Welcome back to the fall-winter season and the beginning of a new iteration of our incubator program for digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship. As we approach our first anniversary as a project, we have a lot to look back on. This past year started with a lot of barriers and challenges, but here we are preparing for another year of learning, workshops and arts for community development.

As everyone knows, the entire lower level of the Dyment Recreation Hall was flooded in early June and the community took a hard hit in losing the administration office. Essentially everything in the building was thrown out, but there is now a printer and computer, and the lower level repairs are coming along very well.

Beyond not having a home for our land-based and in-community programming, we were still able to adapt and accomplish most of what we wanted to do this summer. Our pilot program has been a success, and we are keen to do it again, with more artists and more youth and community members this time.

We are grateful for the community’s support as many of our team this year are students in Winnipeg. Our Winnipeg hub will be able to continue supporting both communities until the Melgund LSB is fully back up on their feet.

A Community BBQ will be held on Saturday, September 3, 2022 outside the Recreation Hall. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s Mobile “Learn More” Centre will also be on site and is sponsoring this terrific event. Due to construction this year’s events will be limited, but we encourage everyone to come out, learn about the project and see how the new addition to the Recreation Hall are coming along.

2022 Borups Corners Artists Retreat: Three Days of Music

The first Borups Corners Artist Retreat will be held starting this Friday! From September 2-5 in Melgund Township, Northwestern Ontario we’ll have musicians and artists from Dryden, Borups Corners, Dyment, and Winnipeg coming together to create, come together and most especially, make music together.

With many strong ties between communities, the Local Services Board of Melgund and their Recreation Board has been an incredible source of support for our incubator project in Winnipeg. Our incubator for digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship will also be presenting and exhibiting a very small sample of our program and the artwork produced by youth from Nunavut and Manitoba during their Summer Incubator Program held in Winnipeg this past June and July.

September Meeting Schedules

We won’t have any important meetings until the 20th of September when our Speaker Series starts up again. The full agenda is here. Weekend workshops in Winnipeg begin again on September 24th and we will be planning our next round of public presentations and training workshops.

This month will be light on activities as many are very busy with their impending return to school, but the main goal we want everyone to think about this month is about starting to plan our winter exhibitions and public presentations. Let’s get creative and think outside the box and make this year special!

Welcoming new communities!

How we work and collaborate across international borders is also a necessary area of focus. We are all proud of the work we’ve been able to do with support from the Arts Entrepreneurship program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and we want very much for that work to continue. In addition to Winnipeg and Minneapolis we also have participants from Stoney Mountain, Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba; and soon, Windsor and Detroit.

This year, our goal was simply to experiment to see if we could create the conditions to support an incubator for digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship. As we start to plan our second year, we will also be connecting and collaborating with new communities! This fall, we are very happy to include emerging artists from Windsor, Ontario. Several of our participating youth from Nunavut, Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba are studying at both St. Clair College and the University of Windsor.

Our program started online, and we have seen great success so far in our hybrid approach. We’re excited to be able to continue working with them, the same way we have been all this time, just in a new place.

Art Windsor Essex is an amazing place to visit, BTW. If you haven’t been there, be sure to make time to go in and see their exhibitions. We’ll be planning activities for the Windsor hub later this fall as part of our Fall-Winter Program.

New Funding for the Winnipeg Hub

Thank you to the Manitoba Arts Council for granting our Winnipeg Incubator with funding to advance our curriculum development and participation in this year’s summer program. We are incredibly grateful for this support. We learned about the award on August 14, 2022 and a special announcement and event will be organized for mid September to celebrate this special occasion and accomplishment.

Back to School!

A lot has changed since our project began in November 2021. One of the most important things we’ve wanted to incubate in all of this has been improved educational outcomes and access to new pathways to arts sector employment.

To our incredible students this year: Ethan, Ethan, Tootoo, Pangniq, Elijah, Ally and Kayla, we wish you all the very best of success this year! We’re incredibly proud of the work you’ve done to support our incubator for digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship, and it’s because of your efforts and support that we’re able to keep this initiative going into a second year.

Always remember we are just a click or phone call away for anyone who might need a hand as they settle in. Good luck on your academic adventures and see you all on September 20!

As always, we are very grateful to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse Program, the Arctic Buying Company, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Manitoba Arts Council for supporting our program. It’s thanks to their support that our program exists and is able to be where we are today, planning a second, improved year.

Thank you for your support.

This experimental pilot program was made possible with financial investment from the following organizations and we gratefully acknowledge their encouragement and support.