Arts funding announced by local governments
Sophie Demers
The MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais announced in late July that they have awarded five organizations located across various municipalities funding for their upcoming cultural projects. The funding comes from the MRC’s Fonds de développement culturel (FDC). The FDC’s purpose is to encourage the development of cultural offerings throughout the six municipalities that make up the MRC.
Additionally, the FDC hopes to increase knowledge and promote local cultural and natural heritage, support projects that develop a regional identity and foster a sense of belonging, as well as promote leisure, arts, culture and heritage activities.
Carrefour Emploi des Collines received funding for their “Graffitons ensemble” an activity bring together a graffiti artist, Phil Landry with youth from the COOP for collective entrepreneurial initiation (CIEC) to support their programs. The activity is set to take place on August 18 from 10 am to 3 pm at 34 de l’Église in Val-des-Monts. Carrefour Emploi des Collines is an organization that aims to support individuals with their career choices, help them return to the job market or go back to school for qualifying training.
The Wakefield theater received $5,000 for the Speaking Vibrations, a multimedia theater piece about the immigrant experience in Canada. The performance will feature Hip hop poet Jo-Anne Bryan performing three of her works in American Sign Language (ASL) along with other artists. It is set to take the stage September 17 at 4pm at the Centre Wakefield La Pêche, 38 Chemin de la Vallée de Wakefield.
The third project is Traces Arts Visuels’s “Impressions Végétales en musique” a creative activity bringing together textiles, music and nature for a workshop that will create a collective textile and musical work. For more information residents can visit tracesartsvisuels.com. The project also received $5,000 from the FDC.
Hantée: Ghost Hill, a Transistor Média project, also received $5,000. The podcast project hosted by Julien Morissette spotlights inexplicable events in Pontiac through archives and testimonials. The podcast's second season is to be released in the fall.
La Fab sur Mill received 25,415$ to create a ceramics studio. The artist's owned CO-OP coordinates and creates arts and cultural programming and invests in artists in the region by providing equipped spaces for artists, residents and visitors. The CO-OP is located in Chelsea.
For organizations looking to receive funding for their cultural project there is still time to apply for with the MRC des Collines. The deadline is September 1. More information on how to apply is available on the MRC’s website.
The FDC is the product of a Cultural Development Agreement signed between the MRC and the Government of Quebec. So far this year 11 projects have received funding.
Photo caption: Speaking Vibrations theater performance artists coming to the Wakefield Theatre. The project received funding through the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais Fonds de développement culturel.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Wakefield Theatre.
