Grant approved for regional cultural project

An application by the Yellowhead Regional Arts Festival Society (YRAF) to develop a “Creative Campus” has been approved. 

YRAF will receive $315,000 from the Rural Alberta Development Fund, a not-for-profit organization created by the provincial government that aims to support “community-building projects that contribute to the growth and prosperity of rural Alberta.”

The Creative Campus will be a vibrant and sustainable regional arts and culture delivery system, and funding will go toward programming and staff. 

The initiative will bring in cultural events without depending solely on volunteers, said Joan Udell, executive director of YRAF, in an interview in October, when the society was applying for the grant.

The project will begin in April and run until March, 2011. One of the major programs is an arts summer school based in Hinton, with satellite classes in Grande Cache, Jasper, and Edson. 

The intent of the Creative Campus is that it will span the region. “We want it to be a campus without walls so that it could be anywhere. It could happen in the old firehall in Jasper, the town hall in Grande Cache or the library in Hinton,” she said. 

“We’re not asking for a building, we’re asking for people to get together and start planning together, cooperatively.”

Financial supporters of the Creative Campus include the Municipality of Jasper, the Town of Grande Cache, the Town of Edson, the Town of Hinton and Yellowhead County.