Three Artists Selected For City’s New Change Makers Artist Residency Program

Three artists-in-residence have been selected for the Change Makers Artist Residency Program which will create opportunities for artists to innovate and contribute to municipal projects, particularly Climate Change Awareness, Adaptation and Sustainability-related initiatives, announced by the City of Peterborough on Friday.

Ox and the Fox and the Kangaroo by Ann Jaeger. Photo courtesy of Ann Jaeger.

Ann Jaeger, Dimitri Papatheodorou and Josh Morley have been selected as the artists-in-residence. During their three-month residency, each artist will be provided an artist fee as they explore the work in the City’s Asset Management and Capital Planning Division and develop project proposals according to a press release.

“An Artist Residency Program is envisioned to amplify communication around climate-related vulnerabilities, especially those due to flooding but also to begin earnest conversations about climate change risks in general,” said James Byrne, thee City’s climate change Coordinator. “Artists help us to think, to remember and to see things in different ways. What changes can we make by facing challenges together?”

Jaeger is a multi-disciplinary artist whose eclectic work intersects literary, theatre and visual arts. An honours graduate of OCAD, she has presented solo exhibitions of painting and sculpture in the Peterborough area, most recently at Evans Contemporary and the Arts and Culture Centre of Warkworth.

Her textile art was featured in the 1982 Visual Arts Ontario publication Art in Architecture. In addition to writing articles on regional arts and culture for her blog Trout in Plaid and for local media, she has published poetry in the League of Canadian Poets, Cornell University's Epoch Magazine, and the Capilano Review.

Papatheodorou is an artist pursuing hybrid forms of expression through painting, sculpture, music, and architecture. Born in Toronto, he is an Adjunct Faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University and operates from a rural studio in Warkworth.

Morley is an Anishinaabe artist working in screen printing and mural work in Peterborough. His work explores regional ecological issues, his relationship with nature and his ancestral connection to the land. 

The Change Makers Artist Residency Program is administered by the City’s Public Art Program and developed in partnership with the Asset Management and Capital Planning Division.

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$57,423 In Grants Given to 24 Recipients in Individual Artists Program

The Grants for Individual Artists program has given twenty-four artists a total of $57,425 to bring dozens of new plays, paintings, sculptures, albums, writing and performances to life in Peterborough announced on Wednesday.

Victoria Yeh. Photo by Jordan Cooper.

The grant was funded jointly by the City of Peterborough and Electric City Culture Council (EC3) and administered by EC3.

“Peterborough is home to a vibrant community of exceptional artists and it’s important to make these types of investments in the creative economy,” said Councillor Alex Bierk. “Art and culture help to make Peterborough a special place and grants like these are important to sustain this part of our City’s identity.”

“There is an impressive range of art being supported by this year’s Grants for Individual Artists program,” said Councillor Joy Lachica. “From visual art, to performing art, music and the written word, these talented artists will engage and inspire our community.”

“These investments in the work of our very talented and hardworking artists means more artists can realize their visions, contribute to our cultural, economic and social well-being, and make Peterborough a more vibrant, dazzling place for all of us,” said Su Ditta, EC3 executive director. “New books, poetry, concerts, plays, exhibitions, albums and performances of all kinds will touch our hearts, minds, and imaginations. The projects supported by these grants explore love, climate change, beauty, community connection, disability, forgotten histories and more.”

The Grants for Individual Artists (GFIA) program has two components:

• Component One: Mini Development Grants for Individual Professional Artists provide up to $1,500 each for research, development, workshopping etc., of original new works, as well as for professional training and mentorship opportunities.

• Component Two: Project Production and Presentation Grants for Individual Artists provide up to $3,500 each for the production and presentation of specific projects and support costs such as artist fees, production materials, venue rentals, technical equipment, costumes, printing, etc.

The Grants for Individual Artists program receives $50,000 from the City of Peterborough through the Arts and Culture budget according to a press release.

The program’s open call for artists was available to those working in every discipline and medium including multi-disciplinary or community-based arts practice, in traditional or contemporary forms. A five-member peer assessment jury reviewed a total of 50 applications. Grants were awarded to 24 artists, including 13 in Component One (total $19,500) and 11 in Component Two (total $37,925).

2023 Recipients of Grants for Individual Artists

COMPONENT ONE: Mini Development grants for Individual Professional Artists

Melissa Addison-Webster: Earth Within Earth

An exploration of Land Dancing, building on collaborations with Heryka Miranda.

Kate Alton: Divining Laurence (working title)

A new dance/theatre project inspired by legendary author Margaret Laurence.

Dreda Blow: My Underground

A program of movement research to create a dance solo exploring themes of hope, love, oppression, regret, and resilience.

Samantha Chiusolo: Children’s Book

Research, writing, illustration planning, development, and artist fee to create a children’s picture book 'dummy.'

Garrett Gilbart: Sculpture-Based Performance

Professional development and experimentation for sculpture-based performance practice.

Brooklin Holbrough: Zine Development

Developing skills as a zine and printmaker, and the production of planned zine publications.

Elizabeth Jenkins: Healing From Those Who Love You

Support for writing and research for a book series, about love, race, and blurred boarders in exploring relationships and culture.

Charlotte Kennedy: The Stilt Walker Story-Poem

A video of creative collaboration, artist fees for a writer/project coordinator, an illustrator, and a videographer/musician, to bring original story-poem into a new dynamic medium.

Shannon LeBlanc: text-tile

Artist fees for creating 10 textile art pieces and a fee payable to an artist for their intellectual property.

Zoe Litow-Daye: Time for a Transition

Transitioning from digital art to producing physical works (e.g. paintings on canvas).

Nicole Malbeuf: Dance Training

Regular dance training in ballet, tap and fusion to advance artistic movement practice in aerial arts and physical theatre.

Holly McGillis: Processing Autistic Burnout Through Pottery

Transitioning to a new medium, pottery, and developing skills while adapting worsening disabilities.

Esther Vincent: The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Daughter

Artist fee for the revision of a suite of poems written in the last months of my mother’s life.

COMPONENT TWO: Project Production and Presentation Grants for Individual Artists

Calvin Bakelaar: Untitled ‘Vancamp’ Album

A folk-rock album challenging the traditional notions of masculinity I grew up with as a queer person in a small town.

Shannon Culkeen: Shannon Culkeen Debut Album Production Project

Artist fees to compose, rehearse, and produce an album of songwriter material at Sadleir House in June 2024, released November 2024.

Michael C. Duguay: Content

Artists fees to contribute to a site-specific, immersive field-recording and music project about community, wellness, and home for release in Autumn 2024.

Jon Hedderwick: Bubie’s Tapes

Artist, technical, promotional and travel fees and tour a play exploring antisemitism using stories left by my Bubie Sarah in cassette recordings.

Ryan Kerr: Death in Reverse: Project Baroness

A new performance project navigating the liminal territories between past and present, activating possibilities for personal and political transformation.

Justin Million: After Monomania

Artist fees and venue costs, to compose and present a text-based art installation based in the postmodern poetic tradition.

Stan Olthuis: Interconnected – A Touring Immersive Experience

Artist fees for a choreographer, three dancers, costume designer, art fabricator and musician to produce an immersive, multi-disciplinary exhibition about Sacred Geometry presented at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

Laurel Paluck: Symbiosis

Five local artists (artist fees) create artworks based on exploring the concept of climate change, for exhibition at Ludmila Gallery.

Jill Staveley: Focus

Artist fees to work with a collection of local musicians to support arranging and enhancing original songs not yet fully developed.

Kate Story: Anxiety

Artist fees, materials costs, and venue costs for a remount and adaptation of a one-person show “Anxiety” preparatory to touring it to St. John’s, Newfoundland. “Anxiety” explores Beowulf, the current rise of white supremacy, language, my childhood, and my father’s work as a Newfoundland lexicographer.

Victoria Yeh: Timeless

Artist fees to produce and present a concert of violin music through the ages and around the world.

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Peterborough Bigs's 33-Year-Old Mural Preserved With Photos As New Sponsor Sign and Paint Job Takes Its Place

After 32 years, the colourful mural on the side of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peterborough building has been painted over and a new sign with the organization’s sponsors was installed this past week.

Brent Shepard (left), Linda Cardona (middle) and Jon Oldham (right) with a captured photo of the mural that stodd on the side of the build for 33 years. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The mural was painted in 1991 by Sharon Richards but was deteriorating after 33 years.

“This mural was painted in 1991 so the signs of aging were showing,” said Brent Shepherd, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peterborough. “You could see that it was starting to peel and crack.”

Prior to the mural’s repainting, Linda Cardona volunteered to commemorate the mural with by taking photos of it.

The photos were submitted to the Peterborough Museum and Archives to be put on display.

The new ‘Big Believers’ sign displays the organization’s sponsors with seven already filled of the 12 available spots. Businesses contributing over $5,000 get their place on the new signage. There are 10 spots for medium medium-sized sponsors that can donate $1,250 and $2,500 to earn that distinction.

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Peterborough Theatre Guild's Next Production 'God of Carnage' to Run 10 Shows In Three-Week Span

The Peterborough Theatre Guild has announced its next production, ‘God of Carnage’ which will run 10 shows in a three-week span.

Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Theatre Guild.

Shows are occurring on Sept. 29 and 30; Oct, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14. Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. while matinees (Oct. 1 and 8) are at 2 p.m. at the Peterborough Theatre Guild.

God of Carnage is a winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play. It is described as a comedy of manners without manners. Set in present-day New York City, it is the story of two couples who meet for the first time shortly after their respective sons have a nasty schoolyard tangle. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed but as the meeting progresses and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than their liberal principles in tatters. the production was written by Yasmina Reza.

Tickets are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors and $22 for Students. They can be purchased online or by phone at (705) 745-4211.

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Art Gallery of Peterborough Starts Preparations For 50th Anniversary

The Art Gallery of Peterborough (AGP) is marking its 50th anniversary next year as preparations are underway for celebrations and recruiting a paid intern to aid with several special projects.

The Art Gallery of Peterborough was established in 1974 and opened the doors to its current facility in 1979 on the shore of Little Lake, the Otonabee River. Photo courtesy of the City of Peterborough.

The gallery received funding from Canadian Heritage through the Young Canada Works at Building Careers in Heritage Program for the celebrations. This internship program is geared towards unemployed or underemployed college or university graduates and supports emerging professionals in making the transition from post-secondary education to the workplace and allows them to hone their skills in a professional setting.

“As the gallery prepares to celebrate fifty years of compelling and groundbreaking exhibitions in 2024,” explained Celeste Scopelites, AGP director. “We’ll work with the Curatorial and Special Programs Intern on several exciting projects that engage our audience in a dialogue between the gallery’s past, present, and future.  Our goal is to reconnect with our founding members and share the stories of those who contributed so much to ensure we remain a vital and relevant cornerstone of the arts in our community for years to come.”

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Market Hall Gets New Lighting Equipment and Projector With Ontario Grant

Since Market Hall Performing Arts Centre received a $149,100 capital grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) late last year, the venue was able to purchase a projector and new lighting equipment to improve visibility and accessibility for future arts presentations.

(From left to right) Joe Grant, Market Hall Board Chair; MPP Dave Smith; Chad Hogan, Market Hall general manager and Jennifer Cavanagh, Market Hall Board member. Last year, OTF invested over $110M into 1,022 community projects and partnerships. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Market Hall invited Dave Smith, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP — who presented the grant — back to see what improvements were made from the grant.

“It is great to see the results of the work that Market Hall has been able to do thanks to this grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation,” said Dave Smith, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP. “These funds have allowed Market Hall Performance Art Centre to advance their facility and continue to serve the community by providing a space for everyone to enjoy.”

The grant allowed Market Hall to purchase and install a state-of-the-art projector for film and theatre performances. The theatre was also able to cover the cost for buying and installing new, state-of-the-art lighting elements. These upgrades will help extend the life of the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre and provide the community with a terrific space for arts performances according to Chad Hogan, Market Hall general manager.

“We want to say thank you to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for their generous support of the arts and culture in Peterborough,” he said. “Filmmakers and community groups alike will be able to screen their films with the highest quality available. And the lighting will improve the visual aesthetic for performances. So, overall, it’s a tremendous visual upgrade for the space.”

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Artisanal Retail Store Handmade Heaven Expands Storefront In Lansdowne Place

Less than four months after its grand opening, artisanal retail store, Handmade Heaven has expanded its space to accommodate more artists to sell their products at Lansdowne Place on Tuesday morning.

All photos by David Tuan Bui.

Photo courtesy of Handmade Heaven.

The store could sell products from 90 local artisans prior to the expansion. Owner Sam Milne said he was overwhelmed with how many people were on his waitlist and that expanding his storefront was an easy decision.

“I knew Peterborough was good for artisans and makers but I had no idea that there'd be this many people applying,” he explained. “I had about 150 on the waitlist to get in so when this unit beside my current unit became available, I knew I had to take it up just to get all the makers in there to sell their products in our store.”

The new space helps support up to 145 handmade entrepreneurs with room for the number to grow. More artisans bring more unique products to be sold such as bead paintings, baby clothes, chunky blankets, resin-based works and alpaca apparel. 

The expanded storefront is located across from Dollarama on the upper floor, beside the original location. Handmade Heaven first opened on May 1. All artisans and artists keep 100 per cent of the sales in exchange for paying rent to use the retail space.

“You know they're handmade, you know they're local, you're supporting local businesses and you feel good about your purchases,” said Milne.

Local artisans that want to rent space in the store must fill out an application online.

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4th Line Theatre Adding Additional Performance of The Cavan Blazers For This Monday

Due to multiple sellouts of the show, 4th Line Theatre has added an additional performance of The Cavan Blazers slated for this Monday at 6 p.m.

Patrick and Anne arguing during a production of The Cavan Blazers. Photo courtesy of 4th Line THeatre.

The production, written by Robert Winslow and directed by Kim Blackwell, is in its seventh iteration over the past 32 years.

The play is a gritty, intense play that has the audience on the edge of its seat from start to finish. This drama chronicles the religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant Irish settlers in Cavan Township in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Violence erupts when a Protestant vigilante gang known as the Cavan Blazers tries to stop a Catholic settlement from being established as stated by a press release.

The theatre is featuring local music under the big tent and Black Honey Bakery will be present with power bowls with vegan options and snack packs. The concession stand and BBQ will also be open.

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Hometown PTBO: Dwayne Gretzky's Nick Rose and Tyler Kyte About Performing and Growing Up With Musicfest and Their Notable Television Appearences

This week on Hometown PTBO, Pete Dalliday talks to Nick Rose and Tyler Kyte of Dwayne Gretzky about becoming staple performers at Peterborough Musicfest, their memories of the free-concert series growing up and their filmography that you may recognize from the late 90s.

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The City’s Public Art Program Announces Selected Poets for the Renaissance on Hunter Poetry Gardens

The City of Peterborough Public Art Program has announced the selection of poets commissioned as part of the Renaissance on Hunter Poetry Gardens Project.

photo courtesy of the city of peterborough.

From mid-July to mid-October the Renaissance on Hunter Poetry Gardens will feature works by local poets; Laurie Graham, Jen Cole, Bruce Whiteman, Jon Hedderwick, Justin Million, PJ Thomas, Chantel Daniels, Bon Scott, Esther Vincent and Laura Murray.

The poems are installed in the temporary planters adjacent to the Renaissance on Hunter Road Murals on Hunter Street between George and Aylmer streets, and will change monthly over the course of the summer.

In June the gardens featured poetry by the 2023 Poet Laureate, Ziysah von Bieberstein and Peterborough’s first Poet Laureate, Sarah Lewis.

As part of the project, GreenUp was commissioned to design and install the gardens that form the backdrop for the poems. The gardens feature an array of perennial native plantings that are drought-tolerant and thrive in full sun. Plantings include purple coneflower, yarrow, hairy beardtongue, anise hyssop, brown-eyed Susan and nodding wild onion, as well as a selection of prairie grasses. Many are now in full bloom.  

This announcement coincides with the completion of the 2023 road murals, created through the Road Mural Mentorship Program.  

The road mural artist teams by site are:

Site 1: Odoonabii II by mentor Aaron Robitaille, with mentees Kelly King, Em Farquhar Barrie, and Holly Edwards.

Site 2: Glacial Formation II by mentor Josh Morley, with mentees Sarah St. Pierre and Bethany Davis.

Site 3: Flight of the Pollinators II by mentor Brooklin Holbrough, with mentees Justine- Marie Williams and Deanna Henry.

Site 4: Nothing Out of Reach II by mentor Nuin-Tara Morin, with mentees Aryan Bhagat and Cassandra Shaw.

Twenty-three local artists were commissioned as part of the Renaissance on Hunter public art projects this year. For more information about the projects and the artists visit the City’s Public Art website.

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