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South Simcoe Arts Council celebrates new exhibit and Trillium Grant

March 14, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The South Simcoe Arts Council held a reception on Friday, March 8, to recognize a two-year Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant as well as premier a new exhibit.

The Trillium Grant for $196,000, comes from the Resilient Communities Fund and will go a long way in supporting the Arts Council with its work.

Brian Saunderson, MPP for Simcoe-Grey, arrived at the reception to officially announce the grant.

“We are gathering to celebrate our artists – we have a brand new exhibit that is a collaboration of visual arts and writing,” explained Sarah O’Donnell, special projects coordinator for the South Simcoe Arts Council.

“Writers have been inspired by the works on the walls. We’re also thanking the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the very generous grant we are receiving. It’s a two-year grant.”

The grant will allow the Arts Council to expand some of its priorities.

“This grant comes from the Resilient Communities fund,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “It’s helping us to upgrade our technology, helping us to hire more staff and get more programs running. We have a new funding coordinator who is helping us, and teaching us how to maintain long-term stability, so we are always on a strong footing.”

The Arts Council had to shut down many of its programs during the pandemic. They are now getting back to a regular schedule and providing more programs now that things have returned to normal.

“All non-profits are having a difficult time coming back from the pandemic,” Ms. O’Donnell explained. “We’re getting back on our feet and getting back our momentum, and are exciting about it. The pandemic shut many of our workshops down.”

The Grant will help get things back to pre-pandemic programming.

“We’re connecting with our community and have the opportunity to do it in a very sustainable way,” said Arts Council president Suu Taylor. “Our music festival went virtual. Our arts, we could still do, but we lost that connection with many of our artists. Also, people want different things than they did before everything shut down. So now we have to connect with people and see what they need.”

The reception was well attended with artists, Arts Council members, and members of the community who support the arts.

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