Eye on the Esplanade: Nurturing community connections

By Candace Lundrigan on March 19, 2021.

At the heart of it, the reason for the existence of the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre is to serve our community. We do this by preserving and making accessible our shared heritage, celebrating the arts, and bringing people together for meaningful experiences. With our doors closed we have often asked ourselves “how do we best serve our community now?”

During a crisis, priorities and needs shift. The realities of COVID and the restrictions put in place impact the logistics of our operations, but it does not change our purpose. We focus on this fundamental principal of service and support as we do our diverse array of jobs.

Recently we partnered with Saamis Immigration, Unisphere Global Centre and the Medicine Hat Local Immigration Partnership to deliver a number of free virtual programs in association with our Art Gallery exhibition Landed.

We learned that a number of our newcomer community members arrived just before COVID and have since experienced the mandated restrictions that have physically cut them off from accessing services in the community.

This has impeded connection opportunities. While virtual formats can pose challenges, the intention of our programming efforts was to nurture community connection and encourage a better understanding of one another.

Among our most anticipated exhibitions and widely attended programs is our annual School Art exhibition and awards ceremony. While we are unable to host such a large gathering as the awards ceremony this year, we continue to work toward finding other ways to celebrate and nurture the artistic efforts of our local children and youth.

One way we wish to do this is through a School Art 2021 take-over of our Facebook page.

Throughout the month of May we encourage you to share photos of your children and student’s artwork on Facebook and tag @medhatesplanade. Both our Facebook and gallery walls will be host to the creative expression of our local children and youth.

If you keep an eye out you may even see a few student led art lessons and an awards slideshow. Please share, like and comment on these virtual programs and join us in nurturing our children and the future of our community.

Candace Lundrigan is the cultural public programmer at the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre