Jasper’s not the only community looking to the future. 

Towns to the east are working to meet a growing demand for the arts that spans the region. For example, the Yellowhead Regional Arts Festival (YRAF) society, based in Hinton, wants to develop a “Creative Campus” which would incorporate Jasper and the surrounding areas. “We’re looking at increasing arts and culture by offering more education in the form of workshops, or events,” said Joan Udell, executive director of the YRAF society. 

The idea was conceived based on feedback following regular festivals. “We’ve discovered people want more than just a week to celebrate the arts,” Udell said. “They want to learn more, have more performers come, just generally increase arts in all walks of life.”

The organization plans to submit a formal proposal to the Rural Alberta Development Fund, a not-for-profit company created by the provincial government that aims to support “community-building projects that contribute to the growth and prosperity of rural Alberta”, requesting $250,000 towards the initiative.

The funding would not only assist in bringing workshops and events to the area, but would also fund a staff member that would coordinate the schedules of artists touring through the area, Udell said. 

“We think this new group would alleviate some of the volunteer burnout by having a staff member who would be doing some of that work for them, so not just offering workshops but better coordinating right across the Yellowhead region,” she said. “That way we can coordinate calendars so people can go to more things and make better use of traveling.”

The YRAF society is looking for partners, as it’s required to provide 25 per cent of the funding, with sponsors and towns alike. “For the full proposal we’re looking for partnerships with municipalities and I know that Jasper has already been approached,” Udell said. 

Jasper’s director of culture and recreation Yvonne McNabb said she had been invited to and is planning to attend a meeting in Hinton about the Creative Campus proposal at the end of October.

The Creative Campus would be based in Hinton, but its reach would stretch across the region, Udell said. “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.”

The plan’s proposal is to be submitted to the Rural Alberta Development Fund by the end of November and decisions are made after ten weeks. The YRAF society plans to host a community meeting in towns in the region, and the first, in Hinton, will be held Oct. 29. A Jasper community meeting has not yet been scheduled.