Innoweave supports the ROCS
Last January, the ROCS received the support of Innoweave, a program of the McConnell Foundation (Montréal). This financial support enabled the ROCS to recruit 3 coaches who will be guiding Sophie Ducharme as she develops the Place des Arts’ Bistro business plan throughout 2014. Joanne LeBreton, from Collins Barrow, will lend her expertise in finances, Simon Le Hénaff from Collège Boréal will offer his vast experience in culinary arts and Denis Bertrand, of 50 Carleton, will contribute his knowledge in marketing and audience development.
The ROCS is grateful to Innoweave and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund for funding the 1-year internship Sophie is undertaking with the ROCS.
Place des Arts: a 400th anniversary legacy projects
In 2015, Ontario will be celebrating the 400th anniversary of a French presence on its territory. The Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario (AFO), an important umbrella organization of the French-speaking population, has recently issued a vision statement on this important anniversary by and for the community. Committees planning celebrations in 2015 have sprung up in many Ontario communities, including here in Greater Sudbury where plans are underway for June 2015. The vision put forward by the 400th Anniversary Provincial Committee of the AFO includes three major regional legacy projects: the Village d’antan (Saint-Albert), a heritage village; the Historical Park in Huronia (Penetanguishene), and Place des Arts in Greater Sudbury! These three community initiatives share the goal of honouring the important contribution of Francophones to Ontario and to the vitality of our community.
Sudbury Biennale
Since 2008, the Salon du livre and the Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario (GNO) have held their events jointly every second year in the spring; the Salon has its Book Fair while the GNO hosts its Foire d’art alternative de Sudbury (FAAS), a national contemporary art festival. This year, these events will take place at the Rainbow Centre (FAAS) and the Radisson Hotel (Salon’s book fair) from May 6th to 11th.
The two partners, in close collaboration with the ROCS and the Ontario Trillium Foundation, have now given themselves a common marketing identity, Sudbury Biennale, inviting fans from all regions of Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada to join thousands of local participants and over 60 artists and authors from Ontario, Quebec and New-Brunswick. With contemporary art performances, literary lunches, workshops, as well as installations and shows over 5 full days, the Biennale is truly a cultural happening in the tradition of Nouvel-Ontario’s French identity!
Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts
Mayor Marianne Matichuk and the Sudbury Arts Council (SAC), in close collaboration with the ROCS and the Creative Consortium (a coalition of 21 local arts & culture organizations) recently announced the creation of the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, a new annual event to showcase the important contributions of the arts to our community’s vitality and development. The inaugural Celebration will be held at Laurentian School of Architecture on May 1st, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
On this occasion, two awards will be presented for the first time. The Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Arts will be presented to a professional artist for his or her exceptional contribution to the arts, through an extensive body of works in one or several disciplines, as well as through her/his contribution over time to the development and betterment of the Greater Sudbury arts community. The Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist will be presented to a young professional artist for excellence and creativity of her/his artworks or performances. The SAC and the ROCS thank CN, Sudbury Credit Union, Copy Copy and Studio123 for their support.
Tickets can be purchased at the cost of $50 at the TNO’s box-office, at (705) 525-5606, x 4 or online at www.letno.ca/billetterie, as well as at Artists on Elgin.
ROCS’s Briefs
Not-for-profit organizations are more and more aware of the need for sound risk management. This led to a workshop offered by the ROCS to its members and other local NFP last December. Facilitated by Jovette Morin-Gaudette from Collins Barrow, the one-day workshop offered a mix of theory and practice, enabling participants to acquire an appreciation of a theoretical framework by applying it to their respective organizations all through the day.
The ROCS is grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s for its support to this professional development opportunity.
Last February, the French public School Board, in partnership with La Nuit sur l’étang andCarrefour francophone, hosted a large music festival in Sudbury, Quand ça nous chante. The event, produced by the Association of Francophone Musicians of Ontario (APCM), welcomed participants from 41 Ontario high schools this year. Some 400 youths and their teachers benefited from workshops and other activities over 3 full days, each ending with an evening of musical performances. This itinerant festival was hosted by Sudbury for the first time in 2014.
It was also in February that the Centre franco-ontarien de folklore (CFOF) hosted its annual Heritage Supper. This year’s event honoured what would have been the 100th anniversary of its founder, Father Germain Lemieux. His tours in the 1950s and 1960s in many small northern communities to collect stories and songs of French-Canadians has enabled the Centre to create what remains to this day the third largest collection of oral tradition in North America.
Last March 20th, thirteen downtown galleries and businesses, including Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, held the first Sudbury Art Crawl, inviting people to spare a few hours to visit the 13 sites where artworks were being showcased. With more than 200 participants, the event was such a success that the partners are already planning a second edition, early summer 2014.
Radio-Canada and La Nuit sur l’étangannounced last March 22nd the 2014 recipient of the Nouvel-Ontario Award, Paulette Gagnon, a Hearst native who has dedicated her career to arts management. The award recognized her important contribution to arts development in Ontario and French Canada, especially in theatre. Paulette is back in Sudbury since 2011 and has been Director of Development with the ROCS since 2012.
