Artist/Activist Sue Richards Passes Away

It was sudden though not terribly surprising last week when it was announced that local arts scion Sue Richards had passed away. She had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease since 2007, but kept up the good fight up until last Saturday when she couldn't outpace her illness anymore. Richards was only 56, but her legacy and contributions to the culture of the Royal City will be felt for years to come. 

The State of the City: Something is Happening Here

Mayor Karen Farbridge delivered her annual State of the City address today, and the message was that Guelph is different than other cities, someplace unique and special. It's a message designed to appeal to Farbridge's base, I think, and one that's unlikely to appeal to any of her critics. However, much like the U.S. President's State of the Union, it's more or less designed as a cheerleading session to remind the people of Guelph what's good and what's going to soon be great about the Royal City.

"Guelph is different. And people are noticing," the address begins. "I am having more conversations where someone comments on Guelph’s uniqueness to me ‐ whether I’m talking to local business owners seeking to attract talent, people who’ve chosen to live in Guelph or those watching from outside what we are achieving as a community."

Election Questions for 2014

In more or less one year from today, Guelph residents (and indeed most residents in towns and cities across Ontario), will go to the polls to choose their local government for the next four years. Now a lot can happen in a year, so making predictions this far out seems rather counter-intuitive. Instead, let's consider some of the questions Royal City voters might have concerning the state of politics in town as we roll into an election year: Who will run? Who will run again? Who might be looking for a promotion? And what issues will be the deciding factor on who gets a seat around the horseshoe in 2015? Below are nine things to consider as we gear up for the 2014 campaign trail.

NDP Announces Nomination Meet for October 22

Despite the ongoing controversies, the Ontario Liberals are holding on to power with a vice-like grip. Still, the opposition parties continue to jockey as if an election is in the immediate future, and the local NDP is looking to lock up their candidate in the Royal City.

Political Laughs Coming to Guelph

Politics can be a source of tremendous humour. In fact, people might say that humour is about the only thing our modern political culture is good for now. A Guelph event next week is going to prove that all over again as Riotwire.com will be putting on their comedy show tour in Royal City at Ed Video Media Arts Centre.

VIDEO - An Introduction to Guelph

I saw a poster this evening advertising a You Tube video called "Introduction to Guelph." Understandably curious, a decided to click on the link when I got home to see what all the hype was about, and discovered what was a fairly pleasant and kind of heart-warming tribute to the Royal City.

Sites Announced for Doors Open Guelph 2013

The annual Doors Open Guelph Event is taking place Saturday April 27th from 10 to 4, one of several similar events taking place in 200 communities across Ontario later this month. But here in the Royal City, the Guelph Arts Council has revealed the list of sites for this year's 12th annual event.

Guelph Royals Get a Five-Year Deal

Inter-county baseball will be coming back to the Royal City next summer thanks to the official deal reached between Guelph and the Guelph Royals baseball club. The city put out a press release today, lauding the fact that they've reached an agreement. 

GUELPH, ON, November17, 2011 – The City has reached a mutually acceptable agreement with the Guelph Royals after a series of meetings.  

“We were brought together by a community partner who was very interested in seeing the Royals back in Guelph,” said Colleen Clack, Interim Executive Director, Community & Social Services. “The new agreement meets all the criteria set by City Council for a five-year lease of Hastings Stadium and the concession booth.” 

"This agreement is a new beginning for Guelph fans, players and sponsors" said Jim Rooney, the Royals’ managing partner. "We look forward to working with the community and to its commitment to support the Royals as they take to the field for the 2012 season and beyond." 

A key requirement—registration as a not-for-profit organization—was one of the stumbling blocks when discussions between the City and the Guelph Royals concluded in the summer. The City presented a draft contract in early June after extended negotiations with the team. At the time however, the Guelph Royals couldn’t reach agreement with the City on a number of clauses in the proposed agreement. 

City Council established criteria for an agreement with the Guelph Royals in May for the use of Hastings Stadium and the concession booth. The new five-year agreement will see the team use Hastings Stadium, run the concession booth and sell advertising in the stadium. The Guelph Royals have also agreed with the City on the amount owing from the 2010 season and will pay the City all outstanding fees as part of the agreement.

Arts + Business = Good

The City of Guelph announced today that our fair berg has been chosen to participate in 2011/12 artsVest Ontario program, which is put on by Business for the Arts, a national non-profit that seeks to inspire co-operation between local business and artists. It must be a pretty big deal for the City to put out a press release, but I would point out that if the City wanted to do more for artists, maybe they shouldn't have by-law officers shut down exhibits at local arts galleries. More on that after the jump.

GUELPH, ON, July 4, 2011 – The City of Guelph is excited to be one of only five communities selected to participate in the 2011/12 artsVest Ontario program.

The program will offer free sponsorship training to help Guelph’s cultural organizations build mutually beneficial partnerships with the business community. Cultural organizations will also be invited to apply to artsVest for a total of $50K in matching incentive grants. When matched with sponsorship from the local business community, artsVest has the potential to flow more than $100,000 in funding to Guelph’s cultural sector.

“We see great value in this program as a means of further strengthening our municipal cultural planning and development,” said Mayor Karen Farbridge. “With the support of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and the Guelph Arts Council, we can develop valuable partnerships to connect business and arts in our community.”

“From a business perspective we see a huge benefit to supporting arts and culture in Guelph,” said Lloyd Longfield, President and CAO, Guelph Chamber of Commerce.

Guelph’s participation in the artsVest program builds on a series of cultural capacity-building initiatives launched by the City in the last year. Some of them include the Artscape Creative Spaces project, a Public Art Policy, and support of Canada’s Culture Days activities in Guelph this fall.

“We know that artsVest has been a transformative experience for many other communities and we’re thrilled for the opportunity to bring this program to Guelph to help vitalize our community’s cultural assets,” said Colleen Clack, the City’s General Manager of Arts Culture and Entertainment. The City established the Arts, Culture & Entertainment division to consolidate and advance cultural planning and initiatives, and to bring together the resources, programming and management of River Run Centre, Sleeman Centre, Guelph Museums and the new Market Square.

artsVest Guelph will launch officially at City Hall in Guelph on July 14 at 5 p.m.

About artsVest

artsVest is a flagship initiative of Canada’s Business for the Arts, a national non-profit organization of business leaders dedicated to increasing partnerships between business and the arts. The program sparks business sponsorship of arts and culture and bolsters municipal cultural planning.

Speaking as the chairperson for a local artist run centre, anything that helps the local arts community in terms of money or support is good news. But reading over the press release again, I can't help but notice the emphasis on government venues and operatives like the River Run and the Museum. Both worthy organizations, but what about Ed Video, or Kazoo for example.

Speaking of Ed Video, it was home to an art show called Unknown Unknowns by Toronto artists Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borin. Even I can't pretend to fully understand the piece, but it was a commentary on today's heightened surveillance, which involved constructing a room within a room at the Ed Video Gallery and the placement of four, foreboding black servers inside. The show got some encouraging press in Canada Art magazine, and was an instant success for the Centre, but shortly after the article, by-law stopped by and said that the room wasn't up to code and had to come down. I think we can all agree that the room inside the room wasn't up to code, but then again, Ed Video wasn't renting the space and having someone bunk there. It was an art project. 

Between that, and last year's fine-a-thon against arts groups and artists trying to promote their shows and concerts through posters, the City of Guelph hasn't shown a lot of love to the arts, despite protestations to the contrary. There's also the fact that the Arts Platform, an endeavour by several arts groups and artists to create their own multi-purpose space in the city is pretty much left to its own devices and I think we have a pattern of double standards happening here. Still, $50,000 is a nice start I guess.

Get in to The River This Weekend

This weekend is the 32nd annual Speed River Clean-Up organized by the Guelph branch of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG). Brought to you by Wellington Water Watchers, Trout Unlimited and GUFF (Guelph Urban Forest Friends), the Clean-Up, as always, aims to educate people about the importance of Guelph’s waterways, get them involved and in the river to literally take out the trash.

Like in years gone by, everyone is to meet up at the gazebo in Royal City Park (Gordon Street) by 11 am. Bring your gloves, sun gear, water and a pair of either old shoes, boots or hip waders. Then sign-in, join a group and start cleaning up the river. Afterward at around 12:30, everyone’s invited back to McCrae House for some eats and some entertainment. The theme is pot luck, so volunteers are being asked to bring a dish to share, and for each dish contributed, you will be entered in a draw to win two tickets to the Speed River Fundraising Dinner at Borealis Grille, a $120 value. Additionally, volunteers are being asked to bring their own plates and utensils to cut down on waste.

If you’re looking to get even more involved, OPIRG is looking for volunteers to take on specific jobs at the Clean Up. Among the list of jobs needed to be filled are crew leaders, photographers, set-up and take-down volunteers, and people to help out at the potluck. For more information, get in touch with OPIRG at 519-824-2091 or at opirg@uoguelph.ca

To get you in the mood, here are some picture slideshows of two Clean-Ups from the past, 2008 and 2010.

Make Guelph Part of a Monopoly

The makers of the board game Monopoly are coming out with a 75th anniversary Canadian edition this summer, and they're looking for the citizenry of Canadian cities from one end of the country to the other to the other to stuff the ballot box for their town to get one of 22 slots on the Board. Guelph is one of 65 cities already listed on the website monopolyvote.ca, but write in votes are acceptable.

The two cities that get the most votes will get the distinguished localities typically taken up by Park Place and Boardwalk, while the dubious distinction of subbing for Baltic and Mediterranean avenues will be decided by a wild card vote.

Obviously there's a lot of passion and interested in getting Guelph a place of honour on a Monopoly Board. The Mayor herself, in addition to getting out the vote, has suggested that maybe the Guelph Junction Railway deserves a place of distinction on the new board as well.

So let's all head to Monopoly Votes right now, register, and vote as often as you can to get Guelph all the way to Baltic or Mediterranean. Voting closes on February 7th. And if you think that sounds impossible, remember last year at this time when we almost got this guy to Australia.