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If you were to meet me in the street you would be lucky to get away without agreeing to come to the next art exhibition or agreeing to donate to the next fundraiser for a local cultural organization…but after being asked to write about the west end of the Yellowhead and its ‘cultural scene’ I find myself struggling for words! You would think that living in the Rockies, with all their natural splendor and beauty, would provide me with a hotbed of arts and cultural activities to write about. It is not hard to see how this area – the Rockies – is a place of inspiration for artists. Movies have been made here, famous authors and musicians have played here…I’ve even produced a series of shorts on the artists that have been enticed to create by the ‘power of place’! Yet I feel like a school kid being pressed to write so many words about a book I haven’t read yet. I have lived here for 20 years. If any of you have ever lived in Jasper, or any small town with a transient community based on a seasonal resource for income, you will relate to this. 20 years, but every year is different – different people – different energy and different ideas. And like any other ‘industry’ the cultural industry grows from change. And there is the dichotomy in our little town – while it appears to be undergoing constant change in reality, Jasper is run on STP. The Same Ten People. And it appears that something happened here. Historically Jasper had dance halls and tea houses and annual fairs with musicals put on by the community. I can only speculate on what has happened to that wealth of culture – and I was told to write about culture and art, not to lament on the state of community… YET If you don’t have community you probably wont see a healthy cultural scene and if you don’t have a healthy cultural scene you probably wont see a community. In 2004 I found myself traveling throughout the province looking for this very thing. I originally started out simply to support my ‘industrial sector’ of the province in the face of Alberta’s 100th birthday. Show Alberta and the World (no one will ever accuse me of not being optimistic) that we are more than just cowboys and oil! What I found surprised even me. From entities as large as the Glenbow to little communities like Rosebud – the arts are undeniably alive and lucrative. And they were all linked in some manner. The folks at the Banff Centre told us not to miss the stories of NumTiJah Lodge and the folks in Grande Prairie told us not to miss the stories of the Peace Country. 51 hours and 30,000km later I had to stop. The institutions I spoke to, the historians and philanthropists – all confirmed – a strong cultural identity starts with community and it builds community. I cannot separate the two. So, what has happened in Jasper to move the community from the days of the dance halls and annual fairs to the state of STP? Our travels in 2004 also uncovered the story of when cultural dollars flowed in the province, of the days when philanthropy and self determination built things like the Winspear and the Citadel. And the story goes on to tell of a change from above (Edmonton and the Legislature) when the flow was diverted. But I digress, this was to be an article on community – or was that culture? In the face of an election I find it equally as hard to separate community from government. If a change in government, like that of the early 90’s, can affect the culture of a province so profoundly – lose of artists and institutional funding – can it not affect community as well? Maybe that is what this article is really about. A government that supports a strong cultural identity means healthy communities! Perhaps that reality over all best describes the cultural state of the West Yellowhead? M Garrah “Athbhliain
faoi mhaise duit”
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