cktimes.ca Archives for Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Wednesday night will be an important night for arts, heritage and culture in Chatham-Kent
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
"A house divided cannot stand" and there is no better example of that than within the arts, culture and heritage community of Chatham-Kent. The many talented, creative, ambitious and dedicated organizations that represent the area must band together, for it is only when they work together, can great things happen.This Wednesday night, September 25th at 7:30 P.M. in the auditorium at Chatham Collegiate Institute there will be an extremely important meeting for anyone interested in the arts, heritage and culture within Chatham-Kent. The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has formulated a Community Strategic Plan and now that it is in place the members of the Chatham-Kent community have the responsibility to ensure that the strategic directions formulated within that plan come into fruition.
The Strategic Directions that have been decided upon after over a year of deliberations and meetings by various community groups throughout Chatham-Kent are as follows :
1) "Celebrate and support the communities of Chatham-Kent" 2) "Protect and promote our diverse natural and historical areas and resources" 3) "Provide recognition to people and organizations that make significant contributions to the stewardship of our natural and human heritage" 4) "Encourage the community to embrace the diversity and heritage of all people".
These, of course, are all fine goals and objectives but it takes action on the part of the entire community to put them into action and, of course that is why Wednesday night's meeting is so important. It is hoped that, at this meeting, the long and difficult, but extremely important, task of beginning to work together as one powerful group can be initiated.
At this meeting, it is hoped that the various arts, heritage and cultural representatives from all over Chatham-Kent can begin to voice their concerns, their visions, their hopes and their dreams in order that we can all work together to achieve them for all concerned.
Possible items that might be discssed, as starting points, at this meeting are such things as: a Chatham-Kent Arts Festival, a Chatham-Kent Arts Hall of Fame, support for the Chatham Capitol Theatre and how it will impact all of Chatham-Kent, the need for careful scheduling of events, the need to support all arts, culture and heritage events throughout Chatham-Kent, the need for enhanced communication amongst all arts, heritage and cultural groups, etc. etc. The list is endless and it does not really matter what is discussed, it is just important that a dialogue at least begins within this important group.
So – if you have any interest at all in any aspect of Chatham-Kent's arts, heritage and culture community, we implore you to meet with us on WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25th at 7:30 P.M. in the auditorium Chatham Collegiate Institute. It could just very well be the start of something very big!
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
