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January, 2011
In the summer of 2007 the
Tweed and Area Arts Council, a
charitable, not-for-profit,
volunteer organization, entered
into discussion with the
Municipality of Tweed
proposing that the arts will be
an increasingly important
component necessary to foster
the growth and cultural fabric
of the greater Tweed area
(gTa) community.
As a result of those
discussions T&AAC proposed
to provide a community art
centre which would contribute
to the cultural well being and
growth of the arts in the gTa.
In February 2008, with
Council's support the
Municipality made a $75,000
business loan to T&AAC which
with interest was to be repaid
over a ten year period. T&AAC
subsequently purchased the
historic, nineteenth century,
Actinolite United Church and
began the transformation of this
marvelous facility into a
vibrant, handicapped accessible
community arts centre for use
by the residents and by the
artists in the community.
Throughout 2008, 2009 and
2010 T&AAC leveraged on the
untiring initiative of its
members, community
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volunteers and, fund raising
activity including federal and
provincial grants, such that
local trades could renovate
what is now the Marble Church
Arts Centre (MCAC). The MCAC
facility is now available and
open to all of the arts;
musicians, artists and actors for
a wide range of events
including theatre, music, dance,
sculpture, painting, film and
writing activities. MCAC
serves the greater Tweed area
and is also available for
community, service club,
family and private events.
T&AAC will host an official
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opening of the Marble Church Arts Centre (MCAC) June 11,
2011.
With the January 11th
payment of $12,186 to the
Municipality of Tweed,
T&AAC has completed the
repayment of the loan in full
with interest, seven years and
one month ahead of schedule.
The Tweed and Area Arts
Council would like to thank the
members of Tweed Council, the
Municipality of Tweed and the
many volunteers and
contributors for their ongoing
support and success of this
community based initiative.
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Municipality receives final payment from T&AAC
Don Herbertson, Chair, Tweed and Area Arts Council presented the final payment of a loan from the
Municipality of Tweed to Jo-Anne Albert, Reeve. The cheque was in the amount of $12,186.00.
T&AAC re-paid the loan they received from the Municipality, over seyen years ahead of schedule.
Pictured, back row, from left, Don DeGenova, Councillor; Jim Flieler, Councillor; Wayne Kay,
Business Advisor, T&AAC; Brian Treanor, Deputy Reeve
and Justin Bray, Councillor.
Rodger Hanna - Tweed News
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May, 2011
The Tweed & Area Arts
Council (TAAC) Executive met
for their bimonthly meeting
May 4th. Agenda items included
committee reports, upcoming
events and other business.
During her report, Art in the
Park Director, Maril Swan,
relayed that there has been a
Slow start to Art in the Park this
year. Scheduled for the second
weekend in August, there are
only ten committed artists so
far. Swan noted that secondary
school students have been asked
to present their artistic works,
new this year. Anyone
interested in participating is
asked to contact Maril at 613-
478-5003.
Also acting as Workshop
Coordinator for the Arts
Council, Swan announced that
the Arts Centre programming,
which featured woodcarving,
watercolour, pastel and acrylic
painting workshops, held from
January to April, was a success.
New ideas for next year include
the possibility of shorter
classes, evening sessions and
scheduling from April to June
and September to November.
Discussion ensued
surrounding the possibility of
offering the Marble Church Arts
Centre as an off-site campus for
Loyalist College. Loyalisr
would market the courses, pay
instructors'fees and rental fees,
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using the Centre from
September to November and
April to June. TAAC Chair Don
Herbertson said the idea was
"worth pursuing" and it was
agreed that Swan should look
into more details.
Finally, Swan reported that
TAAC was asked to support the
Tweed Tribute to Elvis juried art
contest, set to run until June 30th.
Members agreed to judge the
submitted art which will be on
display at the Tweed & Area
Heritage Centre throughout the
month of August.
Other points of business
included Arts Centre
maintenance, the Jack Vance
Golf Classic, the first annual pig
roast and the grand opening of
the Marble Church Arts Centre,
scheduled for Saturday, June
llth. It was suggested, due to
"phenomenal" heating costs
incurred this past season, that the
Arts Centre be closed from mid
December until the end of
February. With the hope of
reducing operating costs, the
proposed closure would involve
moving all art, and possibly the
piano, from the main
performance area to the better
insulated reception room as well
as bleeding all water lines.
The Jack Vance Golf Classic
is set to run June 12th with a
shotgun start at 11:00 a.m. Jack
himself noted that teams from
Petawawa, Ottawa, Brockville,
Belleville and Kingston are
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expected to play this year. Also
set to play is Vance's son,
Brigadier General Jonathan
Vance who will be the featured
speaker at the Marble Church
Arts Centre's grand opening the
Saturday before, an event
Director Wayne Kay hopes will
see "standing room only". Golf
tournament co-chair, Meriel
Child, stressed the importance of
teams registering prior to the
event for planning purposes. This
is the fourth annual tournament
in honor of the retired Lieutenant
General and founding TAAC
member, with $8000 raised at
last year's classic alone. The
June 12th tournament will mark
the first golf toumament of the
season at Poplars Golf Course.
For more information, please
visit www.tweedartscouncil.ca.
This September 24th will
mark the first annual pig roast at
Tweed's Memoriai Park, a
partnership between TAAC and
the Tweed Kiwanis Club. A
natural follow-up to the 'Elvis'
goat, Elvis' fundraiser of last
year, the theme for the roast is 'A
feast fit for a King!'A 110 lb pig
on a spit will be slow roasted
before the Kiwanis Pavilion, with
serving between 1-4 pm. Tickets
will be pre-sold only, so hurry
into the following merchants to
get yours! Tickets are available at
The Tweed News, The Food
Company, Bush Furniture,
Dellar's I.D.A and from Kiwanis
and TAAC members.
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The Tweed & Area Arts Council were pleased to be the recent recipients of a
$10,000 donation from the John M. and Bernice Parrott Foundation.
Board of Directors Members, from left
Jack Vance, Wayne Kay, Meriel Child, Don Herbertson, Maril Swan, Roely DeVries and Bonnie Marentette advised
the funds will be used for ongoing maintenance of the Marble Church Arts Centre.
The Tweed News/Shannon Binder Bray
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Writers' Competition winners announced
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May 2011
The Tweed & Area Arts Council announced the winners of their annual Writers' Competition the
afternoon of May 30th at the Marble Church Arts Centre in Actinolite. Presenting awards to the.four
winners were Arts Council members Meriel Child (far left), Elizabeth Churcher (second from left) and
Don Herbertson (far right). Winners were Casey DeVries St-Jacques (back row, third from left) who
wrote a poem entitled Never Let Me Go in the grade 9-12 category, Alfred Fraser (back row, second
from right) who wrote a poem on My Changing World in the adult category, Isaac Beatty (front row,
left) who wrote a poem on his favorite toy in the grade 1-3 category and Liam Best (front row, right)
who wrote a poem on pollution in the grade 4-6 category. Churcher, who co-judged the 55 submitted
poems and short stories, relayed her delight that "people of all ages enjoy writing." Watch in the
coming weeks for the winners' published works. Winning entries may also be viewed online at
www.tweedartscouncil.ca.
Shannon Binder Bray - Tweed News |
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Celebrating the Marble Church Arts Centre
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It's Official
The ribbon celebrating the official opening of the Marble Church Arts Center in Actinolite was cut June 11,
2011 by Major General Jonathan Vance. From left are Tweed & Area Council board members Roely DeVries, Jack
Vance, Wayne Kay, Tweed reeve Jo-Anne Albert and Arts Council chair Don Herbertson.
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After four years, the Marble
Church Arts Centre has
transformed itself from a dream to
a reality, a dedicated local stage
for performance, visual and
literary arts and culture. The
Tweed & Area Arts Council
(TAAC), along with area
supporters, celebrated the official
opening of the Arts Centre in
Actinolite throughout the
afternoon of June 11, 2011.
Guests were welcomed to the
Centre by bagpiper Corporal
Lewis, from the Royal Canadian
Regiment Canadian Forces Base
in Gagetown, New Brunswick,
compliments of the RCR through
connections with Tweed's own Lt.
Gen (Ret.) Jack Vance.
Two year old Emeth Vance, great great-nephew
to Tweed & Area Arts Councilfounding member
Jack Vance and first cousin, twice removed, to
Major General Jonathan Vance, is awed by
Colonel Lewis, bagpiper from the Royal
Canadian Regiment Canadian Forces Base in
Gagetown, New Brunswick, who welcomed
guests to the Junw 11 official opening of. the
Marble Church Arts Centre in Actinolite.
Jack,
along with Roely DeVries and
Don Herbertson were three of
TAAC's founding (and
remaining) board members who
spearheaded the Marble Church
Arts Centre project, beginning in
2007.
Once settled in the Pews,
visitors were addressed by Wayne
Kay, TAAC board member and
Master of Ceremonies who spoke
of the "majesty" of the Arts
Centre, accomplished in such a
short period of time. He noted that
the gTa (greater Tweed area, a
much kinder and gentler version
of the Greater Toronto Area) is
"blessed with much ... an
abundance of recreation and sport
facilities ... clean water, good
neighbours and proximity to
larger communities." In
welcorning TAAC's Chair, Don
Herbertson, Kay referred to him
as (TAAC's) "hands on, tireless
leader."
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Herbertson addressed the
house first by relaying the news
that the Marble Church Arts
Cente will keep the stage built by
the IANA Theatre Company for
their recent musical. He advised
that the loan acquired from the
municipality in order to purchase
the Marble Church in 2008 has
been paid back seven years ahead
of schedule and extended his
thanks on behalf of TAAC to all
levels of supporting government,
the mernbers, volunteers, grantors
and individual, corporate and
service club donors who helped
make the dream of the Marble
Church Arts Centre a reality. He
said next on the improvements
list was upgrades to the Centre's
heating and air conditioning
systems and promised the TAAC
team will continue with
improvements to "bring the
Centre upto ll0%."
Father and son, Lt. Gen (Ret.) Jack Vance and Major General Jonathan Vance
Next on the agenda was a
standing salute to Lt. Gen (Ret.)
Jack Vance prior to the
introduction of his son, and
special guest speaker, Major
General Jonathan Vance. Vance is
the former Commander of
Canadian and NATO Forces in
Kandahar Province, Afghanistan,
is currently Chief of Staff Land
Strategy and has just been
promoted from Brigadier General.
Vance told the group he was
asked to speak for the specific
reason of relaying how the
opening of the Marble Church
Arts Centre masks community
events in Afghanistan. He spoke
of war experiences and offered an
insightful take on what he labelled
the "mystery and misconceptions"
of war. He said "wars really don't
count for anything save for what
they produce in the end. Whether
or not one believes in the act of
war or not," he said, "was
immaterial. The most important
thing is how the conflict is going
to be resolved." He spoke of the
two main elements of
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war - the
initial fighting and act of taking
down the enemy and then the rebuilding
of at risk communities.
Communities are powerful", he
said, "given half a chance, they
will rebuild. Breathing room, seed
capital, low-level political
leadership and, specifically,
stakeholders," he said, "are the
keys to success. The investment in
things not just associated with
survival, but in an increase in the
quality of life,"
he said, "are attainable
through the community
coming together,
the wisdom of an
old soldier and
the whole of a
team. Much like
accomplishment,
of the realization
of the Marble
Church Arts
Centre."
While the Major General
admitted he was
at the podium for
an extended
period of time,
"give a General
a microphone and it usually goes on.
I'm like my Dad that way," he chided.
Many agree that his message to
"put power in the hands of the people
to manage their own destiny" was clear.
Major General Vance further relayed his pride and congratulations
to his father and his team for their sucess with
the Marble Church Arts Centre
and said he hoped their vision would also inspire others.
Next to speak was Tweed's
Reeve, Jo_Anne Albert,
who visibly showed her respect
and admiration to both Jack and his
son. She relayed her pleasure on behalf of Tweed's Municipal Council
for their support of the
Arts Centre.The Marble Church Arts Centre has become an
integral part of the cultural
community of this municipatity."
she sited noting further that
Aleck Bell _ a Canadian Musical presentation by the IANA Threatre Company
"equalled anything I have ever seen in Toronto."
Reeve Albert congratulated the "passion" of the TAAC committee and their volunteers, adding,
"volunteers are the building blocks of the community."
The afternoon welcomed financial donations from the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority and from Studio 737,
which challenged other local businesses to provide a donation to "keep this place going."
The celebration continues with refreshments served in the Jack Vance Studio.
The Tweed News/
SHANNON BINDER BRAY
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Trillium Foundation invests in Tweed & Area Arts
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On Thursday, August 4, 2011, Arts Council members announced their funding application to the
Foundation in the amount of $15,000 had been approved. When combined with a $10,000 previous
commitment from the John M. and Bernice Parrott Foundation, the total funding will allow members to
move forward with necessary upgrades to its Marble Church Arts Centre in Actinolite.
The funding has allowed for further upgrades to the Centre's heating system as well as the
installation of air conditioning. The funding will also provide for the padding of the 120 year old
church bench seating, an amenity audiences can expect to see and feel in the coming months. Previous
upgrades to the 1864 Marble Church include a raised stage, production lighting, sound amplification
and handicap accessibility. The Centre's history and ambiance make it a preferred backdrop for
weddings, stage productions, meetings and family gatherings.
Largely managed by member services and community support, funding obtained throughout the past
five years has enabled the Marble Church Arts Centre to become the rural hub it is today.
"These grants have allowed us to bring the Marble Church Arts Centre to a new level of comfort for
our audiences," said Tweed & Area Arts Council Chair, Don Herbertson.
For further information contact Don herbertson at 613-478-2747
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