The new arts space in Melgund Township offers exhibitions, land-based workshops, and creative community programming.
New Community Arts Hub in Melgund Township Expands Northwestern Ontario Creative Programming Through MRAC and Regional Partnerships
A small township in Northwestern Ontario is becoming home to a growing cultural hub, as Melgund Township expands its community arts programming through a newly established space in the lower level of the Dyment Recreation Hall. The initiative is led by Melgund Recreation, Arts and Culture (MRAC), a new nonprofit working in partnership with the Local Services Board of Melgund to support creative development in Dyment and Borups Corners—communities located between Dryden and Ignace.
Though modest in scale, the space has quickly become a meaningful gathering point for local creativity. What was once an underused area of the recreation hall has been transformed into a flexible arts environment designed to support exhibitions, workshops, screenings, and community-led programming. The focus is not only on presenting art, but on building long-term creative capacity within the region.
MRAC’s work is shaped by collaboration and connection across northern and rural communities. Since 2022, the hub has worked with The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and its Art Borups Corners hub, a small but active collective that supports arts initiatives across Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut. This cross-regional relationship has helped strengthen programming and bring shared learning into the development of the Melgund space.
The arts hub has also benefited from layered funding support. Early development was seeded through the Art Borups Corners collective and the Canada Council for the Arts, with additional support in 2025 from the Ontario Arts Council’s Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program, alongside funding from the Province of Ontario. It also builds on support from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Creative Entrepreneurship and Master of Arts in Creative Leadership programs and the Labovitz School of Business and Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth. Together, these contributions have helped establish a sustainable foundation for programming that reflects both local identity and broader regional collaboration.
Programming in the space is intentionally diverse. Alongside seasonal exhibitions featuring Northwestern Ontario artists, the hub hosts film screenings, crafting sessions, and land-based workshops that connect creative practice with the surrounding environment. The goal is to create a space where residents can not only experience art, but actively participate in it.
As MRAC continues to develop its role in the region, the emphasis remains on accessibility, community involvement, and long-term cultural growth. In a township where formal arts infrastructure has historically been limited, the Dyment Recreation Hall arts space represents a significant step toward a more connected and sustainable creative ecosystem in Northwestern Ontario.
It’s exciting to see this kind of investment in local arts, collaboration, and community expression taking shape in Northwestern Ontario. We can’t wait to visit again and see what comes next as the space continues to evolve and new work, ideas, and voices come through its doors.
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