Region’s Arts Fund behind many worthwhile projects
Since 2002 many causes have been assisted, and there are more to come
Last week, I wrote about the inaugural Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions, which wrap up Saturday at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.
In describing this artist-led endeavour, I mentioned, in passing, that “investment for the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund” is what is making it all possible.
This is a phrase that comes up often in this column, which has touched on a fair proportion of the 530 projects that the Arts Fund has supported since its founding in 2002. There is almost always a good column topic in the works that is related to the Arts Fund in some way:
The inaugural “Bestival,” for instance — a “European-style street festival” in Kitchener’s Belmont Village coming up on Saturday, Sept. 16.
Or “The Flood Project” — a new production from Shadow Puppet Theatre. A workshop presentation is scheduled for September 27 and 28 as part of the IMPACT 17 theatre festival.
For the 15th anniversary year of the Arts Fund, it’s been mostly business as usual. There are a couple of news items that indicate the universe is unfolding as it should:
Betty Anne Keller has stepped up to serve as the board’s seventh chair.
The website has been freshly redesigned; check it out at artsfund.ca.
What is out of the ordinary is the end result of an announcement that I wrote about in the early summer of 2016: a call for proposals for a special program of “15/150” projects that celebrate the 150 anniversary on Confederation and the Arts Fund’s 15th.
Of the six selected 15/150 projects that were announced last December, we can look forward to five coming to fruition over the next couple of months.
The first was a 25th anniversary reunion concert for Waterloo’s Penderecki String Quartet that was presented in June as part of QuartetFest at WLU, which is also in its 25th year.
The Arts Fund also supported “A Grand Journey,” a multidisciplinary performance series from the Nota Bene baroque Players. The first concert took place on March 5; the series continues Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at Wesley Church in Cambridge and at Calvary United Church in St. Jacobs on Nov. 25 at 2 p.m.
I wrote about the Neruda Arts Canada 150 mural back in July, as this massive work was being completed offsite. The panels are scheduled to be installed along Charles Street at the end of August, and there will be an official unveiling in September.
Fibre artist Sue Sturdy’s Grand Woolly River Ride happens September 23, when a flotilla of 150 canoes and 15 kayaks decorated with donated knitting, sewing and crocheting will travel down the Grand River to Cambridge.
A special offering of theatre for all ages from MT Space working in partnership with Joseph Schneider Haus will also be part of the IMPACT 17 program September 27 to 30.
And finally, Eva McCauley’s Face to Face Project, a suite of 30 original paintings of Canadian students, half from the present and the rest based on archival materials from 1867, will be on view at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery Nov. 6 to 12.
Meanwhile, the wheels continue to turn: The next deadline for proposals from artists and arts organizations is Friday, Sept. 8 at 4 p.m.
The customary Arts Fund open house happened August 15, but Inter Arts Matrix, on its own initiative as a public service, is offering two grant writing workshops with special emphasis on the Arts Fund:
The first is a general introduction to grant writing for artist led projects at the Elmira branch of the Region of Waterloo Public Library on Tuesday, Aug. 29 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Inter Arts Matrix is also offering a full “Grant Writing Co-Working Day” at the Commons Studio (256 King St. E. near the Kitchener Market) on Thursday, Aug. 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The next deadline for proposals from arts and organizations is Sept. 8