The Conseil des arts Prescott-Russell Arts Council (CAPRAC) will get $49,200 from the provincial Community Building Fund through the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The provincial grant will help CAPRAC’s efforts to shift its community arts support and advisory programs to a digital platform.
The region’s arts, culture and heritage sectors have felt the impact of the pandemic with cancellation of live exhibits, performance venues, and a reduction in the number of people coming to museums, galleries, and other venues. The digital platform that CAPRAC will create will provide both a venue for local artists to display their works to potential buyers and patrons, and also help with promotion of arts and cultural events that help contribute to the emotional and psychological health of people having to deal with self-isolation or limited activities available to them during lockdown periods.
“It is a question of allowing (arts and culture) organizations to continue to propel the human being in what is most visceral,” stated Éric Charlebois, CAPRAC board president, “to feel alive, to feel vibrant, and to know that they are an integral part of the community that allows them, during the most suffocating periods, to identify and to themselves to ensure the outreach of our inclusive and accessible heritage.”
The digital platform will also provide tools that encourage public participation in their region<s arts, culture and heritage. CAPRAC will now issue a tender call for digital consultants to bid on the contract for designing and developing the new and improved website setup.
