If the purpose of Cochrane Integrated Arts Society (CIAS) is to promote the arts in Cochrane, what are we doing about that? Here’s what’s we got going on so far. The first thing on that list is our website at www.CochraneArts.com. On that website we have a number of directories. There is the general A-Z Directory that includes all of our listings. It’s a great one to go through if you want to see what we have here for arts in Cochrane. Then we also have specific directories for artists (which also includes calligraphy & bookbinding, music, photography, woodworking and writers), artisans, arts groups, arts businesses and arts supporters. If you are an artist, arts group or arts business, we would love to add your name to our directories. The listing is free – just sign up for it on any page of the website – look for the Come Join Us form in the right sidebar. On the website we have a sign-up (Come Join Us) for our generally once-a-week newsletter called Discover Cochrane Arts. The newsletter includes updates about what’s going on in the arts here in Cochrane, upcoming arts events, the latest new member listings that have been added, and opportunities for artists and creatives. We have an events calendar page where any members can add listings for their events. Any events listed are also included in the newsletter. We have a tourism page with some initial things to explore – I’m hoping to add a good bit more to that in time. Since becoming incorporated, we have now set up a Facebook group for CIAS – search for Cochrane Integrated Arts Society. (There’s a link to that on the website.) Please join us on that group – and help us by getting word out from there to your networks as well. We’ve just recently set up an account with Cochrane Now and will be posting events to that. Thanks to the Cochrane Eagle we now have this Discover Arts column to get word out as well. For now, we have decided on four social events for the year. Anyone interested in the arts is welcome to attend. We plan on having a Spring party in April, a Summer Picnic/BBQ in July, a social as part of our event on the Alberta Culture Days weekend in September, and a Christmas Party in November. Watch the website and Facebook for details as they come. We have decided to focus on two main promotional events during the year – one in spring – May or early June, and one in September on the Alberta Culture Days Weekend. This year, we are hosting the Kickstart Party as our event for September. More details to come on that. We have some other ideas that we will be working on as well. We will be creating our first Arts Passport as part of the Kickstart Party event, but we are looking to create something ongoing as well. One idea we would like to explore is creating an app for that which could be regularly updated. Anybody know of an app designer who might be interested in helping us out with that? We want to explore options with Cochrane Tourism as well. After living in Banff for over 10 years, I’m well aware of how much tourism can add to a community and so I definitely want to see us do more with that. One of the things we did major work on 10 years ago with ACFC was an arts centre. That idea got set aside while the town did the sports centre, but it is back on the table now. I would strongly encourage anyone who would like to see an arts centre here, go to the town website and give your input on their survey at http://www.letstalkcochrane.ca/tri-site/. We need to become a strong advocate for the arts and we need your help with that too. CIAS is scheduled to meet with the Tri-Site Advisory group this week to give our input on an arts centre. Now – we are working on our ideas for promoting the arts here, but we would love to hear yours as well. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with your thoughts, comments and suggestions. Thanks.
