artsPlace unveils fall program lineup

Rob Murray: I’m speaking with Mia Riley from artsPlace. artsPlace has announced their lineup of fall programming. I know artsPlace has been doing their best to navigate the difficult waters of in-person events and online events around COVID. What’s the philosophy behind how you decided to proceed with your fall?

Mia Riley: The fall programs came as a result of a community wide survey where we had over a thousand people respond. Most people said they would still be interested in coming back to do small group in-person classes, so we mixed it up a little bit. We tested the waters in the spring with some online programming, then in the summer we launched our small group summer camps and those went amazingly well. We learned a lot about how to keep those programs safe so in the fall we have a good mix of classes from in-person group classes, online classes and hybrid courses as well.

RM: What are some of the highlights that you want to share today?

MR: We are kicking off the season with the Canmore Festival of Art and Creativity. There’ll be quite a few free programs and some live stream events.

I’ve just been really excited because we’re able to re-offer some of the programs that were canceled in the winter season, but we also have a lot of new programs. One of the programs that I’m most excited about, and I think you might be as well, is the Live Sound Production course with Jon Frolick. People are going to learn how to improve their audio mixing skills in a live concert setting.

We have a really amazing lineup of Indigenous-led courses, partnering with facilitators from Stoney Nakoda communities. We have Travis Rider who is going to be introducing us to Stoney artists. We also have Samantha Smalleyes who’s been working with her family with performances throughout the last couple of years, who’s now going to be coming to teach beading.

RM: As per usual, there’s a lot of stuff for kids?

MR: A couple options for families looking to keep their programming online. We’re running our Mini Melodies program again, which is for ages zero to five. Some new programs as well – our Youth Arts Collective program for teens which is free programming. There’s three different workshops with that. One of them is a community mural project. We are partnering with artist Libby Amber, and we’re going to invite the community to work on pieces for community mural that will be going into the Canmore General Hospital.

RM: Usually the artsPlace fall program guide is full of live events. This guide, it basically says “stay tuned.” What’s the idea behind what you might be doing as far as events this fall?

MR: It’s one of the things that we have been challenged with in our programming. At the start of the pandemic we moved to this radical shift of streamed events, and I think people have been taking advantage of watching their favorite local musicians online. We’re taking all that feedback in and still just working on a way in which we can deliver our live events safely for our patrons, and also continue to provide virtual programming. One of the main events that we are trying to rejig is our Creative Combat party, which is our annual huge fundraiser. It’s our biggest event of the season, so we’re developing a way in which we can turn that event into a in-person virtual hybrid.

RM: Is registration open for the programs now?

MR: If people go to our website they can see all of the programs that we’re offering and click to get enrolled. We’ve also transitioned our usual paper program guide into a digital program guide. It has a lot of information and you can actually click on all of the programs within the guide to just register directly.