The 2019 Flin Flon Culture Days are shaping up to be perhaps the best in recent history, with the Flin Flon Arts Council receiving $7,000 from the province of Manitoba for the 10th annual event.
Culture Days has become one of the city’s biggest celebrations and the arts council goes all out for the event year in and year out. This year, the Flin Flon event finished second in the nationwide rankings, beating out large cities including Vancouver, Toronto and many other places.
Culture Days is a collaborative pan-Canadian volunteer movement that raises awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Flin Flon Culture Days organizer and arts council cultural coordinator Crystal Kolt has been part of the festival since its inception. She was even a part of the original provincial task force in 2008.
“We ended up having over 130 events throughout those three days which was pretty exciting,” said Kolt. “We tackle them in a variety of ways. During the day on Friday, we have many school events so that every child has the opportunity to experience a cultural event. We also have a preschool event for every preschool kid and their family. There’s also a seniors’ event during the day. Starting Friday night is when we start more events for the general public and these go continuously until Sunday night.”
The $7,000 grant has Kolt excited for what may come next.
“This is the first time we’ve received funding from the province for that particular grant so we’re very excited for that and appreciate the support,” Kolt said.
“Because Culture Days is a free event, we get all of our funding through grants and partner support… This year, to be funded through the Municipal Small Grant Fund for $7,000 has been very important for us.”
With extra funding to work with, the Flin Flon Arts Council is excited about the prospect of building up the 2019 Culture Days to go for first place in the nationwide rankings.
“There will be some new stuff coming in 2019. Our newest project has been the outdoor market and that continues to grow because this past year, we had very cold and snowy weather, but yet the market has thrived,” said Kolt. “We’re starting to learn what to do to sustain that and to make it sort of a more economically diverse project within that, so the market is still growing.
“In terms of other projects, there’s still more that can be done within the variety of arts organizations and getting involved in various capacities and I’m hoping next year we can have solo events. Perhaps artists want to open up either within their homes or showcase in their yards. Those kinds of things would be very interesting to see.”
The whole community has become engaged and involved in some capacity with the Culture Days since the inaugural event in 2010, Kolt added.
“From the inception, we really wanted to celebrate all culture within this three-day period, so that’s why we have a hockey event or a fish pond event or a mining event, or whichever because it’s all a very important part of our culture,” she said. “We’re always exploring and looking for challenges to do new events.”
The 2019 Culture Days will run from Sept. 27 to 29.
