Cultural Improvement Alliance launches in Tillsonburg
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Laurel Beechey - The World is a Stage
Thirty-nine years ago, I came to Tillsonburg, and was not happy about it. I came by bus, along John Pound Road and a couple of large junk yards, up Broadway past all the transients, and was dropped off at the pool hall. I was not impressed.
The longer I stayed, the less impressed I was, for I was a city girl, involved with three theatre groups and I couldn’t do sports. Tillsonburg was definitely not for people like me back then. I came from Windsor which had more than 100,000 people, vibrant cultural life, very old history and one skating ring. I came to Tillsonburg, which had about 8,000 people and two hockey rinks, every sport known to man and a theatre group in its death throes and a town ripping down every old building they could.
Over the years the town began to change. The Performing Arts were reborn with Theatre Tillsonburg and Dance Studios. Finally, a small group of people stood up and said “NO!” to ripping down the Annandale House, the Tillson mansion and the hope of recognizing, researching and saving our Heritage began. Trains stations were saved and a vibrant Visual Arts centre was born that encompasses a wide variety of artistic mediums. In as much as these three facets of culture have grown and are healthy, there are always ways they could work together to expand each other’s horizons.
Now the Literary Arts are alive in Tillsonburg, but harder to find. Our poets, writers and book clubs, seem to be more individually oriented and have no specific home or organization to offer assistance, encouragement and growth.
What else does culture encompass? It includes nature through our Parks and Trails, of which Tillsonburg is well known; the beauty and art of Horticulture; Festivals and Events and the businesses and organizations with can go with all the areas mentioned.
Tillsonburg took one very large and wonderful step to round up our town’s culture, and applied for a Cultural Development Fund Grant from the Ontario Government, which has allowed the formation of the Tillsonburg Cultural Improvements Alliance or CIA. What does that mean for us? It means we now have a hub to a large wagon wheel with many supporting spokes. The CIA is the hub we can go there to share what we are doing with each other – and the community – in a Community Calendar. We will learn about all the different groups we never knew existed, like the Stamp, Photography or Travel Clubs, the Military Club or the Clogging Group. Is there a musical group that gets together for the love of music?
IF everyone uses the calendar we will not overlap events and cut each other’s attendance, and as a member of the public, we can easily see what is going on in town, even if the group doesn’t have a big marketing/advertising budget. Websites can be linked to the calendar as well.
The sponsors of the CIA are The Tillsonburg and District Historical Society, Oxford County Connections, The Station Arts Centre, Town of Tillsonburg, and Province of Ontario, and they will be giving much more than a calendar. There will be classes, like the Jan 15th class on Financial Basics for Artists and Individuals in Arts related fields or Feb. 5th’s Book Publishing Workshop from the CIA. If you are member you will get a discount on the courses.
Business which complement the arts, like book and art stores, dance or music lessons, bands, movie or professional theatre can also use and benefit from this alliance.
Memberships range from $10 for a student up to $35 for a group! You can’t beat those prices! It is well worth checking out their excellent website at www.tillsonburgcia.com.
You probably have a millions questions, so the place you want to be is the Lion’s Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 14 from 6:30-9 p.m. You will have the chance to meet local artists, authors, performers, history nuts, dancers and the CIA staff to answer those questions. You will also get to sample local flavours from Rambling Road Brewery, Picard’s, Burning Kiln Winery, JP’s BBQ and Catering, Coyle’s Country Store, Indigo Lounge and Sundown Farms. Best of All it is FREE and EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!
Heading up the CIA (no, not J. Edgar Hoover) is a well-known name from Oxford Country cultural events. Mary-Anne Murphy is now coordinator of Tillsonburg Cultural Improvement Alliance. Mary-Anne can be contacted at coordinator@tillsonburgcia.com or Tillsonburg’s own Gabrielle Bossy, assistant, at info@Tillsonburgcia.com or call 519-842-9200 ext. 2370. See you Wednesday.