![]() ![]() First, it takes visionary leadership and investment – the kind Christina Parker, John Norman, Zita Cobb, Don Wright, Heidi Oberheide and others have provided. What does this say about experiments to bring creatives and other freelancers to legacy cities like Tulsa or rural Spain? John’s arts region has created a place that supports and encourages freelance artists and artisans professionally and commercially. We believe by changing the way we live and work, we can stem the brain drain from Newfoundland, and turn it around to attract and retain wonderful creative people of many kinds to communities like St. “This is a collaboration among all the stakeholders: Artists, municipalities, the Provincial and Federal government, and social entrepreneurs. John Norman, community leader, and a major active art collector, reflected on the progress Newfoundland and Labrador has made in our interview. And we’re all proud of our contribution to our Province.“ You’ve got enough going against you making it in the arts – not just painting and photography - to want to support each other. We’re in the same boat: We chose careers in art that aren’t easy, the work is deeply personal, and in a place we love. “I can say, for the most part, the community has consistently offered me sincere support. Ned Pratt, a member of the celebrated Pratt family who grew up on the Island, and an important contemporary photographer, describes his experience of support: John’s growing reputation is impressive: Artists and other creatives are telegraphing the world that this is a place that supports artists and the arts: For Ginok Song, a talented young Korean-Canadian painter who moved to Newfoundland, that support includes the ability to supplement artistic income by teaching in the studio she built behind her home. ![]() Just recently the region welcomed a new home for the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, another way in which communities and government works together.Īnd St. Fogo Island Arts, launched in 2008 by Zita Cobb on Fogo Island, supports a residency-based contemporary art program, offering visitors an ultra-luxury resort and the opportunity to interact with artists through studio and gallery visits. Other initiatives reinforce the region’s attraction. Governments also play a critical role by funding young artists, holding competitions, staking institutions like the Memorial University Art Gallery, investing in cheap studio space, and underwriting exhibits in venues like the Sound Symposium and The Rooms, the well-known museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. Bonavista has even appointed a full-time “Economic, Cultural and Heritage Officer”. Global sponsors like UNESCO benefit the region by providing additional publicity. Bonavista mayor and social entrepreneur John Norman explains, “The Biennale is a unique bi-annual exhibition of contemporary visual art by Indigenous, Newfoundland and Labrador, and other Canadian and international artists, and just one of many attractions that brings 80,000 visitors to the region each year.”Ĭommunities help in other ways as well: working with the Provincial and Federal government and engaging Chambers of Commerce in providing low-cost space for artist’s studios and gallery shops. The Bonavista Biennale is another, engaging the Bonavista Bay region, a stretch of several towns. It’s just one of the ways “community” play a role in the arts ecosystem. The printshop is a steady pillar of the arts community, offering formal internships and informal mentorship. The printshop has truly expanded our understanding of the art world and introduced us to the world.” Over the decades, dozens of students visited from many universities from many countries. Their goal was to expand the art scene, introduce them to varied influences, and it worked. Don Wright and Heidi Oberheide developed the printshop for professional artists and set the bar high, committed to bringing printmakers around the world to visit, produce, and share their work. Michael’s Printshop opened in the early 70’s, we were a fairly isolated island.
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