If you’re interested in the state of art and culture in Revelstoke, come out to the Regent Hotel on Tuesday, June 14 for a workshop on the future of arts and culture planning in Revelstoke, followed by the Revelstoke Arts Council AGM and a Keynote Address by the Executive Director of Kicking Horse Culture. This is a great opportunity to get more involved in culture in our community!
Please also take a moment to complete a survey on your involvement in Revelstoke arts & culture: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XJSGN5Z
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Workshop: Shifting Revelstoke’s Arts & Cultural Planning into High Gear
The Consulting Team (Doris Haas & Caroline Miller) will provide participants with a draft Vision, Goals and Strategies for discussion and revision. These will form the basis of an updated and enhanced Cultural Strategy for Revelstoke.
5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Annual General Meeting, Revelstoke Arts Council
6:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. Keynote Address: Bill Usher, Executive Director, Kicking Horse Culture
“How one arts council went from 35 members and a budget of $50,000 to 650 members and a budget of $360,000 in 6 years: The Golden Story.”
7:15 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Q and A Session with Symposium attendees and Bill Usher
7:45 p.m. -9:00 p.m. Reception
You may register for the workshop and/or the symposium by emailing: info@revelstokeartscouncil.com
Deadline for registrations: Friday June 10
For additional information please contact Doris Haas at gdhsolutions@shaw.ca or Caroline Miller at carolinemiller@shaw.ca
Here’s some more information on the Keynote Address, which promises to offer some interesting insight on how Revelstoke can continue to move forward:
“How One Arts Council Went from 35 Members and a Budget of $50,000 to 650 Members and a Budget of $360,000 in Six Years: The Golden Story”
Keynote Speaker: Bill Usher
Kicking Horse Culture, Golden, BC Former Chair; now Executive Director
BC Arts Council, Victoria, BC Council Member
Like many arts councils in the country, the Golden District Arts Council Society (GDACS) has a long and important history in this rocky mountain rural community of 8,000. In 2004, the 34-year-old Council, with a total budget of $50,000, embraced a new vision and transitioned to “Kicking Horse Culture”.
The new brand reflected and represented both the Town of Golden, and Rural Golden (CSRD Area A) as “Kicking Horse Country: Authentic. Community. Adventure.” Fast forward two years to May of 2006. After countless hours of volunteer work, directors of the arts council signed a Service Delivery Agreement with the Town of Golden and Rural Golden to provide $60,000 in annual operating funds to ensure the stability and growth of Kicking Horse Culture. The two local governments bought into the promises that the arts council made to the community:
• to partner with Kicking Horse Country, our provincial, federal, corporate funders and our audiences to deliver a vibrant, year-round palette of cultural activity that will make “where” and “how” we live an “attraction”
• to use cultural activity as a catalyst to build upon and enhance our local traditions and further develop a strong “sense of place”
• to help fuel pride in community, social & economic development, tourism and the very real feeling that this is a “great place to live and visit”
Fast forward again to the summer of 2009 when the two participating local governments raised their combined annual commitment to $80,000, growing KHC’s budget to $320,000! Not just budgets have grown: the annual membership skyrocketed from 35 in 2004, to 550 in 2009.
“These past few years, KHC/GDACS has developed a professional, dependable approach and created new initiatives and vibrant cultural programming that our community has embraced with excitement and enthusiasm,” says Ron Oszust, CSRD Electoral Area A director of Rural Golden. “The more they do, the more we want them to do. Local government’s commitment of $80,000 generates a 4:1 plus annual return on our investment.”
Now, in the spring of 2011, KHC membership averages around 650 per year, with a budget of $380,000. In these past seven years, KHC has grown from a completely volunteer outfit run out of a tiny one-room office to year-round arts and culture programming, and a ‘main street’ 2800 square foot Art Gallery of Golden, and Studio Gift Shop – along with offices for a 3.2 FTE staffing complement. In addition, the council’s staffing capacity has allowed it to leverage almost $1 million in third-party regional and federal funds to support the $2.6 million re-birth of the Golden Civic Centre as Golden’s performing arts centre and premier cultural space.
How did it happen? Bill Usher, the former volunteer chair of the Council and now its full-time Executive Director says, “It takes a lot of hard work on the part of a community’s cultural workers to front-load the effort to make significant community change. Then it takes a receptivity and a willingness on the part of elected officials and staff to provide operating support so those cultural workers won’t burn out. What comes next is a big win-win for all.”
In his presentation, Bill will review the process and strategies on how one rural arts council went from $0 local government support to being an $80,000 annual line-item operating commitment. After the address, attendees can engage in a Q&A session, to explore fresh solutions to Revelstoke’s evolving arts and cultural scene, and to raise any issues highlighted in the afternoon workshop which precedes the Keynote Address.
An informal reception for all attendees, government officials, Arts Council Members, the keynote Speaker will follow the Q&A session.
