Highlights From Building Community Through The Arts

Late last month the Kingston Arts Council hosted back-to-back evenings of public forums at the newly renovated Tett Centre, which centred on the topic of Building Community Through The Arts.  The video highlight reel embedded above showcases some of the stirring discussions and lively performances that comprised these well-attended events.

The first evening kicked off with a talk facilitated by members of Musagetes (Shawn Van Sluys and Alissa Firth-Eagland), an arts organization that believes in the transformative potential of co-created arts initiatives, specifically their ability to connect artists and local communities to the world around them. The evening was capped off with a musical performance by Kyoko Ogoda; check out the full video here.

The following night featured a presentation by and discussion with Christina Zeidler, film maker and president of the historic Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.  She shared her community based approach to creating arts hubs, highlighting the potential to foster instant access to local arts scenes.  This second evening was punctuated with musical performances and film screenings by Kingstonist’s-own Danielle Lennon as well as the presentation of the Nan Yeomans Grant for Artistic Development to Leigh Ann Bellamy; full video from the second evening here.

If you didn’t have a chance to attend either of these events and are interested in the local arts scene and it’s future potential, please check out both of the full length videos linked above.  What sort of ideas, missing components and advantages do you think this city should address or otherwise capitalize on?  Drop off your comments below.