middle of that line between audience and creator. I love that anyone in Canada can easily organize an activity and that every conversation, online or offline, contributes to the movement. Most of all I love that everyone seems to have a personal connection with arts and culture and when I tell them about Culture Days they’re intrigued and glad to know that something like this is finally happening.

I thought I’d share the “elevator pitch” I hear coming out of my mouth when people ask me what Culture Days is all about. It’s written out here thanks to a conversation with my dog, Emily, who happens to be named after one of my favourite Canadian artists, Emily Carr!

A lot of people say Culture Days is like a ParticipACTION campaign for the arts. There’s a national awareness campaign starting this August with media partners like the Globe and Mail, CBC and WHERE Magazine. During Culture Days – it’s in September – there will be hundreds of free, interactive activities for the public like behind the scenes tours, free performances and community art projects. Thousands of artists, individuals, organizations and communities are involved in organizing Culture Days. It will be the largest-ever grassroots campaign to celebrate the arts and promote cultural participation in Canada, which is really exciting to me and I think to everyone who cares about the arts. You should check out the website: CultureDays.ca.

I’d love to hear the soundbyte you’ve created for your activity or community. Just post a comment below and think of it as another conversation in your word of mouth marketing campaign!

View Comments | Posted in community organizers, for activity organizers, marketing & PR, role of arts and culture, ways to get involved | Tags: , , , ,
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