By Adam Brazeau
CORNWALL, Ontario – It was a welcomed cash injection for a grassroots community project to build a multidisciplinary home for the arts in Cornwall.
The Centre for the Arts Collective received a $2,500 contribution Friday at the Cornwall Public Library.
Cornwall Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy, Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Jim McDonell, and SDSG MP Guy Lauzon attended the special gathering.
John McMartin, the collective’s president, and Rose Desnoyers, collective committee chair and Focus Art president, thanked the Seeker’s Julia Lucio and Mais-Liis Renaud for the generous donation.
“For us, this is important and significant,” said McMartin.
Up next was a brief skit to address the collective’s identity crisis.
“Are you TAG (The Art Gallery of Cornwall)?” Desnoyers asked. To which McMartin replied: “No.”
“Are you YAC (Your Arts Council, Cornwall and the Counties)?” And again the response was “No.”
“Are you Focus Art (an eastern Ontario visual arts association centered on Cornwall, SD&G)?” “No, we’re not.”
“The collective is an approved committee of the City of Cornwall and our main functions are to raise awareness of arts in our community and at the same time raise funds for a brand new or refurbished arts centre,” said McMartin.
The pair discussed previous functions like the Heart for Art breakfast and a mural project named High Five for the Arts, and announced that more fundraising events will be happening throughout the year.
“I’m a retired director of education – I see things through to the end,” said McMartin. “We’re going to work very hard to realize this dream.”
In the 2013 Strategic Plan, city council pledged to develop a Centre for the Arts facility and in June 2013, approved the opening of a dedicated bank account to manage the funds from the development stages on.
“I can see from these two fellas – one-third of funding there and another third there,” said O’Shaughnessy pointing to McDonell and Lauzon.
“The final step needs to be donations coming from the collective. There seems to be a desire. City council is doing their homework. We’re only going to get one chance and we’re going to do it right, the way artists want.”
O’Shaughnessy reminded the crowd that the Benson Centre took roughly eight years to go from an idea to fruition, which started with the level of community support shown at the gathering.
The collective originally predicted the project would be completed in 2017. McMartin was unable to commit to a timeline on the arts facility’s grand opening.
O’Shaughnessy urged local art groups and initiatives to come together once the feasibility study on the facility is completed and presented to council in the near future.
To keep up to date with the collective, visit www.facebook.com/centrefortheartscentrepourlesarts.
