ArtsForward’s Come Back! Creating Partnerships for Arts & Culture in Neepawa

Yvonne Sisley, ArtsForward Administrator and Council member shared her story of leaving ArtsForward for a while and finally deciding to come back when the position was vacant again. She said she had to negotiate some things including having a part-time worker help her since there are a lot of partnerships and events that are coming along for ArtsForward.

She mentioned all the exciting and worthwhile events that are lined up for ArtsForward this year:

First is the Brad Mummery Art Exhibit where Brad will have the opportunity to talk to students, share something about his work and do an Airbrush demonstration. The said exhibit is also a fundraising event for the High School Art Program where they plan to take the kids to the Winnipeg Art Gallery so they can experience the “City Gallery” and see what it looks like.

Second is the Paint with Pride event, as part of the Pride month celebration in June. “Neepawa and Area Pride approached us about painting a Pride side walk in front of ArtsForward. The Board is very receptive. Our facility is inclusive to all and we want everybody to feel welcome coming into our facility. So we are very excited about this.”, said Sisley.

Third is the Dream Weekend wherein Dream Ride partnered with the Rhythm Cycle Club, Neepawa Golf Country Club and ArtsForward to have a Dream Ride weekend in Town. Dream Ride was initiated by Gary and Marsha Forgue which coincides with the Dream Factory in Winnipeg.

Dream Factory is a non-profit organization that raises money to give kids with life-threatening illnesses their dreams. Gary and Marsha decided to do this Dream Ride event in Neepawa to show appreciation to the community for all the support that they have given to Dream Ride events in the area ever since it started where it’s usually held at Clear Lake.

“It’s so nice to be able to be part of these events. They are fundraising events but it’s not about ArtsForward. It’s about the other organizations and what we can do to help out these other organizations. So when Gary approached me ‘Yes! A hundred percent! We will do whatever you guys need.’ We love to be part of this event!”, said Sisley.
   
Lastly,  a very big and important day is the Indigenous Culture Day.  Yvonne Sisley shared that it will be the third year that the Indigenous Culture Day will be held in Neepawa. ArtsForward organizes it in partnership with the Beautiful Plains School Division, the Town of Neepawa and the Neepawa Tourism.

“It’s a big day and it’s an important day! When we started this, our goal was we wanted the kids there. We wanted the youth to see how amazing the Indigenous Culture is. It was important to have kids come in that don’t have a preconceived notion already. They come with open minds and they are absolutely blown away from what they get to see and learn for these days. It’s a pretty important thing. We are listed on the Culture Days website. So Culture Days is advertised across Canada for different sorts of Arts and Cultural events. Ours is on there as one of the events in Manitoba.”, said Sisley.

When asked about the importance of partnership with all the work that she has been doing at ArtsForward she mentioned that ArtsForward is working very hard to be a Community hub and it is partnering with as many organizations and businesses as possible to promote not only ArtsForward events but all the community events. She emphasized that the more support and partnerships that we do with other organizations, the stronger we become as a community.