By Pepper Parr

April 27, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Culture in Burlington took another step forward last week when a Culture Days information session took place at the Art Gallery of Burlington.

Local artists were able to set up a booth in Civic Square at the 2014 Culture Days – most reported they did very well at raising their profiles.

It was a small crowd but several of the people who play major roles in how culture is marketed and delivered in this city were in the room
There is a non-profit organization that maintains a web site with everything anyone would want to know about cultural events in the province. Culture Days raises the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities.

To make it really work the Culture Days organization say again and again – ya gotta register – and the earlier the better.
Register an event is what makes an event work. It is not the simplest thing to do. McLeod wasn’t able top get the computer she was using to project the process onto a screen but the Gazette went on line and gave it a whirl – and it does work.

There are four basic criteria to Culture Days activities:

1. Your activity is free to the public
All activities registered as part of Culture Days are free; that is, they cannot be ticketed or occur in a space that charges admission. If you have already planned a mix of free and ticketed programs, register your free activities with Culture Days, and simply let the public know that you have other activities available as well. Fundraisers or sales can happen in proximity to your free event as long as it does not overshadow or restrict/prevent access to free activities. Note: asking for voluntary donations or placing a donation box near the entrance is not the same as requiring donations.

Teresa Seaton, a stained glass artist has been a prime mover behind the annual Art in Action tour – and is now part of the newly formed Arts and Culture Collective.

2. The activity takes place during the Culture Days weekend: September 25, 26 and/or 27, 2015 Activities registered as part of Culture Days take place during this year’s Culture Days weekend, but you do not need to have three days of activities or activities that last all day. Even a single one-hour participatory event scheduled during the Culture Days weekend qualifies. If your organization already offers arts learning or outreach activities, simply schedule one of your regular events during Culture Days.

3. The activity is participatory
All Culture Days activities are participatory in nature. This means that your activity involves some kind of hands-on aspect or offer the public “backstage”/behind-the-scenes access to see how you do what you do. Invite the public to go beyond a typical audience experience and instead play a part in the creative process. For instance, if you are in a choir, rather than stage a performance, you might offer a workshop on how to sing or harmonize; if you own or operate a dance studio, you might offer a dance class; if you are involved in a community radio station, you could offer a guided tour of your studio. Engagement and participation is key, regardless of the activity. Don’t forget that fun counts too! People love to do what they normally don’t have a chance to experience. Refer to the activity types in the upcoming section for more participation ideas.

4. The activity is registered at culturedays.ca
When you register your activity online, you officially become part of Culture Days and benefit from the national promotional campaign that directs the public to the website to discover activities in their community. Registering online also gives you the chance to be included in the national Public Relations and Marketing campaign. You can also sign up to get regular e-newsletters with valuable advice and news about Culture Days.

Activity Types and Categories
There are five basic participatory activity types that can be registered as part of Culture Days, encompassing a wide range of artistic and cultural categories/disciplines.

1. hands-on activity: create, help make or try doing something yourself
2. behind-the-scenes: see inside artistic spaces and get a peek at creativity in action (indoors/outdoors)
3. excursion: tour of more than one location (eg. art gallery crawl)
4. discussion: artist talks, panels, round-tables and other cultural conversations where you can learn and discuss
5. collective creation: contribute to a collaborative act or work or art

The criteria and the regulations have that distinct stamp of a bureaucrat on them – but the process does work.

The city’s cultural manager guided Burlington’s participation in the 2014 Culture Days – Angela Papariza talks to Trevor Copp who took a plea to city council for a better cultural environment in the city.

On the last Friday of September (September 25, 26 and 27, 2015) many municipalities in Ontario celebrate Culture with a three day event. Burlington has done this for a number of years and will be doing so again this September.

Promotion is critical according the Catherine McLeod who runs the Ontario arm of Culture Days

Why Register an Activity? From highlighting your community, raising your profile and meeting new audiences, to networking and connecting with like-minded citizens, the reasons are multiple!

Some of the most exciting quilting ever done was on display at the Art Gallery of Burlington last year. It will be interesting to see how the Art Gallery chooses to participate in 2105

Highlight the Cultural Vibrancy of Your Community
Every corner of this country is full of creativity, arts and culture. By participating in Culture Days, you help your fellow citizens become aware of the many unique opportunities available to them and encourage participation in arts and cultural activities in your own backyard. You draw attention to the different cultures and heritages that contribute to the development and vitality of your community.
You cast a spotlight on the cultural organizations and individual artists in their midst.

From children’s choirs, “stitch and bitch” groups and performing arts organizations to art colleges, museums and design firms, there are myriad perspectives, experiences, disciplines and techniques to share and discover. Working together, Culture Days participants showcase the vibrancy of local arts and culture, and encourage everyone to discover something new, something different, and to re-connect with their own creativity and community.

Arts and culture initiatives and industries not only make a vital contribution to our dynamic economy but, crucially to the social development of our neighbhourhoods, regions and country, promoting life-long learning, creative thinking, resiliency, appreciation of diversity, compassion and so much more.

Spread the word. Arts and culture are important.
Make Worthwhile Connections, Meet New Supporters & Audiences
A significant amount of Culture Days activity organizers share space with other organizers during the weekend, often collaborating with someone or organizations with which they had not previously worked. Whether it is to create a hub of diverse activities in one area to attract visitors, or as an excuse to finally contact someone you’ve been meaning to connect with, Culture Days is the perfect opportunity to meet other creative people in your area, share resources, form new alliances that will last year-round, and meet new potential supporters and audience members.

Collaborations can also inspire unique cross-pollination among creative practices, connecting across sectors, cultures and generations.
Moreover, your participation in Culture Days can be the catalyst to create a legacy of strong connections between citizens, artists, cultural workers and their communities.

During the creation of the Spiral Stella the public provided artifacts that were bronzed and made a part of the sculpture that stands outside the Performing Arts Centre. Here children watch in amazement at how the moulds are made.

Develop Your Skills
Culture Days offers a fantastic opportunity to sharpen your promotional and organizational skills.
By taking advantage of the free tips and tools offered on the website, you can make the most of your Culture Days experience and apply everything that you have learned or improved upon year-round.
Whether it is leveraging social media for the first time as a promotional tool, organizing as a community, or connecting with people as passionate as you are, the vast and varied network of collaborators that makes up the Culture Days initiative is the perfect support system.
Learning works best when you have people to share it with, so don’t hesitate to get out there and put it all into practice, and be sure to not be humble about your successes!

Raise Your Profile
Culture Days offers helpful tips and tools to conduct your own promotion and media relations. It is a great opportunity to be featured in your local paper, association newsletters, or arts blogs, to name a few. Don’t hesitate to tell everyone about your unique activity.

In addition to being included in the national marketing and communications campaign, you might also take part in local or regional marketing initiatives. By pointing the general public to culturedays.ca where your activity is registered, people in your community and beyond your usual circles will learn about you and your activity.

Benefit from your participation by collecting contact information, business cards and comments from your visitors. This is a chance to build your email list and collect glowing testimonials for your next brochure or website update. Just by sharing your passion and talents, you can recruit new members, clients or audience members on the spot.

Making culture the focus of conversation is what the Culture Days committee feels will raise the profile of the arts in a community.

Unite To Make Arts and Culture The Topic of Conversation
Culture Days is the largest-ever collective public participation campaign undertaken by the arts and cultural community in this country. Last year, artists, cultural organizations, diverse groups and local organizers in nearly 800 communities registered some 7,500 events. The marketing and media campaign generated impressions in the hundreds of millions.

In the three years since its inception, one in three Canadians reported being aware of Culture Days – that’s more than 11 million people!
By participating, you promote and reveal the creativity of our citizens, creators, organizations, and communities through a vast Canada-wide marketing and public awareness campaign. Whether you create a new program or already have a relevant interactive activity planned, everything included in the Culture Days weekend pushes arts and culture into the limelight.

It all happens September 25, 26 and 27, 2015 – what artists do between now and then will determine just how successful the day is. Wish for sunshine!

By Pepper Parr

April 16, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

Would the world continue to turn without volunteers? There are a lot of people in the Burlington whose lives are better because of the many volunteers – and the lives of those volunteers are richer because of the work they do.

At about this time last year Community Development Halton created an award in the name of former Burlington Mayor Walter Mulkewich to recognize the work volunteers do.

Ann Coburn’s Director of Volunteer Halton, in handing out the awards made these comments:
We are witness this morning to the recognition of the work, generosity and impact of individual volunteers across Halton’s four communities. You and other extraordinary volunteers have said to us repeatedly, “it isn’t really me, it is about the group, it’s about the energy and commitment of my neighbours”.

This rippled through us at Community Development Halton that we created an award to celebrate those amazing and dedicated people who come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems in their community.

Walter Mulkewich, taking in a political speech on a sunny summer afternoon.

This award honours a citizen of Burlington, a citizen of Halton, Walter Mulkewich, who has worked and is working tirelessly to influence evolution and advancement in sectors such as the environment, economic development, social development, mental health, and the arts and culture. Walter epitomizes the characteristics of leadership: honesty, integrity, courage, and inclusion. He is a man graced by the passion for fairness, for social justice, and for human well-being.

In 2015, the committee is honouring, T.E.A.C.H., with the Mulkewich award.
T.E.A.C.H. is an acronym meaning Teach, Empower, Advocate for Community Health. T.E.A.C.H. is a Consumer Survivor initiative operating across Halton that provides peer support and advocacy to individuals experiencing mental health and substance use. All thirty+ volunteers have lived experience with the mental health and addictions system. Volunteers have been actively involved in numerous facets of education, support, training, counselling, outreach and promotion, even back office and administrative duties, marketing and event planning.

T.E.A.C.H. is an organization whose foundation has been built on the effort and inspiration of community volunteers. T.E.A.C.H. is guided by the “Recovery Philosophy”, which affirms that all people experiencing challenges have inherent strengths, and that they can – and will – get better.

Joseph Kiss, Rolling Horse Community Cycle. Joseph provides free bicycle repair and basic bike mechanics for children and adults in neighbourhoods across Burlington.

Having an organization such as T.E.A.C.H. has allowed individuals and their families to start a dialogue in the community surrounding mental health and addictions. T.E.A.C.H. assists us to better understand mental health and additions so that we can be supportive and inclusive. T.E.A.C.H. partners and collaborates with numerous social and health agencies building their collective capacity to support the growing needs of our citizens suffering from mental health and addictions.

For example, T.E.A.C.H. works with our local hospitals, P.O.S.S.E. (Peer Outreach Support Services & Education) , Halton A.D.A.P.T. (Alcohol Drug and Gambling Assessment Prevention and Treatment), Summit Housing, S.T.R.I.D.E. (Supported Training & Rehabilitation in Diverse Environments) and the Region of Halton, to name a few.

Yvonne Kato is a holistic therapy volunteer at Breast Cancer Support Services, offering Reiki to members. Breast Cancer Support Services provides a variety of healing modalities to women living cancer, to help them ease the stress and side effects of treatment.

While much of the audience was made up of Volunteers taking part in the Breakfast event, Joey Edwardh, was not just speaking to the converted when she said: “The theme this year for National Volunteer Week is the ripple effect of volunteerism. A volunteer action is like a stone thrown in a lake: its effect has a direct impact. At the same time, like ripples, volunteer efforts reach out far and wide to improve communities..

Quoting Christine Mason Miller, Edwardh said: “When we focus our energy towards constructing a passionate meaningful life, we are tossing a pebble into the world creating a beautiful ripple of inspiration. When one person follows a dream , tries something new, or takes a daring leap, everyone feels that energy and before too long they are making their own daring leaps and inspiring yet another circle. “

Cavan Cook, John Howard Society, Burlington & Area. Cavan is a Mentor for Youth At Risk Development (YARD) program. He provides individual support to a young person focused on setting up and achieving positive goals.

She added: Like a pebble thrown into the water, volunteer action creates many ripples of inspiration and encouragement . Volunteers reach out beyond themselves to engage in kindness and caring for others. They are special people, with busy lives, who make time for others. They see and respect the dignity of their fellow men and women. In a thousand different ways they lighten the load for those who are burdened by illness, troubles or disadvantage.

Volunteerism has always been with us, we call it neighbours helping neighbours, supporting one another when affected by disaster, concerned citizens see a need in their community, form groups of like-minded individuals to address the need and create change.

Our Governor General, his Excellency The Right Honourable David Johnston, said the third pillar of Canada will be encouraging philanthropy and volunteerism. He went on to say that “Canadians have a long history of coming together and helping one another. Service to country shaped us, service to family and community sustains us, and this tradition of service will carry us forward into the future”

The Ripple Effect! Throughout history we can trace back to organizations that were formed to address areas of injustice and the social needs of society. In Canada, organizations emerged in direct response to a need in community all of which involved Volunteers as founders, supporters and front line workers.

Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring on the left with John Searles and Linda McKay who is with the Burlington Public Library. Linda McKay is a dedicated Visiting Library Service Volunteer at the Burlington Public Library. She delivers books to several customers, who are unable to travel to the library themselves, and they think the world of Linda.

One such as example , as it happened in our neighbouring community of Hamilton. In the 1950’s a group of mothers desperate to find a cure for polio, which was an epidemic at that time, formed the Marching Mothers and went door to door in their neighourhoods, collecting dimes for research. The Marching Mothers were instrumental in supporting the research of Dr. Jonas Salk, whose polio vaccine was released in 1955, putting an end to the epidemic. The Marching Mothers movement today is known as the March of Dimes.

This is only one example of an organization that made a significant difference in the lives of Canadians and exemplifies the Ripple effect of how the action of a few can and do change the lives of many.

The Seniors Ambassador Connector Program was pilot project in Burlington and the ripple effect is that it is now expanding to Halton Hills. Shown here are the Burlington Ambassadors.

The Seniors Ambassador Connector Program was pilot project in Burlington and the ripple effect is that it is now expanding to Halton Hills.
Volunteer Halton is privileged to work on a daily basis with like-minded individuals and groups who identify a need and move into action. We see every day individuals who answer the call for change, come together as strangers, connect through a cause and end up with lasting friendships. When asked volunteers always mention that they could not do the work without the support of their Coordinator, Manager of Volunteers.

These professionals dedicate long hours organizing, preparing and supporting the work of volunteers and volunteers themselves.  Today we recognize and celebrate the wonderful volunteers who come from all walks of life, different experiences and from all ages to create the ripple effect that changes lives and communities!

Edwardh chose to leave her audience with a pungent thought to ponder.

Noah’s Ark was built by volunteers
The Titanic was built by professionals.

That sort of sums it up – doesn’t it?