The Guelph Arts Council, located on Wyndham Street North, is an organization that is dedicated to promoting, supporting, and spreading awareness around Guelph’s art and culture. Reaching it’s 40th anniversary, The Ontarion thought it would be relevant to talk to the organization’s Executive director, Patti Broughton, on the ways that students can become more involved in the arts around Guelph. Broughton explained that one of the council’s biggest goals is getting University of Guelph students involved in the arts.
Danielle Subject: What advice would you give to students who want to get involved with the Guelph Arts Council? What sort of events and opportunities do you offer?
Patti Broughton: We do a few different things, and one of the things that we do are public programs, which is probably what most people would know us from. Things like Art on the Street, which is a big art show and exhibition in the summer. We partner with the Downtown Guelph Business Association on that event. So that’s a juried show, with a huge audience—about 5,000 people might come and experience that day.
We also do some other programs that create some opportunities for artists, and certainly our members and other artists can get involved with some of these programs. One of them is the HATCH Project; that’s been quite an interesting project where, again, we’re partnering with the Downtown Guelph Business Association to activate some underused spaces to create some vitality in downtown Guelph. It’s a great opportunity for the city, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity for artists to do some paid work. This is ongoing now through the end of this year—we just had a second call go out, but we’re hoping to do a third before the end of the year. That’s open to local artists, as well as artists from outside the community.
D.S.: Are there a lot of students or alumni that are involved already in the GAC?
P.B.: We certainly do have some, but I think that is a part of the community where we can make more connections and we can provide more help. We are multi-disciplinary, so we are trying to reach artists in music, dance, theatre, visual art–whatever people are engaged with in the way of arts and culture.
D.S.: What do you find particularly inspiring about the City of Guelph?
P.B.: Well I’m new to Guelph as you know, and I’ve just been struck by the real vibrancy of the community in terms of arts and culture. There’s just so much happening in all of the art forms. There are wonderful festivals in this community; I don’t think there are too many communities of this size that have five big festivals and a number of other ones that are coming to the forefront as well. It’s just amazing for visitors and residents to have the opportunity to experience so much culture. Those festivals are creating opportunities for Guelph artists, but they’re also bringing art from other areas of the country, and even international artists, to the city, which is a great opportunity for learning and connecting and growing.
D.S.: What continues to keep you passionate about being involved in the Guelph Arts Council?
P.B.: I just love arts and culture, it’s the sort of the thing in my life that I like to do with any time that I have. I’ve been engaged with music, visual arts, and singing at a personal level through my whole life, and I’ve found as I’ve gone through my career, that I have some strength for administration and for organizing. So I’ve been able to kind of put together my interest in the arts and it’s brought me some real inspiration in my own life.