{"id":30705,"date":"2022-01-27T19:13:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T00:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=30705"},"modified":"2022-01-27T19:20:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T00:20:59","slug":"cultural-centre-re-tooling-programs-amid-covid-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/cultural-centre-re-tooling-programs-amid-covid-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Centre re-tooling programs amid COVID uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the few things certain in a global pandemic is uncertainty, and the Aurora Cultural Centre is rolling with the punches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As some facilities gear up to welcome visitors once again at the end of this month, the Cultural Centre has grown adept to making quick pivots in order to make sure the show can indeed go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting better with uncertainty, and we\u2019re getting better at quick moves, flexibility, and how we talk within the organization and with our artists,\u201d says Suzanne Haines, Executive Director of the Aurora Cultural Centre. \u201cThere\u2019s always pain and it takes courage to move through that; it is how do we build through this? As a team, we all sigh because it is painful to lose something we programmed. We thought that the very first time in March of 2020 and\u2026now we have some precedent to look at on what possible health protocols might be in place, what that might look like, and what we might need to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have learned a lot and that learning has helped us in where we can communicate, where we can commit, and what we think is possible for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being able to translate their gallery programs to an online platform has been a significant factor in maintaining arts delivery in Aurora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the latest lockdown was announced, plans for their annual Mayor\u2019s Celebration of Youth Arts was one of the first elements of the program that needed to be retooled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students, says Ms. Haines, were excited about coming in and hanging the show themselves as they customarily did pre-COVID, but the latest health restrictions rendered that impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff were tasked with hanging the show ahead of its formal launch next week, but students have been able to participate in showing their work even in a digital format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it has to stay that way for the entire show, that\u2019s okay, that\u2019s what we need to do,\u201d says Ms. Haines of the show, which is slated to take over their temporary gallery space at Town Hall \u2013 a venue which is yet to fully open back up to the public. \u201cThe next show we look at is whether we can have it in person. The gallery has that foundational program that continues to drum along. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEducation and performing arts are different. We\u2019re hoping for a full in-person education term like we had in the fall and what we\u2019re hoping is we might still be able to do that. We have pushed that off later into February.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all educational programs, she adds, are able to translate to virtual simply for practical reasons, but performing arts programs continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur first digital concert is February 10 with Sounding Thunder,\u201d says Ms. Haines. \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled that is going forward. It is part of our Great Artists music series and it is an incredible show we were hoping to run last year. It\u2019s going to be a performance like we have done in the past where we have it available for a week and on February 10 there will be a digital reception with the artists. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sounding Thunder is based on the life of Francis Pegahmagabow, a member of the Ojibwe nation, who became Canada\u2019s most decorated Indigenous soldier and the most accomplished sharpshooter in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an incredible story and beautiful music that is tied to it and spoken word attached to it. It is quite a compelling piece,\u201d says Ms. Haines, adding an in-person concert with Cultural Centre favourite John Sheard, previously scheduled for February 10, was moved to later in the year, along with a family concert that was supposed to take place on Family Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as it has been a challenge to continually pivot to a digital format \u2013 and to pivot back again with little notice \u2013has allowed the Cultural Centre to open its programs to patrons well beyond Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going online has allowed the Centre to tap a broader base of arts educators to facilitate programs and, in turn, reach students and participants from across the country \u2013 and even internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we moved to digital last time, we had people from all over the world join us,\u201d says Ms. Haines. \u201cBecause we don\u2019t offer materials, we put up material lists and people came in prepared in whatever country they were in. That is really fascinating we have that kind of draw and I think it speaks to the quality of instructors and what we\u2019re doing is we had this interesting mix. What a benefit for those other students who are meeting people from all over the world for workshops and classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat an opportunity for the Aurora Cultural Centre to have that kind of impact around the world, which we really didn\u2019t understand would be the outcome. We saw that in our performing arts as well when we went virtual. We will see that with Sounding Thunder. Those who can\u2019t access us normally because of location, that barrier is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the few things certain in a global pandemic is uncertainty, and the Aurora Cultural Centre is rolling with the punches. As some facilities gear up to welcome visitors once again at the end of this month, the Cultural Centre has grown adept to making quick pivots in order to make sure the show […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Zf","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 05:57:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}