There is strong financial support for arts and cultural recreation in Steinbach, opening doors for people of all ages.
David Klassen, executive director of the Steinbach Arts Council, says financial donations make it more affordable for people to participate in the arts.
“We are amazingly fortunate in this community to have so much support from the business community and from individuals,” he says. “What a lot of people don't understand is that every single thing that we do at the Arts Center is subsidized. Everything from your concert ticket price to your preschool registration cost to your class registration fee.”
Klassen adds the new Steinbach Dodge Creative Kids Bursary Fund will double the financial support available to children in the community, making arts and culture recreation even more accessible.
“We have been able to run our after-school arts programming free for youth from grades five to grade 12 since our 50/50 campaign, which was several years ago already. So, we continue to fund that on our own, that is something that we that we budget in, but we do need help subsidizing everything to make that happen. We've always given bursaries. We've always made financial support available regardless of whether or not we have a corporate sponsor to help us fund that.”
The arts are about so much more than just entertainment, he says it’s also about building various skills.
“We are all building skills in young people. Our desire is to build better people than we are. We want to equip them with amazing life skills, things like work ethic, discipline and commitment. And our critical thinking is a big one. So, when you engage in an art form, you're using your brain to find ways to solve problems all the time.”
-With files from Michelle Sawatzky.
Wed, May 8, 11:00 AM
Full-time, Labour, Skilled Trades
Featured
