Tag: Culture

Truly Local Radio gets Federal Grant

John Draper

MP Kim Rudd was at the local radio station on Tuesday to announce a grant of $24,300 from the Federal Government through the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP).   This will support a program Northumberland 89.7 FM is planning to produce where seniors will tell stories about their memories and local history.  Hopefully they will be about interesting things that most have not heard of.  I suggested an example might be a story by Larry Wilson who was there as a boy in 1951 when a plane landed in the field of his family’s farm – right where Canadian Tire is now.  But there are surely more stories.  The working title of the program is “Stories for the Ages” –… Read complete articleTruly Local Radio gets Federal Grant

What’s happening about getting a Poet Laureate?

John Draper

Last October, Council initiated setting up an Ad Hoc Committee to decide on who should be appointed to be the Poet Laureate for the next 4 years.  This is needed since Ted Amsden’s 8 year term has expired. Candidates for the citizen position were solicited with four applications received but then nothing happened.  This week, Poet Wally Keeler emailed Mayor John Henderson and other councillors asking “Is there a Poet Laureate Ad Hoc Committee?” and adds a comment: “A bit of openness and transparency is called for here, or some action taken.”  Others copied on the email were supportive.  John Henderson responded and pointed out that the upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting on April 23 has this issue on… Read complete articleWhat’s happening about getting a Poet Laureate?

Cobourg Civic Awards – 2019

John Draper

Once again I am amazed at the number of talented people in Cobourg who volunteer their time to make Cobourg that much a better place to live.   It’s one of Cobourg’s “feel good” events.  It’s organized by a committee of citizens (see photo) which includes Toni Galea, executive assistant to the Mayor and CAO – she seems to do a lot of the behind the scenes work as did Petra Hartwig before her.  They are helped by a second committee who select recipients of the awards.  This year, the MC was Olinda Casimiro, Director of the AGN.  Awards were handed out by Councillors and Sponsors.  I managed to get photos of all recipients and they are collected in a video… Read complete articleCobourg Civic Awards – 2019

Capitol Theatre Expands

John Draper

In keeping with their intention to improve the theatre’s service to the community, the Capitol has announced an expansion.  Both the ground floor and the second floor will be expanded into the space currently used as a patio adjacent to the lobby.  On the ground floor, the lobby will be expanded, and there will be additional storage space, expanded women’s washroom facilities and improved catering facilities.  On the second floor, a new rehearsal space will be provided which will free up the Sculthorpe theatre for community use 12 months of the year instead of the current 4 months.  With a theatre capacity of 390, the lobby currently struggles to cope with the intermission crowd but the additional 900 sq. ft…. Read complete articleCapitol Theatre Expands

Ken Prue wants Ban on Town competing on Entertainment

John Draper

Nobody seems unhappy that the Town produces Movies in the Park or organizes the Sand Castle Festival but Loft owner Ken Prue objects to the Town competing with Concerts.  A case in point is this coming weekend when there are seven significant entertainment events mostly produced by not-for-profit organizations yet the Town is putting on a Concert at the Community Centre that directly competes.  Ken has put his case into an email addressed to all Councillors and the local media.  He starts by saying: “Cobourg is rich in entertainment and cultural offerings. This weekend 3/27 to 3/31/2019,  many mainstays of our cultural landscape present first rate entertainment”. Then he lists the seven competing events and the Town’s competing event –… Read complete articleKen Prue wants Ban on Town competing on Entertainment

First Public Meeting on Cultural Plan

John Draper

About 80 people came to the CCC for the “Launch Event” for the Cultural Plan being conducted by Consultant MDB Insight.  After a good natured introduction by Councillor Adam Bureau, MDB Insight’s Executive VP Lauren Miller gave a 20 minute summary of what the Cultural Plan is and what it hopes to achieve.  The current status is that 1) a Background report has been issued (see Links below) which identified over 400 cultural assets; 2) Cultural Mapping has been done and 3) Telephone and online surveys have been completed.  In the second part of the meeting, citizens were asked to give feedback on what they wanted.  They did this in workshop style and a representative from each of the 12… Read complete articleFirst Public Meeting on Cultural Plan

Community Grants Approved

John Draper

At the 2019 Town of Cobourg Budget approval meeting tonight, a number of key decisions were made, including who would get Community Grants.  The budget initially suggested was $45,000 but with a total of more than $77,000 requested, that meant there would be some disappointments.  Each grant was subject to an individual motion and this task fell upon Councillor Adam Bureau.  Most of his recommendations were routinely approved although many got less than they asked for.  There was a long discussion about the Santa Parade – the initial recommendation to give to the committee was $3,000 compared to their requested $10,000.  But Mayor John Henderson convinced everyone to up that to $5,000.  Paul Pagnuelo (from the gallery using an allowed… Read complete articleCommunity Grants Approved

Lions not funding 2019 Santa Parade

John Draper

According to Andrew Hall who is on Cobourg’s Santa Parade organizing committee, he is not aware of any funding from the Lions club for this year’s Santa Parade.  This is a change from previous years and is why the committee is asking for a $10,000 community grant.  Andrew explained this in a presentation to Council at Monday’s meeting.  The organizing committee consists of all volunteers and gets a regular contribution of $3500 from the DBIA but with no contribution from Lions and only a few hundred dollars from sponsors, they will not be able to cover their usual costs of $9 to $10K.  The budget for 2019 with the grant and DBIA’s $3500 would be higher than previous years but… Read complete articleLions not funding 2019 Santa Parade