Posts Tagged ‘community organizers’

Older Entries

Checklist for Hosting an Activity

September 27th, 2011 by Culture Days

Whether you are a first time activity organizer or you’re participating for the second year, Culture Days has created a checklist with suggestions to help you host your activity and maximize both your and your participants’ Culture Days experience!

Here are some things to keep in mind as you finalize preparations for your activity:

  • Everyone loves a friendly face! Your connection to participants begins by simply welcoming them to your activity, so don’t be shy! Introduce yourself and be sure to thank them for participating in your Culture Days activity. Who knows, this may be the beginning of a lovely friendship and/or collaboration!
  • Is the environment comfortable? If applicable, provide seating, ensure there is proper lighting in your space, accessible washroom facilities and, if you wish, refreshments!
  • The Culture Days weekend is a great opportunity to promote your artistic and cultural endeavors, so if you have promotional materials (i.e. business cards, flyers, signage…etc.) be sure to have some on hand.
  • Your activity is also a wonderful way to introduce your work to a new audience, so keep in touch! Have a notebook and pens on hand so people can sign up to receive more information from you via email about upcoming activities or events you may have lined up after the Culture Days weekend. Building a mailing list is a good way to stay connected with those interested in you and your practice or organization.
  • Is your activity location identifiable as a “Culture Days activity” ? Culture Days Bright Spots Venue Identifiers help ensure that the public will be able to find you! These FREE vinyl clings can be picked up at your local Sun Life Financial Center and are available everyday until September 29th, from 8:30am to 4:30pm, local time. Please consult the Culture Days blog to find the one closest to you!
  • Do you have volunteers or a team helping you host your activity? Be sure they are aware of the key messages you want to communicate. Messages such as: instructions on how to participate, your wish to connect with them after the Culture Days weekend or the promotion of an upcoming activity or event – or anything else you want to communicate.
  • Are you active on social media channels, like Facebook or Twitter? Social media is a great platform to build and maintain an interactive dialogue with the public. Tell participants that you’re on Twitter or Facebook and encourage them to follow or “like” you and don’t forget to connect with @CultureDays on Twitter and Facebook too!
  • Document or ask a friend to help capture your Culture Days experience by taking photos or shooting video of your activity. Don’t forget to upload and share your photos and videos via the Culture Days Flickr pool and YouTube channel! Be sure to submit high-quality photos to Flickr and allow for downloads and re-distribution on YouTube as your photos could be featured in a Culture Days ad in the Globe and Mail and your videos used in a 2011 video highlight reel! Be sure to include important information with your photo/video submissions such as the activity name, location, names of those captured in the images and photo credits. All this information can be included in the file name of your photo or with your video upload. Please contact Culture Days for more information if you are capturing photographs of minors.
  • Videos are a fun and innovative way to capture your Culture Days weekend! Check out the free, downloadable video bumpers available for all to use HERE. Once uploaded on YouTube, share the video URL with Culture Days via email, Twitter or Facebook, so it can be featured on the Culture Days YouTube channel!
  • Last, but not least; have FUN!
View Comments | Posted in Culture Days 2011, community organizers, for activity organizers, marketing & PR, seen, uncategorized, ways to get involved | Tags: , , ,

Bright Spots Venue Identifiers Now Available for All Activity Organizers!

September 20th, 2011 by Culture Days

Thanks to the generous support of national Lead Founding Visionary Partner, Sun Life Financial, Bright Spots Venue Identifiers are now available to all Culture Days activity organizers!

These free, 1’ diameter round vinyl clings will serve as vital tools for organizers in helping to identify activities as “Culture Days activities,” and ensuring that the public will be able to find them. These clings can be affixed to windows, walls and almost any other surface to help identify the location of your activity. Be sure to place them in a highly visible location outside your venue!


Not only do these identifiers tell the public that they’ve found the right place but there’s also a “call to action” on them to encourage people to use social media platforms via their smart phones to publicize that they’re at your activity; helping to further promote you, your practice or organization.

The free Culture Days Bright Spots Venue Identifiers are now available and can be picked up at your local Sun Life Financial Center.

To find the Financial Centre closest to you, please click the link below that corresponds to your province and use the geo-location map on the Sun Life Financial Canada web site to locate the center nearest you:

British Columbia
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Ontario
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Prince Edward Island
Newfoundland and Labrador

For those in the territories, please email Reuben Finley (reubenfinley[at]culturedays[dot]ca) for more information on how to obtain your free Culture Days Bright Spots Venue Identifier.

Bright Spots Venue Identifiers will be available at these centres from September 21st to September 29th, Monday to Friday, from 8:30am to 4:30pm, local time. Should you not be able to pick up your identifier at your local Sun Life Financial Centre, please contact your Provincial Representative for information about how you can obtain one.

A printable version of the Bright Spots Venue Identifier is also available for download via the Culture Days web site as part of the many free tools in the Culture Days Marketing Kit. You can download and print a colour version of the Bright Spots Identifier on an 8.5” x 11” or 11” x 17” sheet of paper.

View Comments | Posted in Funders & Supporters, Local marketing & promotions, community organizers, for activity organizers, marketing & PR, 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: , , , ,

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: , , ,

Capture the Public’s Eye: Uploading an Image to Accompany Your Activity

July 19th, 2011 by Culture Days

As we get closer and closer to the Culture Days event weekend (September 30, October 1 & 2) it’s time to start thinking about how you can maximize the visibility your activity  on the Culture Days web site! The site offers a wonderful opportunity to generate enthusiasm for your activity, particularly when you supplement your information with an eye-catching image. While uploading an image to accompany your activity is not a requirement, it will go a long way to enhance your activity listing on the web site.

Uploading an image to your activity is easy! Once your activity has been registered, log into the system and, head to the “My Culture Days Activity Page.” Click the “View My Culture Days Activities” button. You will then see a list of the activities you’ve registered. To the right of the activity(ies) you’ve registered, under the header “Actions”, you will see a series of options, including “Activity Image”. This link will take you to the Culture Days activity image upload screen. Follow the instructions on this page, taking special care to ensure that your image’s file size (in both “weight” – ie megabites, and “dimensions” ie pixels) falls within the system’s processable range. Here’s a list of some things to keep in mind:

  • it’s a good idea to keep your images well under 8MB in size; 1 – 3 MB is ideal – Before uploading your image, you can check its size by right-clicking on the image icon and choosing “properties” from the pop-up menu. (or if you’re on a Mac, click the image icon and hit “command + i”). If your image is too big, don’t worry! There are a number of free sites that specialize in resizing JPG and other files to suit your needs, most notably Shrinkpictures.
  • the ideal dimension for your image is 240 x 160 pixels – the maximum size you can upload is 1000 x 1000 pixels
  • horizontal (or “landscape”) images work much better than vertical (or “portrait”) images when displayed on the Culture Days web site

Once you have an appropriately sized image prepared, the rest is easy! Simply click on the “browse” button next to the “Your Activity Image” field and choose the file from its location on your computer. Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due in the “photo credit” field. Then press the “Upload & Process” button at the bottom of the page and you’re done!

Your activity will now be ready for prime time!

View Comments | Posted in community organizers, for activity organizers, marketing & PR | Tags: , , ,

Toronto Public Library Application Form

May 6th, 2011 by Aubrey Reeves

Please note: the application deadline (midnight on June 10, 2011) for artists seeking venue spaces at the Toronto Public Library during Culture Days has now passed. Notifications will be sent out by July 15, 2011.

The Toronto Public Library (TPL), the Neighbourhood Arts Network and Culture Days are pleased to announce an exciting partnership called Culture Days @ The Library to help artists and arts organizations to share their creative work with the public. The Toronto Public Library is offering free venues to Toronto-based artists and arts organizations wishing to be part of Culture Days. Some 45 TPL branches spanning the city will provide various types of venues at no cost. Often described as the living-rooms of the city public libraries are important community spaces in our neighbourhoods for learning, exchange of ideas and connecting with others. This partnership enables artists to take their practice out of their private studios into the accessible spaces of library branches so that the public can discover and engage with their work.
To be considered for a space, the arts activity must be free and interactive. Toronto-based individual artists, small and medium-sized arts and cultural organizations, collectives or groups that wish to organize their events at a TPL branch are invited to submit an application by June 10, 2011. These will be assessed by a jury and matched with an appropriate branch location. Decisions will be based on the suitability of the activity for the branch’s venue space and the interactive nature to the activity. Artistic merit will not be assessed. Activities in all artistic disciplines are encouraged as well as those that appeal to families and to audiences of diverse ages. Whenever possible, artists/organizations will be matched with a branch in their own neighbourhood.

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

Innisfil Public Library – “Where Culture Lives”

April 8th, 2011 by Reuben Finley

Nazanin Shoja, Ontario Arts Council Culture Days Animator/Coordinator, recently spoke with the Innisfil Public Library, which hosted a number of Culture Days activities in 2010. Here’s an account of their experience and thoughts on the active role that can be played by libraries in promoting local talent.


Celebrating Culture Days 2010

Innisfil Public Library is a multi-branch system within a geographically diverse community located in central Ontario.  The Culture Days initiative complements the library’s mandate as a community gathering place providing progressive, user-oriented library service that anticipates the educational, cultural, leisure and other informational needs within the community.  Participation in the program achieved several organizational goals including collaboration with local partners to enhance community involvement, promotion of the library in order to encourage the widest possible use of services, and focused attention on the achievements of local artists.

Innisfil Public Library has participated in artist studio tours and regularly displays artwork in its main branch.  However, through the Culture Days planning process, staff realized that we had neglected to promote artisans in our communities.  As a result, Culture Days became an opportunity to highlight a neglected aspect of local talent.  Through previously established partnerships with arts groups, possible participants were identified. We were specifically seeking artisans whose work would engage the public with hands-on activities.  For example, at the Cookstown Branch, woodcarving and quilting were highlighted and library customers were fascinated to watch the works unfold before them.

Through Culture Days, the perception of the library’s role within the community is shifting.  Libraries are viewed, not only as a source of information, but also as a place “where culture lives”.  Library customers have come to view the library as a destination that will continually surprise and delight them with the breadth of arts programming and variety of experiences to be shared.  This perception will continue to grow as the library continues to participate in futureCulture Days weekends.   As a largely rural population, Innisfil residents can take pride in participating in a cross-Canada celebration of culture.  Participation in this event was worthwhile for the Innisfil Public Library and we will most definitely continue in the future.  In 2011, the Culture Days theme will be “performers” and we anticipate an even more exciting celebration of community talent.

View Comments | Posted in Community spotlight, Culture Days 2010, Culture Days stories, Ontario, community organizers, for activity organizers, role of arts and culture | 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: , , , , , , ,
Older Entries