Cornwall ON – Well we were all pleasantly surprised by how many people turned out of the first meeting of the Cornwall Cultural Committee Wednesday night at La Maison.
Meeting Opening
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eplKGlKhceg
The committee was founded spur of the moment on a radio segment on Seawayradio.com. Rod Rivette, Jeff Brunet, Jason Setnyk, and Jamie Gilcig are the charter members of the executive which we’ll be expanding to seven shortly.
Jason reads our mission and vision statements
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps7Q86kx2b8
The goal and concept is to create an organization for the arts and culture that’s created and run by artists of all mediums. While called the “Cornwall Cultural Committe” we want to reach out across the entire region including Akwesasne. Art and Culture truly know no boundaries.
We need people to make this happen
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uERKpEIQnRY
We started with a blank page. 43 people attended the first meeting and it was great to get the feedback and feel the energy from the crowd.
It’s not just about music
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSkHwjyJCsk
As Jason said it’s not just about music. Our region has a rich vein of theatrical talent. Many productions occur, and more would if there were a few more user friendly venues out there. There are painters, dancers, filmmakers, weavers, sculptures, a lot of writers, and the list goes on.
It’s about time for Cornwall to step up financially as a city.
I asked in the video clip above for the city to commit $350,000 to the arts during this four year mandate. That’s about 1 % of what will be spent on the arena. 1% of a budget and there are more people that practice the arts in our region than play hockey.
Art Community Mapping
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8SVRsZgxIM
It’s great to see the Arts and Culture mapping exercise that’s going on. For those of you that wish to attend sessions the following still remain.
Nov. 18 — North Stormont, municipal office, 15 Union St. Berwick, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 23 — Cornwall, Cornwall Public Library, 45 Second St. E., 6:16 to 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 24 — North Dundas, municipal office, 636 St. Lawrence St., Winchester, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 25 — South Stormont, town hall, 2 Mille Roches Rd., Long Sault, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
We need to grow and organize.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKjT6vSDwPE
Starting from a blank page
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSHRrWfaNhc
We really are starting from a blank page. It’s up to the community to work with each other and build something very special that will help the artists in the area, the business sector and attract tourists and business to our beautiful region.
Darren Bonaparte from Akwesasne spoke
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGgVh6mO0vg
Art knows no boundary. It really knows no language. It doesn’t care about the colour of your skin or who you sleep with or vote for. I was very happy to see people from Akwesasne attend our event and hope to work with our neighbors. It was also amazing of him to offer his new facility for events!
Other groups in the area
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c04DFsOsCZw
Rodney Rivette talks about the talent we have in the area.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKJ-sn7AgB8
Our first fund raiser – Co-op Venue Advertising on the Cornwall Free News
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lj5bYYtNQY
Local venues will be able to get reduced price co-op advertising to promote all of their live events with the full sales commission going directly to the Cornwall Cultural Committee to get it off the ground. For more information email info@cornwallfreenews.com or call 613.361.1755
The Wrap Up
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwic5Qxl_Sk
In all it was an exciting night. Marie Morrell from the Parade of Nations offered land on her Collectors Museum project and the spirit certainly was abundant as was the buzz since.
We hope to see more of you at our next meeting where we should be announcing our holiday fund raiser. Hopefully we see more members of the media show up as well.
Thanks to everyone who made this event so special and you can check up on our exploits on facebook.
