Hi folks,

It’s about six months to the day now that our world went topsy-turvy. So much has happened to change and shape our way of thinking about how we can do our work here to engage, energize, and enrich the cultural life of Golden.

In March — after the initial shock and disappointment — came the slow realization that all our programming plans for the next few … or many, many … months had to be scrapped and re-imagined to respond to Covid realities.

First Summer Kicks … With the massive support of Town of Golden staff, the Fire Department, Home Hardware, and many more, we were able to load up dozens of local musicians onto our flatbed trailer stage and bring Summer Kicks to the neighbourhoods of Golden for 10 weeks through the summer. What a blast it was to see your response to our travelling road show!

Once all Covid health protocols were in place, our Art Gallery of Golden re-opened in early July and we were so very grateful to soon regain a somewhat normal summer traffic flow of visitors because your purchases at AGOG support the income of about 100 local and regional artists. FYI Mark MacKenzie’s summer exhibit was enjoyed by more than 2,000 visitors and Martin Olson’s Local Colour opened last weekend with numerous sales already!

So now what are we going to do?

Well, first of all we want to encourage you to come into AGOG and renew your membership to recognize and celebrate the Golden District Arts Council’s 50th anniversary year. Yes … the GDAC nonprofit Society was founded by volunteers in October of 1970.

We had some big plans in the works to celebrate this “Golden” anniversary but, given that indoor gatherings are still limited to only a few dozen folks, those plans are now on the back burner — for the time being. Please know your Membership renewal supports our fundraising and conveys to our stakeholders that we have earned our community’s engagement and support.

But, we don’t want to coast on that. We’re in the wonderful business of bringing people together to enjoy the arts and, despite the times, that’s what we’re planning to keep on doing!

We had to postpone our Fall line-up of Live Kicks shows and we hope to bring those artists here in Fall 2021. In the meantime, we’ve planned a re-imagined Fall line-up of Live Kicks shows in the Great Hall of the Civic Centre that we believe will be entertaining and safe. Stay tuned for a News Kicks announcement later next week with all the details .

Our volunteer Film Kicks group under the leadership of Mandy Cantle has met and decided to roll out a Film Kicks evening at the Cinema later in October as a trial run. If all goes well, they’re planning more! Stay tuned as News Kicks announces the details later this month.

Our long-standing Christmas Craft Faire at the Rec Plex in late November poses a few more challenges to respond to but in discussions with our local vendors we think there’s a plan evolving that will satisfy that community desire to browse and buy what our local artisans have been making in the lead up to the Christmas season. More on this soon.

AGOG will also have a special Christmas section through December featuring the work of artisans that are unable to attend the Craft Faire given Covid realities.

So there’s a lot of activity going on and being readied for your enjoyment. Please stay tuned to our regular News Kicks email blasts — subscribe here — and look for us at “Kicking Horse Culture” on Facebook and Instagram for updates coming soon.

As always, thanks to our great volunteers and staff and especially the Town of Golden and CSRD Area ‘A’ for their continuing support — 14 years and counting!

Cheers,

Executive & Artistic Director

Hi folks,

It’s about six months to the day now that our world went topsy-turvy. So much has happened to change and shape our way of thinking about how we can do our work here to engage, energize, and enrich the cultural life of Golden.

In March — after the initial shock and disappointment — came the slow realization that all our programming plans for the next few … or many, many … months had to be scrapped and re-imagined to respond to Covid realities.

First Summer Kicks … With the massive support of Town of Golden staff, the Fire Department, Home Hardware, and many more, we were able to load up dozens of local musicians onto our flatbed trailer stage and bring Summer Kicks to the neighbourhoods of Golden for 10 weeks through the summer. What a blast it was to see your response to our travelling road show!

Once all Covid health protocols were in place, our Art Gallery of Golden re-opened in early July and we were so very grateful to soon regain a somewhat normal summer traffic flow of visitors because your purchases at AGOG support the income of about 100 local and regional artists. FYI Mark MacKenzie’s summer exhibit was enjoyed by more than 2,000 visitors and Martin Olson’s Local Colour opened last weekend with numerous sales already!

So now what are we going to do?

Well, first of all we want to encourage you to come into AGOG and renew your membership to recognize and celebrate the Golden District Arts Council’s 50th anniversary year. Yes … the GDAC nonprofit Society was founded by volunteers in October of 1970.

We had some big plans in the works to celebrate this “Golden” anniversary but, given that indoor gatherings are still limited to only a few dozen folks, those plans are now on the back burner — for the time being. Please know your Membership renewal supports our fundraising and conveys to our stakeholders that we have earned our community’s engagement and support.

But, we don’t want to coast on that. We’re in the wonderful business of bringing people together to enjoy the arts and, despite the times, that’s what we’re planning to keep on doing!

We had to postpone our Fall line-up of Live Kicks shows and we hope to bring those artists here in Fall 2021. In the meantime, we’ve planned a re-imagined Fall line-up of Live Kicks shows in the Great Hall of the Civic Centre that we believe will be entertaining and safe. Stay tuned for a News Kicks announcement later next week with all the details .

Our volunteer Film Kicks group under the leadership of Mandy Cantle has met and decided to roll out a Film Kicks evening at the Cinema later in October as a trial run. If all goes well, they’re planning more! Stay tuned as News Kicks announces the details later this month.

Our long-standing Christmas Craft Faire at the Rec Plex in late November poses a few more challenges to respond to but in discussions with our local vendors we think there’s a plan evolving that will satisfy that community desire to browse and buy what our local artisans have been making in the lead up to the Christmas season. More on this soon.

AGOG will also have a special Christmas section through December featuring the work of artisans that are unable to attend the Craft Faire given Covid realities.

So there’s a lot of activity going on and being readied for your enjoyment. Please stay tuned to our regular News Kicks email blasts — subscribe here — and look for us at “Kicking Horse Culture” on Facebook and Instagram for updates coming soon.

As always, thanks to our great volunteers and staff and especially the Town of Golden and CSRD Area ‘A’ for their continuing support — 14 years and counting!

Cheers,

Executive & Artistic Director