Happy new year!
Membership are now due
We continue to apply for grants to fully fund events and progamming such as ArtsFest, but require membership to cover some of our operating costs, which are generally not covered by grants. This includes include our website hosting, storage unit for our tents, signage, art supplies, files, etc, insurance, and bookkeeping — all essential to operate events, programming and meet our non-profit obligations. We work very hard to streamline all operating costs as much as possible. Your membership helps us achieve our purpose: to foster and promote the spirit of creativity in the City of Kenora and the surrounding area of Lake of the Woods; inspiring unity, joy and opportunity through the arts.
It’s also a great way to be part of our region’s rich arts community and stay on top of happenings in the arts sector. You don’t need to be a practicing artist to be a member! We welcome everyone – arts lovers and those who support the arts or just want to support a viable non-profit that’s working hard to make our community a better place for everyone.
Please renew now at https://lowac.ca/membership.
If you’d like to make a donation as a patron, you can find out more about this opportunity at: https://lowac.ca/donate.
Once you’ve renewed, we’d love to add your artist profile (if it’s not already there) at https://lowac.ca/artist-profiles-and-venues.
We need you!
We were thrilled to welcome Stephanie Chale and Lara Stovern to the LOWAC Board whose nominations were accepted at our Annual General Meeting in November 2023.
We are still accepting nominations fora new president, vice-president, membership and ArtsFest Chair. The two chair roles are not in LOWAC’s by-laws and the Board can likely integrate the membership role into the ongoing activities of the directors. The ArtsFest Chair role is also handled in part by the event coordinator, if we are successful in getting funding for that role (see how we’re doing that below).
In the interim, past president Leanne Fournier will continue to assist with grant writing and communications and the LOWAC Board will determine how other duties will be handled.
You can read more about our active board and board responsibilites at https://lowac.ca/board-of-directors. If you’d like to join us, please reach out to lowacdirectors@gmail.com.
The 2023 AGM Annual Report and minutes have been posted at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EDQoRO0YD00tK4SkDrqnMAC7FnQQRrT6?usp=drive_link
ArtsFest 2024
At our AGM in November, 2023, our members once again gave their full support for running the annual arts festival on the grounds of The Muse – Lake of the Woods Museum and Douglas Family Art Centre in downtown Kenora. We have been successful in our grant application to the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation and have also submitted applications to the Ontario Arts Council, Canadian Heritage Fund and Experience Ontario with the goal of returning ArtsFest to a two-day festival in 2024. We are just confirming our date (note there is a conflict for the date previously proposed), which will be in July in advance of the Coney Island Music Festival and Sioux Narrows Arts Festival.
We need volunteers to join our planning committee to help make ArtsFest 2024 the best it can be.
Pre-festival, we need volunteers for programming, volunteer coordination, site setup/takedown/logistics, and fundraising. It’s a fun gig and an opportunity to be part of bringing a great family and tourist-friendly event to downtown Kenora during our beautiful summer. Email lowacdirectors@gmai.com if you’d like to be a part of it!
For the Love of LOWAC Mixer
We’re planning a fun mixer in March to bring artists and art lovers together to connect and share your latest work (if you want – no pressure). Watch for details!