Okotoks capped off the Month of the Artist with some face time.
For the second year running, the Town of Okotoks and Okotoks Arts Council (OAC) hosted Face-to-Face at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre on Sept. 29.
“I was very pleased by the discussion that went on,” said Okotoks Culture and Heritage lead Allan Boss, adding he was satisfied by the attendance and ideas that came out of the panel discussion. "I felt that people had the chance to say what they needed to say, and the audience got an opportunity to hear their thoughts as well.
"When we were initially planning it, we were looking at maybe bringing in some speakers to try and get people thinking about arts and culture as an economic driver means because that was the theme of the of the conference.”
Starting off the evening was an unveiling of Sheep River artist in residence Tanya Zakarow’s portraits of community figures, former Okotoks events manager and decades-long volunteer Marg Cox, late Mayor Bill Robertson, Christ the Redeemer chair Ron Schreiber, beloved kindergarten teacher Lori Chibry and Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn.
Present for the panel segment was author and musician Jim McLennan, acupuncturist and business owner Jared McCollum, Okotoks Film Society (OFS) director Katie Fournell, OAC Chair Russell Thomas and Zakarow, with Boss providing insights as well.
Simply getting into the same room with a variety of people was a plus for Thomas.
"I was thrilled with the night, for several reasons: one was the diversity of people who attended, many of whom I hadn’t met before and there were many different disciplines represented,” Thomas said in a phone interview.
“It was useful, authentic dialogue.”
Part of that discussion centered on community-run events.
“As community events that used to be run by such-and-such organization fall by the wayside, the Town of Okotoks has come and picked them up and is doing all of these events, and I think this council recognizes that is not completely healthy,” Thomas said in the panel discussion.
“It would be better if we had organizations that were better supported and encouraged to pick up that load and from a grassroots level, but it's pretty tough because we keep hearing about money."
While Thomas said in the interview that the issue isn’t as simple as throwing money at it, funding was another key issue of the evening.
“One of the issues that came up was the question of accessibility and the impact of inflation and financial times on the access to our activities for young people, and that’s a very fresh idea and fresh concern,” Thomas said.
In the panel, he raised another key issue surrounding the framing of non-profit societies, such as the OAC and OFS.
“We shouldn't call it the non-profit sector anymore. We shouldn't be called non-profit, not-for-profit societies,” Thomas said on the panel. “We should call them social profits, because that's what we generate, whether it's the Arts Council or the Film Festival, we produce social profit.”
Part of that survival, McCollum posed in the discussion, is just being able to live in Okotoks in the first place.
“One thing I think is against us here in Okotoks, as far as building a really vibrant arts community, is we’ve been way too successful,” McCollum said. “We have a very beautiful community that is extremely expensive to live in, and we have ignored affordable housing in this community for about 20-plus years.
“I’m sorry, it just hasn’t been enough and because of that, we are going to lose our artists and our young generations.”
Creating a healthy art space isn’t simply a matter of new policy, he said.
“I visited some pretty vibrant art communities in the world, and it always starts in the poor, run-down communities, because that's where the artists can afford space and somewhere to live,” McCollum said.
“And unfortunately, in Okotoks, we have zero vacancy, so how do we attract those artists and keep those young people here and all of that, when there's nowhere for them to go?”
Adding to that, Thomas pointed out as cost-of living increases, families often cut the arts first. He proposed something for the arts similar to KidSport to create artistic opportunities for youth.
In the panel, McLennan pointed out that societies and community groups aside, individual artists simply need to be able to survive, and revenue streams are few and far between, especially for musicians in the streaming age.
Funding in general is an uphill battle, as Fournell explained in the panel.
“The thing with arts, especially in Alberta and Canada, is in order to start an arts organization or to be an artist, you basically have to create a not-for-profit in order to get funding, which means you can’t be for profit,” Fournell said.
"If a coffee shop opens, if they make a lot of money, they get to make a lot of money, but with a not-for-profit, your wage has to be decided before you actually do the work.
“And it depends how much money you get that year.”
Government support only comes in the form of working casinos and grant applications, she added.
“And to put it plainly, the Town of Okotoks does not fund arts organizations,” she said.
To that end, Boss raised the point that Okotoks council approved the Arts and Culture Activation Grant in June to increase events in the downtown during evenings and weekends.
Fournell said in a phone interview she was optimistic, but unsure to what extent it would support existing events and organizations.
Also present to hear out the panelists, notepad in hand, was Okotoks Deputy Mayor and Coun. Oliver Hallmark.
“It was great to be a fly on the wall there,” Hallmark said. “It was great to hear the challenges and ideas that they’re having, and it was great to have council representation because I was able to take some notes and I've shared that with my colleagues, stuff that I never thought of before.”
Aligning with the recognition of art and culture as an economic driver in council's strategic plan and the public art policy passed Sept. 25, Hallmark agreed that even simply making the town a better place to live means good things economically.
To that end, Boss agreed.
“It also means having a great place to live and the social element of the community,” Boss said. “Because it's having a financially sound community, a place that people want to live, want to want to raise their families, and be involved and to attract those living wage jobs."
