A couple of years ago,
my stepdaughter and I accompanied my husband on a trip to Germany. While my
husband was attending his conference, we headed for Berlin’s Kreuzberg
neighbourhood, where the Berlin Wall has been transformed into the East Side
Gallery, a 1.3 kilometre-long stretch of street art. It was great to see this
historic structure kept as a reminder of our humanity’s dark side, but
re-purposed in such an uplifting, creative –and definitely funky– way.
A couple of months ago,
I learned that the Whitestone Gallery on Norfolk Street was shutting its doors
because the space was no longer affordable after the rent increased.
A couple of weeks ago,
I met with an interesting couple from Johnston Street in the Ward. We talked
about how nice it would be to showcase The Ward as the arts hub of the City.
A couple of nights ago,
I read about the College Hill and Brooklyn area of Guelph becoming the City’s
first Heritage Conservation district. The aim of such a designation is to maintain
the streetscape and heritage qualities of an area.
Toronto has a Design
District and a Fashion District. Wouldn’t it be cool if Guelph had an Arts
District?
What if we chose those
locations in the Ward that have “seen better days” and turned them into street
art canvasses? What if re-development of the Ward’s brownfields occurred with
the collaboration of the Guelph Arts Council, whose Creative Spaces Program
aims to establish creative and collaborative spaces for artists and arts
groups? Would having an Arts District in our definitely artistic City increase
our artists’ profile and their art’s accessibility to the general public?
Have an opinion? Send it my way.
