Kincardine already creating a unique, distinct community, says speaker at Arts IgNight event

Kincardine is doing a great job at creating a unique, distinctive community, making it a destination for locals and visitors, alike.

That's the word from Janine Dunlop, regional advisor for the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, and Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Speaking to about 80 people at the inaugural Arts IgNight event, held Monday, Oct. 24, in the Kincardine Hall at the Davidson Centre, Dunlop said she works with 40 different municipalities in Bruce, Grey and Dufferin counties, and with many not-for-profit organizations.

"I've taken part in many community-planning exercises and discussed the important role of arts and culture in these communities," she said. "You have to use your community's cultural background to create an identify. Across Ontario, it's shocking how alike we all look. We need to focus on 'place-making' in our communities.

"But here, I'm preaching to the converted. You are already place-making. You have the Kincardine Scottish Festival, the Kincardine Summer Music Festival, the Lighthouse Blues Festival. You have great cultural activities, such as the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band Saturday Night Parades, Doors Open, Multicultural Night. You have the Walker House, the Kincardine Lighthouse, the Kincardine Community Concert Band, the Kincardine Community Singers, musicians and trails.

"You even have an arts, culture and heritage plan and a committee in place. The future belongs to communities that have character, a uniqueness, that are distinct. You're already doing that. Amazing things happen here, and our ministries want to assist you to do even more."

Dunlop said a lot of her work involves assisting non-profit organizations in writing and submitting grant applications for funding through the provincial government. She also holds a lot of grant-writing workshops.

She is one of 30 regional advisors working in 20 different satellite offices. She lives in Hanover, while her office is in Walkerton.

Working with communities is the most rewarding part of her job, she said. "I work with them on community development, and a big part of that includes grant applications, assessments, and the management of grants."

She said there has been a big change at Grants Ontario with all applications now being done electronically. "It's a tricky beast; it's not easy to navigate but that's the way of the world. It's the province-wide system for grant applications."

Dunlop also pointed to Ontario's new Cultural Economy booklet, featuring a cultural plan and strategy, complete with goals. She urged communities, like Kincardine, to hold the government accountable for this strategy.

She said community work is like mountain-climbing. It all sounds great until you start into it and wonder who on earth talked you into doing this? Then you get exhausted trying to overcome so many hurdles, and you want to quit. But you keep going, with the goal in sight, and then when you reach the top, the view is spectacular.

"Eventually, you'll look back and see how far you've come, and then you'll say, okay, what's the next mountain?"

The Arts IgNight event saw numerous community groups with booths manned by volunteers, ready to explain what their group does and how to join. Among these, were the Kincardine Community Singers, Kincardine Community Concert Band, Kincardine Tartan Twirlers, Kincardine Theatre Guild, Kincardine and District Horticultural Society, the Paddy Walker Heritage Society and Walker House, J'Adorn and its Annie Sloan Chalk Paint workshops, Youth Waves, as well as dance groups, music groups, etc.

Kincardine tourism director Kelly McDonald presented the winning entries of the Anything But Sunsets photo contest.

The winners were as follows:
 

• Nature – Bill Heikkila
• People and Animals – Anita Heikkila
• Heritage – Barb Macleod
• Culture – Francis Lozada
• Architecture – Barb Macleod
• Agriculture – Tori Bos