The Salmon Arm Arts Centre has acquired a coup in the arts world – one which could benefit the whole city.
Come July and August, the art gallery will be home to an exclusive North American exhibition from award-winning and world-renowned artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller.
Director and curator Tracey Kutschker told city council during a recent presentation that Cardiff was one of her professors at the University of Lethbridge. The couple now lives part time in Grindrod and part time in Berlin.
Their exhibition is entitled, Experiment in F Minor, and a custom room is being built within the gallery for the interactive sound installation.
Cardiff and Miller’s website describes their creation like this:
“On a large table sits a collection of bare speakers of all shapes and sizes. Light sensors are inlaid into the edge of the table and as the viewers move around the room, their shadows cause the various sound and instrumental tracks to fade up and overlap, mingle and fade down.
“Numerous viewers in the room create a cacophony of musical compositions that vary according to where the audience walks or how many people are in the room. When the space is empty, the table fades to silence.”
“This is big – really, really big,” Kutschker told council. “This is the only place in North America it will be shown. The rest of the year it’s on tour in Europe and in 2016 in Asia.”
Council agreed.
“I think it’s a huge coup to have Cardiff and Miller coming this summer,” remarked Coun. Alan Harrison, noting the artists are featured in large galleries all around the world. “I hope people in Salmon Arm realize what a big deal it is.”
Also in her report, which was presented as part of a request for the renewal of a three-year fee for service agreement with the city, Kutschker touched on successes of the arts centre over the past year.
New programs were begun, including Random Acts of Music, the Artscape radio show, Teen Art Camp, Artist Trading Cards, Art Film Series and downtown Culture Crawl.
New part-time staff were hired, building improvements were done, new equipment added, new partnerships were formed with First Nations, Shuswap Literacy Alliance and Shuswap Writers Association, to name a few – and attendance in programs increased.
One big project was the award-winning mosaic at the Ross Street Plaza, which involved approximately 3,000 volunteer hours, about 200 community members, three years of fundraising and stretches over 36 square metres of the plaza.
Overall, Kutschker noted the arts centre offers 19 different programs to a cross-section of age groups. She said Canadian cities spend, on average, $35 per resident on arts and culture. The $48,000 per year requested from the city for 2016 to 2018 would be an expenditure of $2.75 per resident.
She pointed to the multiplier effect of spending on arts and culture. Every dollar spent has been found to generate $1.31 in tax revenue.
Kutschker expressed gratitude for the city’s past contribution and stressed its importance.
“The reason your investment matters to us, it demonstrates your support and belief that arts and culture matters in the community. Without that for leverage, we couldn’t do it,” she said, adding, “We feel the agreement will continue to serve you and serve us in order to bring cultural programming to the entire community.”
Council will consider the funding request during deliberations in November for the 2016 budget.