CFN – Bruce Davis, Cultural Development Coordinator from the SDG Community Futures Development Corporation (SDG CFDC) is hosting a free 2012 Arts & Culture Summit at Aultsville Theatre in Cornwall Ontario Saturday September 22nd 2012. The summit’s main focus is educating the arts and culture sector on what is needed to form a Regional Arts & Culture Council. The summit will conclude with an election for this region’s Arts & Culture council.
The 2012 Arts & Culture Summit to see the formation of a much needed regional Arts & Culture Council.
The Arts & Culture Community of SDG, Cornwall and Akwesasne, The Eastern Ontario Training Board, (EOTB) The United Counties of SDG, The City of Cornwall and the SDG CFDC, with Bruce Davis, Cultural Development Coordinator have been proactively moving the arts and culture file forward with the launch of the exciting sdgculture.ca website and the culture mapping tool. Their efforts are culminating with the hosting of the 2012 Arts & Culture Summit designed to educate the arts and culture sector on what is needed to form an Arts & Culture council. The summit will conclude with the launch of the newly formed Regional Arts & Culture Council by way of an election. The Arts Council’s formation will be supported by the SDG CFDC and Bruce Davis who will re-galvanize the already established partnerships with the arts & culture file and help establish the newly formed council’s financially sustainable business model, governance and bylaws.
The Regional Arts & Cultural Council will act as a business expansion and advocacy resource for the arts and culture sector of SDG, Cornwall and Akwesasne and will provide the tools needed to develop and promote arts & culture as viable, sustainable businesses in SDG, Cornwall and Akwesasne. The Arts Council will have an arms length relationship with local & municipal government.
‘We need to start seeing arts and culture as serious economic drivers in this community but to do that we need to be able to provide the arts and culture sector with the tools needed to expand and grow as businesses as well as assist in coordinating cultural efforts – this arts & culture Council will be able to provide those tools.”
said Bruce Davis, Cultural Development Coordinator. Mr. Davis also stated,
“It’s also important to recognize that this council needs to form from the grassroots, community level – it needs to be a collection of culture and arts minded individuals who have a vested interest in this community and who want to grow and advocate arts and culture in the region because they feel it’s important. Once the council is formed with an acceptable business model, governance and bylaws that body can approach local municipal governments with a formal request to be recognized and at that point request support and or partnership for various efforts. If an arts council waits for a magic wand to grant them everything they want before they mobilize it will never happen. The people have to get together to make it happen and prove they can create a viable sustainable model for a regional arts council because they believe in it not because someone has given them permission to do so.
With the help of Mr. Davis the newly formed Arts & Culture Council will be able to create a sustainable model with funding, partnerships, governance and bylaws.
“The thing to remember,” Bruce Davis added “is that the city of Cornwall and the United Counties have already voiced their strong support for the cultural development file and the evidence is in the fact I am here to move this file forward and to create the model for this Arts & Culture Council. What it comes down to at the end of the day is how the cultural and artistic sector chooses to participate in this effort to make the most of my time. I’d rather spend my time creating the outlining structure and applying for funding versus haggling over agenda driven ideas and quelling inflated egos. I want what’s best for this community.”
The SDG CFDC is the ideal leading partner in providing the much needed support and legitimacy to get the arts and culture council up and running, given its established 25 year history of business development/expansion within the community. The SDG CFDC by way of Mr. Bruce Davis will apply for grants and funding as well as provide a financially sustainable business model, governance and bylaws for the newly formed Arts & Culture Council. “The CFDC is an impartial non-profit government funded organization that acts as a resources for local business expansion and economic development so we are an ideal partner for cultural development and the formation of the regional Arts & Culture Council.” Said François Désormeaux, Executive Director of the SDG CFDC.
Aultsville Theatre & St. Lawrence College are excited to be a part of the cultural development effort and they are showing their support by hosting the 2012 Art & Culture Summit. Graham Greer, Aultsville Theatre’s Communications Coordinator said, “We’re thrilled to have been chosen as the host venue for the upcoming 2012 Art & Culture Summit. A Summit of this sort will serve as a wonderful focusing lens for the many hopes and various viewpoints our community has to offer.”
You can register for the 2012 Arts & Culture Summit on facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/sdgculture or email Bruce Daivs, bdavis@sdgcfdc.on.ca Registration deadline is September 8th, 2012
About The CFDC
The SDG Community Futures Development Corporation is a community-based not-for-profit development and investment agency governed by a volunteer board of directors. The organization is funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) and the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry. It also receives funding from other Federal Departments and Provincial Ministries for project initiatives.
And who might the nominees for this council and their respective platforms be?
Graham Greer gave us a quote? I thought he was boycotting us as well as the rest of the cliques and cronies.
Aw shucks Reg it was a press release. I thought it’d be tacky if I cut out his quote. Just because he wants to be petty on government money doesn’t mean I should be…..
The Port Theatre can now host live shows. I’m sure that this is going to save the City of Cornwall thousands of dollars.
This historic landmark is an ideal cultural centre. We cannot let it go the way of the Capitol Theatre.