COLD LAKE - Cold Lake residents were encouraged to share their ideas and suggestions to improve arts and culture in the city during an open house on July 10 at the Cold Lake Energy Centre. Richard K. Schick, a theatre and cultural facilities and management consultant working with the municipality, emphasized the importance of community input.
“The purpose is to give the general population a chance to come and talk. Because, for the last three days, I’ve been meeting with a selection of arts people, artists themselves, and people presenting arts organizations in the community. And this is a chance for general people to come and meet me, voice their concern, voice their support or their non-support,” said Schick.
Schick discussed the variety of arts being considered, including performing arts and visual arts such as painting, pottery, photography, glass blowing, and stained-glass work.
He added that while there is a lot of arts activity in the city, it is fragmented and lacks a centralized hub where artists can come together and showcase their work.
“There's no gallery for local artists. There's nowhere for local artists to sell their work, their ceramics, and paintings. There's nowhere for them to show. There's no gallery. There's no performing arts. There's no real stage. There's no performing arts venue,” says Schick.
He pointed out the limitations of current venues, “So there are theaters. There's a theater in the school. There's a theater in the 4 Wing theater. But those venues are used by schools or they're used by the military. They're not conducive to what we're talking about creating that hub of arts activity.”
Schick emphasized the need for a dedicated arts venue to nurture the arts in the community, though the specifics of what kind of venue and its size are still being determined.
He described his plan to review the input gathered, conduct additional consultations by phone and Zoom, and then prepare recommendations for Heather Miller to present to City Council regarding future steps for the project.
For individuals who want to provide their input, can contact Heather Miller, City of Cold Lake’s Recreation Program and Service Manager. “We need everybody's input because it's important," added Schick.
