Lambton County is supporting 19 local arts, culture and heritage initiatives to the tune of over $70,000 during the upcoming year through money from its Creative County Grant Program.
Each year since the county started the program in 2013, $75,000 has been budgeted to support initiatives that contribute to the quality of life, strengthen cultural capacity and promote a sense of cultural identity. A committee reviews applications and decides on which initiatives and events best achieve this aim, though funding cannot exceed 50 per cent of the total project’s costs.
In 2023, a variety of groups and individuals from across the county will receive grants, including a student mindfulness program taking place at Bridgeview Public School, the E’Maawizidijig Heritage & Culture Club to help with upcoming live Indigenous Dance performances, community mural projects located in Forest, Sombra and Brooke-Alvinston as well as money towards the restoration of a 1932 Chevrolet Pumper at the Wyoming Fire Station.
Twenty-four applications for the Creative County Grant Program were received this year, said Andrew Meyer, the county’s general manager of the cultural services division, coming from all corners of the county and representing a diverse group of cultural, heritage and artistic undertakings.
Myer said $75,000 was budgeted and $35,000 of that goes toward county-wide projects, while $10,000 is designed for each of the four geographic quadrants of the county – the north, south, central and Sarnia.
With COVID essentially eliminating live, in-person events for the better part of two years, Lambton’s artistic, cultural and heritage sectors are once again blossoming now that live events are back on the table, Meyer said.
Applications were up this year, he added, and he expects even more applications for grant money in the coming years.
“Applications are coming back to pre-COVID numbers,” he said. “Before COVID we took in about 30 applications each year; this year we had 24, which is creeping up to our pre-pandemic numbers. It demonstrates that the community is getting back into planning in-person programming, activities and cultural events, which is great to see.”
The next application intake for the 2024 Creative County Grant Program is scheduled for the fall of 2023.
CONTAINERS
- $1,800 to support the Forest Business Improvement Area (BIA) with its Forest Mural Project
- $6,700 to support the Town of Plympton-Wyoming with the restoration of their 1932 Chevrolet Pumper at the Wyoming Fire Station
- $1,200 to support the Forest Agricultural Society with the Skilled Trades & Small Business Portrait Exhibit
- $2,000 to support Lambton Central Collegiate Vocational Institute with their school theater production
- $2,205 to support the Bridgeview Public School with their Student Mindfulness Dance Program
- $2,500 to support the Town of Petrolia with the publication of their Petrolia 150th Events Calendar and Commemorative Booklet
- $5,795 to support the Petrolia Discovery Foundation with the restoration of the Canadian Rig and other site projects
- $2,500 to support local historian Kim Thomaes with the publication of a book on the history of the Village of Port Lambton
- $1,540 to support the Municipality of Brooke-Alvinston with the reproduction of murals located in the community auditorium
- $5,000 to support historian Mat Johnson, Marathon of History, with the publication of a book on the history of the St. Clair River railway tunnel
- $5,000 to support Krista Klompstra with the cost of artist fees for the Sombra Community Mural project
- $5,500 to support the Lambton Center with its Explore the Arts Summer Camp
- $1,500 to support the Wiiwkewdong Arts Collective with its Indigenous Culture event
- $6,000 to support the Optimist Club of Forest with its Kid Food Nation local food program
- $6,500 to support the E’Maawizidijig Heritage & Culture Club with a live Indigenous Dance performance at area schools
- $5,000 to support filmmaker Kyler Wigle with the production of the short film Food for Thought
- $6,400 to support the Bluewater Wind Ensemble with their concert series
- $2,500 to support the Center Communautaire Francophone de Sarnia-Lambton with their Diversity & Inclusion sidewalk project
- $890 to support local historian Paul Janes with the Township of Warwick: A Story Through Time anniversary video project