There's a definite "old-school" approach to next month's grand opening of the Metchosin Arts and Cultural Centre.
The burgeoning community hub is a key element in the revival of the once-vacant Metchosin Elementary School site, which was closed by the Sooke school district in 2003. The school was temporarily brought back into service in 2004 when Happy Valley Elementary was destroyed by fire, but Happy Valley students have since returned to a rebuilt facility.
Enter a group of community-minded, arts-loving Metchosinites who thought the site held promise. A school-district carpentry course was taking up part of it -- the district has since added a number of other programs there -- but a significant portion was not being used.
The notion of an arts centre in the unused area was championed by the likes of Mary Gidney, Colleen Brownlee and Metchosin Coun. Jo Mitchell.
"It was empty for about a year and a half," Gidney said during one of her frequent stops at the school, which sits near the corner of Happy Valley and Metchosin roads. "We've been in here now one full year."
During that time, four resident artists have set up shop in a large room dubbed the School House Studio, and a sky-hued corridor devoted to displays of local arts and crafts has earned the title of the Blue Hall Gallery.
The West Shore Arts Council has also moved in, and Elections B.C. has set up offices for the current provincial campaign.
Now that so many of the pieces are in place, planning is underway for an opening event on June 14. The 11 a.m.-4 p.m. gathering will feature local musicians as well as art displays and demonstrations. The ribbon used for the official ribbon-cutting at noon will be fashioned by one of the artists, paper-maker Pat Cook.
Gidney and Brownlee, both retired educators, said authorities have been helpful every step of the way as the project has developed.
"The school board's been really, really good, beyond the call," Gidney said. "We lease from the school board, but we go through the Metchosin district. The community loves Metchosin having an arts centre."
Brownlee said it was important to have a strong presence at the prominent location, directly across the road from the municipality's main business area.
"You have an empty building, and that in itself is an invitation for all sorts of things that you don't want to happen."
Gidney said a graffiti problem has virtually disappeared since the arts centre began taking shape. She said an empty wall at the school will be turned into a mural by students involved in the site's school-district programs.
Students earn blue and gold
Teaching dance to young offenders, counselling peers about personal issues and building schools abroad are just some of the activities that helped earn eight University of Victoria students Blue and Gold Awards for 2009.
The annual awards go to students who combine solid academic standing with volunteer work, like theatre student Krista Hagstrom, who gives her time to weekly classes in hip-hop and drama at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre.
Joining her is nursing student Heidi Krahn, who volunteered with the Salvation Army in Nelson for a year to help the homeless and others with health issues, and Shantelle Moreno, a women's studies student and regular volunteer with a multi-racial network for girls and women called Antidote.
PhD chemistry student Jonathan Chui has devoted considerable time to UVic's peer-helping program and to the NEED Crisis and Information Line, while political science and environmental studies student Emily Gibson has twice been named volunteer of the year by Engineers Without Borders.
Also among the winners are:
- Kimberley Benson, a microbiology student who is active in the Circle K volunteer club and was part of an effort to build a pair of schools in the Dominican Republic.
- Lauren Warbeck, who takes environmental studies and women's studies, and also volunteers with the Bike Lab Society by teaching bicycle mechanics at Victoria High School and helping with other cycling-related measures.
- Candace Witkowskyj, a social work student whose volunteer resum脙漏 includes the Discovery Program (for youth suspended from school due to substance abuse) and the Together Against Poverty Society.
Funding helps single mothers
A program that helps single mothers with day-to-day issues is being expanded, thanks to joint funding from the Telus Victoria Community Board and Success by Six, an organization focused on early-childhood development.
Each group has given $20,000 to Moms and Mentors, a Victoria Single Parent Resource Centre program that brings together isolated single mothers and experienced volunteers. The volunteers, some of them single mothers themselves, help with everything from child-raising advice to companionship. The funding means Moms and Mentors can grow from helping single mothers with preschoolers to also helping those with school-age children.
The Telus Victoria Community Board has also given $20,000 to Volunteer Victoria and its Youth Volunteer 91原创ions Program.
The program makes use of youth advisers to match their peers with volunteer opportunities.
Over 200 young people took part in the program last year.
Another $36,300 was spread among five more programs -- B.C. Families in Transition ($10,000 for young people dealing with family break-up and other trauma), 91原创 Family Centre Services ($10,000 for the YouthTalk on-line counselling project), Threshold Housing Society ($8,300 to expose its teenage residents to arts programs and cultural events), Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre ($5,000 for an initiative to help new immigrants and refugees adapt to Canada), Maritime Museum ($3,000 for program to help children learn about our maritime heritage).
