Moosomin Visual Arts Centre now open

Churches across the country are being repurposed, while in Moosomin the local Anglican congregation is still meeting, but has invited an arts centre to share its space. 

The Moosomin Visual Arts Centre is now open in space leased from St Alban’s Anglican Church. The Church will continue to meet in the sanctuary, and Kids Kollege will remain in part of the building, but most of the building will house the new arts centre.

The arts centre opened February 1 and programs will soon begin, with classes filling up quickly. Krista Crellin and Terry Grant of the arts centre board say they are excited to see the arts centre become a reality.

The project began being discussed when Crellin  completed a survey sent last year by the Moosomin Economic Development Committee (EDC).

“Casey McCormac with the EDC sent out a survey last year probably around this time, asking local business people what they thought the town was missing and what they think can improve the town from an economic standpoint. I told her the arts were missing in the town and I thought that an arts centre would be a great idea. She took it to the rest of the EDC and they agreed.

“They asked me to come in and talk about it and after we met they suggested that I reach out to other members of the community and to the Moosomin and District Arts Council and see if there was interest among other people who would help this project along.

“I did that, and there was lots of interest and lots of help. We created a board and it just went from there.

She said she has long seen the need for an arts centre.

“Myself as an artist, I am interested in not just photography but all kinds of art, but there was nowhere for me to learn any of that so I just feel it is lacking in my life and I just figured it is probably lacking in others’ lives too,” says Krista.

“This has been a dream for me for a long time,” adds Terry. “This is something we need.”

Long road

It has been a long road to get the arts centre to where it is now.

“After meeting with the EDC, we got the board going then we were looking for a place because we needed that to get grants and sponsors. We talked to a few people then Sheilagh Garrett reached out to Terry saying that the Anglican Church might be a possibility if we thought it would work for us to make that our home. Then we started chatting with them and now we finally have a lease agreement signed,” Krista explains. “That took a couple times going back to the EDC to fine tune those details and we talked with town council to see if they would support us, and they did.”

The town of Moosomin agreed to fund the project at $50,000 a year for the first three years.

Both Crellin and Grant say it wasn’t difficult to pull the plan together, but it took some time.

“It just took time and meetings. It wasn’t difficult.” Crellin says.

Grant agrees. “In the agreement with the church, I think there was support from both sides all the way through, but it just took time. I don’t think we were anticipating how much time some of these things would take. That was sort of an eye-opener for me.”

Krista says support from the town made a huge difference for the start up of the arts centre.

“It made years of difference. If they hadn’t come through, we would still be back in the planning stages and looking at the ‘what ifs.’ It made a huge difference.”

Terry explained how MADAC became involved. “MADAC is the umbrella of many arts programs here in Moosomin. Under the umbrella they have the theatre board who runs movies, the Mooseberry Acting Company, Visual Arts which up until now has been Visual Arts shows in the Armoury or different things over the years, and dance also was under them as well. That has been set up for years since the ‘70s. Each board runs independently and follows the guidelines set under MADAC and the bylaws of MADAC. It just very much works together. It worked out really well for the Visual Arts Centre to be part of MADAC.”

The Visual Arts Centre board is very excited to have the church as their future creative space.

“I think it is accessible,” says Krista. “We are thinking of eventually having an art gallery in the front and then have the Parish Hall space as a creation space so we can have classes in there. We hope to use the kitchen for cooking classes, we are going to have a digital arts zone with computers for digital arts, and, a pottery studio in the basement. I think the building itself is a great location. It is wonderful that it is a historic building and we can keep a historic building running in the community.

“To find a building as ideal to meet our needs would have put us years out and this project years out. I’m super grateful that they reached out and that they are willing to work with us,” Krista says.

“The church will remain in the sanctuary side and Kids Kollege will remain in the basement of the hall. It is kind of turning into a community centre which is part of this dream that is all linked together,” Terry adds.

The Visual Arts Centre board hopes to start some programming mid-February or March. Krista says the group will add programming as they purchase equipment. “As we are trying to raise more money to buy equipment, we will be doing things like painting, drawing, and knitting to start, things that don’t require a lot of big, expensive equipment. We hope to have the after-school youth program running as soon as possible, maybe mid-February or March. We are still looking for people to teach the classes. We have some people in mind and some people interested.

“It is exciting and a little overwhelming, but it is coming up fast and we have a lot to do. I actually thought it would just be me talking a year ago when I filled out the survey. So for it to come this far and this fast is pretty amazing,” Krista says.

Terry says there are a lot of people who could share their talents at the new centre. “People have skills we don’t even realize because most people do their art in their basement or in their own space. This is a way of bringing people’s talents out into the light. Not everyone’s needs are met in one certain way. For some, maybe sports meets their needs, but just because you play sports does not mean you cannot be artsy as well. You can be a reader as well, and still like theatre. There is room for everything and more. The more needs or niches we can fill the more rounder and fuller our community is.”

Positive response

There has been a good response to a call for donations, including stacks of art supplies and equipment that have been donated. On February 1, volunteers filled the former Parish Hall section of the church with donated supplies.

As well, Grant says they have been hearing positive comments from people in the community. “There have been lots of positive comments,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything but positive.”

Crellin said she is thankful to everyone who helped make the arts centre a reality. “We would like to thank the Town Council for their support. It would be impossible for us to do this without them,” she said. “The Economic Development Committee and Casey have been helping us with our budget, and Casey has been writing some grants for us so that has been super helpful. The Moosomin and District Arts Council adopted us into their umbrella as a nonprofit so thank you to them. The World-Spectator has been incredibly helpful with promoting us in the paper and has been supportive that way, and has given us lots of advice. Our board members have been very helpful and the Anglican Church reached out to us and they are willing to work with us and that is wonderful to give us a space like that.”

This story was originally published in The World-Spectator. It is republished under a Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.