The Regional Centre for Arts, Design and Entrepreneurship initiative big for Pincher Creek
The Allied Arts Council of Pincher Creek is currently hosting an RCADE initiative.
“It is best understood as a community-owned facility analogous to a hockey arena, intended to foster creative and technical talent rather than athletic talent,” says James Van Leeuwen, President of the Allied Arts Council of Pincher Creek and Coordinator of the Pincher Creek RCADE.
RCADE, Van Leeuwen says, stands for Regional Centre for Arts, Design & Entrepreneurship and the space is currently located on the third floor of the Lebel Mansion in Pincher Creek. The Lebel Mansion is owned by the Town of Pincher Creek and leased to the Allied Arts Council of Pincher Creek.
“It started with a focus on creative and technical talent with digital technologies, because they have become ubiquitous,” Van Leeuwen says. “The third floor has served well for incubating the RCADE initiative, but we will eventually need a larger space. We are generally interested in providing opportunities to put technology and creativity to constructive use. This also provides opportunities to help them learn how computers and electronics work, and to not be intimidated by things they don’t understand.”
Van Leeuwen says that a high school student is paid to supervise the afterschool drop-in program hosted on Thursday afternoons, but most people involved in running the RCADE are volunteers, including himself and the coordinator. Leeuwen says that a local computer coder even volunteers his time mentoring children and youth who attend the afterschool program on Thursdays.
“Younger kids really seem to enjoy taking apart defunct computers and other electronics,” Van Leeuwen said. “Older kids tend to be more interested in programming robots and designing virtual worlds with Minecraft and other applications. Some older folk also enjoy this; it’s not unlike taking apart the engine of an automobile to understand how it works.”
Currently in it’s third year of operation, the RCADE is an effort on the part of four local entrepreneurs to provide more opportunities for local youth and children, and for the entire community.
“The RCADE is fundamentally about engaging people in learning through experience and in exploring and developing their creative and technical talent,” Van Leeuwen said. “We are interested to help anyone who is interested to learn, create, design and build.”
Van Leeuwen says that the RCADE serves to create more local opportunities for learning and creativity, especially for youth and children.
“Most rural schools have been scaling back programs for fostering creativity and technical skill as their budgets have shrunk,” Van Leeuwen said. “A few years ago, the principal of a local elementary school reached out to the community to ask for help in fostering creativity in youth and community volunteerism made RCADE possible.”
Van Leeuwen says that the RCADE was difficult to create, but many lessons have been learned along the way. If things could be done over again, Van Leeuwen would start by reaching out to both younger and older kids at the same time, rather than just reach out to high school aged kids.
“Today’s younger parents are more likely to appreciate the relevance of fostering creativity and technical talent, and to be feeding their children’s appetites for learning and creativity,” Van Leeuwen said.
“These parents tend to be looking for a lot more than just athletics programs to get their children involved in, as they have a better sense of what the future will require of their children.”
Van Leeuwen says that RCADE would very much like to establish partnerships with local schools, but it’s a capacity issue on the initiative’s end and any partnerships would need careful coordination in order to be successful.
“Our challenge is not so much money as people,” Van Leeuwen said. “The RCADE is not intended to be a daycare or babysitting service. To grow, it requires active volunteer support from parents and other adults - just like any robust athletics program. Looking forward, rallying more volunteer support will be our principal focus; with more people involved, we’ll be able to do a lot more.
Van Leeuwen says that so far, RCADE has leveraged around $10,000 of grant funding, roughly $5,000 of cash and in-kind donations, and about $500 from fundraising activities, but the biggest challenge is not financial. There is a clear need for more hands to get the initiative growing.
“This has become foundational to community sustainability, i.e., growing and attracting young people who have the talent, skill and ambition to prosper in tomorrow’s economy rather than today’s economy,” Van Leeuwen notes. “If a community aspires to be economically and demographically sustainable, it needs to produce and attract young people who want to stay or return, and help the community prosper into the future. As a younger generation of leadership expands throughout the community, the RCADE will likely become more valued and valuable because its value will be more clearly recognized.”
Van Leeuwen admits as a community volunteer, he is surprised and concerned that more people haven’t stepped forward to volunteer, especially parents with younger children and knowledgeable retirees who could serve as mentors.
“Anyone interested to help to let us know, as we have little or no time to spend canvassing the community for volunteers,” Van Leeuwen said. “This has become important to the future of all communities large and small, urban and rural.”
Van Leeuwen says those involved in the RCADE initiative would like to do more if there was enough demand and resources available. Van Leeuwen emphasizes that the health and prosperity of all communities will steadily have more to do with working smarter than working harder and making the most of technology and creativity.
“When people with these kinds of interests get together in the same place at the same time, exciting and amazing things tend to emerge,” Van Leeuwen says. “This is the essence of our vision for the RCADE: The future is ours for the making; the RCADE is for future makers. In the words of Franklin Roosevelt, “We cannot build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”