New face at head of Folk Arts
Emily Kovacs says organization ‘about making sure people are feeling that they belong’
In a way, it’s like Emily Kovacs is coming home.
The new executive director of Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre — whose first day on the job will be Tuesday — began her career as a Brock University student at the St. Catharines-based centre.
But she also has a connection as a former newcomer to Canada.
“What’s it’s like to not speak the language, to be starting a new school, starting a new life — I certainly identify with that and I have gone through that,” says Kovacs, who moved to Canada from Romania when she was 16.
“I also identify with Folk Arts because in many ways it felt like it was the first place where I felt at home. I received service from them. As a newcomer, I also felt like it was the first place where I felt like I was accepted and I was welcomed.”
The board of directors for the centre announced earlier this month that Kovacs would be stepping into the shoes of former executive director Jeff Burch, who was elected to Queen’s Park as Niagara Centre MPP in June.
The non-profit charitable organization provides a range of services to newcomers to Canada, including settlement services, English classes, employment assistance and more. It also runs the annual Niagara Folk Arts Festival, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
Kovacs’ goals include attracting new revenue sources, guiding a new strategic plan and raising the profile of the centre.
Nineteen years ago, she worked for three student terms at Folk Arts under different contracts and then for a year as an immigrant settlement councillor.
She was hired away by City of Toronto, where she’s worked for the past 18 years as a case worker with the homeless, in shelter services and other various positions. Kovacs says there is some overlap in working with the homeless and newcomers in that they both share the same challenges when it comes to acquiring shelter and a place where they are accepted.
For 12 years, Kovacs has been living in St. Catharines with her family, including twin 12-yearold daughters, and commuting to work in Toronto. When the opportunity to work at Folk Arts came up, she says, it was something she was passionate doing about as a newcomer who identifies with the cause.
Kovacs is quick to point out though that she speaks from one newcomer’s experience — a white woman from an Eastern European background — and other newcomers may have different experiences from her’.
Whatever their backgrounds, she wants other newcomers to feel the positive experience that she had with Folk Arts all those years ago.
She says she was at a local doughnut shop recently and an employee told her she worked at Folk Arts as a student and it was a magical, wonderful place.
“For me, it was reinforcement to say, the place has still got it. The place is still magical and it still offers the same supportive environment to anyone who walks through their doors,” Kovacs says.
“It’s well worth any sort of effort to work for an organization that’s about making sure people are feeling that they belong.
“If I do anything, I’d make sure that will be my legacy and the continued legacy of Folk Arts, to make people welcome.”
Karena.Walter@niagaradailies.com 905-225-1628 | @karena_standard