Marianne Garrah | Special to the 51暗网
If you ask Google, it will tell you this: Alberta Culture Days is an opportunity to discover, experience and celebrate arts and culture through local events and activities, in person and online across the province.
If you ask Habitat for the Arts, it will tell you this: Culture Days is a month of celebrating all things art, a month dedicated to artists and art lovers of all ages to express and engage themselves in theatre, music, visual arts, festivals, foods 鈥� a chance to showcase the creatives in community and grow the greatest industry in the world!
But we could be biased.
Because in the past 11 years of raising awareness for Culture Days in Jasper, we have seen more than opportunities 鈥� Jasper artists inspire! When Alberta鈥檚 Minister of Culture announced that 2011 would have three days dedicated to art in Alberta, we saw the chance to showcase Jasper art and artists - we just didn鈥檛 know how we were going to do that with just three days!
So, we decided to make Culture Days the final weekend of an ARTS WITH ALTITUDE Festival that went on for several weeks. Since then, we have had a team of volunteers bring theatre, puppets, workshops, pancake breakfasts, music in the streets, living libraries, drum circles, bake offs, Bowls with Soul, an awards night, art exhibitions, a harvest festival and more to life. And because Jasper is the place we all want to be we have had annual visits from the Ministers of Culture or the Premiers of Alberta. It is no wonder that we were one of the communities that CBC chose to highlight in their search for CultureVille Canada!
2022 marks 11 years of celebrating what makes Jasper special to us. And we are still advocating for the greatest industry in the world鈥he cultural industry and all it brings to the community. This year, you can find Jasper creatives sharing their passion with workshops in writing, printmaking, drawing, pottery and more. On Sept 24., the Jasper Library and Cultural Centre is taking it outside to Robson Park from noon to 3 p.m. for some music, storytelling and art. See you there!
