Arts collective just might be ready to make an announcement - will it make any difference?

By Pepper Parr

June 21, 2106

BURLINGTON, ON

They are meeting and they are talking but that band of artists, musicians and actors that created ACCOB (Arts and Culture Collective of Burlington) and began to call themselves the “collective” are ready to make an announcement about what they feel is a significant step forward. Just when is not certain.

Angela Papariza currently handles the cultural file at city hall – she has few resources to work with. One of her strongest allies is Trevor Copp who lit the flame that is keeping the water boiling within the arts community.

As yet however, the arts community doesn’t yet have the ear of the civic administration and without a serious commitment by city council to fund the arts – little is going to happen.

The relationship between the arts crowd and the city manager is not good – one artist has said the city manage lies to them.

Inflammatory for sure – but that is where things appear to be with the artists.

Back in 2013 Trevor Copp, a dancer you want to see perform at least once in your lifetime, raised the profile of the arts community when he delegated to city council and got all the usual platitudes.

Teresa Seaton, organizer of the Art in Action Tour, thinks through a response at one of the Cultural Action Plan sessions. She is one of 250 people organized as an Arts and Culture Collective in Burlington.

While the elected officials did little – the arts community began to organize themselves and are pressing city hall staff – to little effect so far.

There is in this city, a significant number of people who want to see a more vibrant culture – something that is above and beyond the Sound of Music and the Teen Tour Band. They have their place, an important one – but there is more than that to culture.

The Collective has done their homework – they know what they want – now to actually get it – that’s their challenge.

Expect to see the arts community beginning to network and make connections with some of the people who wrote the large cheques that paid for the construction of the Performing Arts Centre and work with them for more quality and substance that can be put before the public.

It might get a little messy – but the world of arts and culture has seldom been a smooth one.

It is the performance that counts – not all the petty politicking that we are seeing now.