The Melfort Arts Council and the City of Melfort are developing an arts and culture framework for the area.
The council wants to know what kind of arts and culture events people want to see in the area, and what skills they have they would be willing to share with other people.
Karen Eckhart, performing arts chair for the Melfort Arts Council, said they are trying to find ways to better serve the community.
“The Melfort Arts Council is completely volunteer-driven and we have a lot of great ideas on what we would like to do in town, in Melfort and area,” Eckhart said. “Now, it would be helpful, (and) beneficial for all of us if we knew what the community wanted to do.
“It’s one thing to want to deliver programming and it hits better if we can actually provide what people want,” she added.
Having that information, Eckhart said, will help the group seek grants and find other organizations to partner with.
“We can adjust to the communities needs through time if we have a better sense of where we are going,” she explained.
Eckhart said Sask Culture has funded similar work in other communities across the province. She’s optimistic that developing such a framework in Melfort would help draw people to the community.
“Arts and culture seem to be and (has) proven to be strong economic drivers for tourism, (and) for business,” she said. “They also increase well-being and the creation of that feeling of community.”
There are two ways to tell them what you want to do or share with others: an online survey at melfortartscouncil.com, or in person.
“We feel that all of those things are important and with this information then we can work with our partners and deliver bigger programming, think about regional aspects, that sort of thing,” she explained.
The in-person events are at the Melfort Historic Post Office March 5 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and March 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. The online survey closes March 15.
Eckhart said that they have already received some excellent input online
“For the evening and the afternoon, people can come to see us and talk about what they want to see and do, what they feel is missing, (and) what other communities have done that they really like,” Eckhart said.
They will also have flyers to take away at the event with interesting facts.
“They can do their online survey right there if they wish,” she added. “We’re hoping through those two days to have a lot of really good discussion with members of the public and flush this very early stages of the consultation out even better.”
She said the survey is open until March 15 in case someone missed an opportunity to do it in person.
“We look forward to talking to everyone from Melfort and area. If someone would like to have a phone conversation, they can do that too. Just connect with us through Facebook,” Eckhart said.
They have already created a graphic of some of the information that they have received, and it will also be updated after the public consultations.
“I already know that there’s several things that aren’t on there that the community would like, so that’s going to be interesting for us, the before and after,” Eckhart said.
She added that a project like this is also part of continuing to be a thriving arts council
“We are very interested in being responsive to the community and supporting our community,” she explained.
Information received from the survey and in-person discussions will be used to develop events and workshops for all ages. It will be shared back with residents through the Melfort
Arts Council’s webpage and social media, and updated regularly.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
