By Pepper Parr
April 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The public gets to see what the newly formed Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington (ACCOB) wants to look like and what they would like to achieve.
The Board of the organization announced that the organization will be formally launched at a free public event at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday April 18th, 2017 at 5:30pm.
The Arts and Culture Council is a private initiative formed by the arts community; it has been a long time in development. In 2013 Trevor Copp appeared before city council saying he wanted to be able to work in the city he lived in. Council agreed with him – and that was when the ball began to roll.
The cultural community wanted to be in on the ground floor of any decision making – they made their voices heard – then waited to see if city council will fund culture in a meaningful way. That was in 2013.
Sometime after that a number of Burlington artists came together to form the Arts and Culture Collective of Burlington (ACCOB), in an effort to provide support for the many artists and artistic organizations that call Burlington home. This first ACCOB grew to include over 600 members on its Facebook page.
It became clear to the group that a more formal organization should be created; that resulted in the creation of a not-for-profit corporation.
Robert Missen with his Hall of Fame award, Former Performing Arts Centre president Suzanne Haines on the left and PAC chair Ilene Elkaim on the right.
Robert Missen, the 2016 recipient of the Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame award, said ACCOB joins the community of arts councils that has existed across Canada for many years. “The fact that it has taken some time to make this happen has meant that our Council is unique in Canada in representing the concerns of the various multicultural communities in our city.”
“ACCOB invites all artists and all Burlingtonians that are passionate about arts and culture to gather in the Lobby of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday April 18. Representatives of the ACCOB Board of Directors will provide a brief introduction to the organization and it’s Board. They will outline some of the initiatives they plan to undertake over the next few years, services they plan to provide to the city’s artists and artistic and cultural organizations, and benefits that will accrue to members of the organization. Attendees will be encouraged to become members of the organization.” No mention was made of any membership fee.
The occasion will include brief performances featuring several city performers. These include singer-songwriter Andy Griffiths, violin prodigy Yoanna Jang and the children’s choir Enchorus, conducted by Catherine Richardson. Hors d-oeuvres will be served, catered by Ampersand, and there will be a cash bar.
BURLINGTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE LOBBY; TUESDAY APRIL 18TH, 2018 5:30-7:00pm
With decent wine swilled to augment the swallowing of those hors d-oeuvres – then what?
City Culture manager Angela Papariza chats up Trevor Copp during the unveiling of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre.
Part of the mandate will be to influence city council and where it puts the several million dollars that go into the operation of the Art Gallery, the Performing Arts Centre and the museums along with the money being pumped into public art.
Chances of getting new money into the city’s budget might be a bit of a stretch – but there is an election in 2018 and that usually tends to loosen the purse strings.
The Artists Collective was very clear – they wanted the Parks. It has taken more than four years to get to the point where the arts community has its own formal organization – now they have to fund it.
Arts and culture have always had a hard time finding place where real roots can be put down. Thy were always stuffed into Parks and Recreation where things just didn’t work out. Splash pads and swimming pools dominated.
Former city manager Jeff Fielding found a way to keep the cultural manager on staff and former General Manager Scott Stewart had that role reporting to a General Manager.
When Mary Lou Tanner was made the Director of Planning she brought Culture into her department where it has at least been kept alive.
Quite how the Manager of Culture will fit into ACCOB is something that only time will tell – they will want funding the Culture manager will want to keep.
“Quite how the Manager of Culture will fit into ACCOB is something that only time will tell – they will want funding the Culture manager will want to keep.”
ACCOB is incorporated non profit and hoping to be a charitable arts organization that should have funding from a variety of sources: OAC, Ontario Trillium Foundation, various businesses, a variety of funders that may be connected to ACCOB projects that fit ACCOB’s mission. The city should not be the only ACCOB funder but it should receive some funding after proving their ability to execute projects. It will take grant knowledge from those on the ACCOB board or staff to find the funding.
“The fact that it has taken some time to make this happen has meant that our Council is unique in Canada in representing the concerns of the various multicultural communities in our city.”
Time will tell whether ACCOB may struggle to provide what the arts community needs by focusing on ethnicity. It may be naive for the ACCOB steering board to believe that it is unique in Ontario. Do they really believe that other arts councils do not provide access to all regardless of their race, gender and ethnicity? Each of us has our own personal cultural make up but together we can develop Burlington and therefore Canadian culture. Hopefully, ACCOB will improve the artists voices that makes Burlington’s culture.
Culture is the collection of shared belief systems and habits of a particular group. In this case the group is Burlington.
To be considered a member of one or more cultures, the individual must exhibit shared beliefs, adopt certain habits and tradition, use the same language as other members, observe certain social norms, have at least some ancestry from that culture, and any other characteristic believed to be of core importance in identifying that particular culture.
Encouraging a higher standard of aesthetic and creative expression is needed in Burlington regardless of our diverse backgrounds.