Grant sought for inclusive arts centre
Residents encouraged to vote for local project
KENTVILLE – The Valley Community Learning Association (VCLA) has coined the concept of an inclusive arts centre for Kentville.
The organization has put forth a proposal for an Aviva Community Fund grant to fund such a centre.
Sophie Bérubé, who serves as family literacy co-ordinator, says the centre “will be an expansion of our already existing creative writing program.”
The last day in the voting period is Oct. 28 and Bérubé says she wants to “encourage people to vote for a great local project.”
VCLA has been offering creative arts programming for marginalized populations since 2012. Bérubé, a published writer, has facilitated writing and mixed media workshops at Open Arms, the drop- in shelter in downtown Kentville.
Through these workshops, participants have written and published numerous books. Last year VCLA also piloted a program aimed at including First Nations arts and crafts for the public.
“The outcomes of both projects have been very positive and transformative for the writers/artists who have found their
voice, regained self-esteem and a discovered a sense of purpose,” says Bérubé.
Building on these success stories and a broader community need, the VCLA goal is to set up an arts centre in downtown Kentville that serves the general public and “also intentionally supports the inclusion of marginalized populations,” Bérubé said, including at-risk youth, people with disabilities, seniors, indigenous groups, and generally those community members “at the margins.”
The goal is to create a centre, she suggested, that is welcoming of all community members, regardless of age, disability, or socio-economic status. Kentville is the recognized centre for most services in the Annapolis Valley and makes an excellent location for such a project, Bérubé believes. While the town has been said to have the highest ratio of professionals in Canada, it also is home to many on the other extreme of the socio-economic spectrum. Founded on the belief that safe community spaces are predicated on having a diverse population of people present ( all ages, income levels, etc), this project seeks to address the above issues by creating an arts centre that holds interest for everyone in the community.
The proposed centre will have the following components: - A multi-media sound studio that will specifically target atrisk youth who want to create and record music. This component will be modelled on Centreline Studios in Halifax (and will provide a safe place for youth to collaborate on musical projects, learn how to record music, and be mentored by established musicians.) - An arts workshop space with equipment for various arts (kiln, printing press), thus providing rarely available infrastructure for artists from a variety of disciplines to work collectively or individually on creative projects in a community space. With this project we have chosen to start with ceramic arts to offer a medium that can be very simple and easily accessible. -A creative space for traditional indigenous crafts (like moccasin making, beading) where indigenous artists can practice their craft and share it with others. All of the spaces will have a dual function as workshop space for community education classes, where the general public can take courses in a variety of art disciplines. Finally, the project proponents will be looking for opportunities wherever possible for marginalized groups to share their knowledge and skill, Bérubé said, with the broader community, creating valued social roles that help to change the conversation in downtown Kentville.
For more information, log onto https:// www. avivacommunityfund.org/voting/project/view/16-524