Toronto, September 21, 2015 – This year, Culture Days coincides with Craft Year 2015, a year-long, nation-wide festival promoting craft as a key player in Canadian culture. To mark this occasion, Ontario Culture Days has teamed up with Craft Ontario to encourage craft-makers to offer free hands-on craft activities to the public during the Culture Days weekend, September 25, 26 and 27, 2015.
There are a wide range of art forms and arts activities scheduled throughout the Culture Days weekend, but in honour of Craft Year 2015, here are a few craft-focused examples taking place across the province:
- Teresa Seaton will demonstrate copper foiling technique for stained glass at her Burlington gallery.
- Jaroslav-Jerry Vrabec merges his engineering and aviation training with his artistic sensibilities to create striking metal and mixed media sculptures. Tour behind the scenes at his Metal Works Studio in London.
- Paint your own clay tile at the Gardiner Museum at the Bloor St. Culture Corridor Hub in Toronto.
- Celebrate 55 years of the Thunder Bay Weavers and Spinners Guild with demonstrations, workshops and displays of weaving looms, spinning wheels and other equipment.
- In Gravenhurst, Linda Kristin Blix will host a drop-in, family friendly introduction to printmaking, using simple techniques and materials.
Find out what’s happening in your community and plan your weekend at www.on.culturedays.ca. Connect with Culture Days on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Background
This year’s Culture Days celebrations take place September 25, 26 and 27 with more than 1,500 free activities for the public brought to you by hundreds of artists, arts and culture organizations and creative workers across Ontario.
Last year’s Strategic Counsel national survey of public attendees to Culture Days found that it has a positive impact on the arts and culture sector lasting well beyond the Culture Days weekend. As a result of attending Culture Days, survey respondents reported the following:
- 73 per cent said they had a better understanding of the positive contribution that artists and arts organization make to their community
- 65 per cent discovered a local artist or arts organization that they were not previously aware of
- 57 per cent said they attended more arts and cultural events
- 37 per cent became interested in or supported an artist or arts or cultural organization
- 29 per cent undertook more volunteer work with an arts or cultural organization
- 16 per cent donated more money to arts or cultural organizations
- 15 per cent bought more artwork
Ontario Culture Days is supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario in recognition of Celebrate the Artist Weekend. For more information about Ontario Culture Days call 416-964-7555 or email on@culturedays.ca.
Some of the Aboriginal Focused Events List:
First Nations Hand Drumming
Identifying Inuit Art
Culture Days @ the Library: Métis Roots Cultural Showcase
