Culture Camp 3: Expanding the Definition

Saturday was the third Culture Camp event at the rotunda in Kitchener City Hall.

There was about 45 people in attendance, lots of familiar faces, but a lot of new attendees as well.

The coolest part: It had a completely different vibe from the last event.

The December event was close to the Holidays, the rotunda felt a little bit cramped (due to some big pieces of school art of Olympic sports) which were hilarious and made the space feel a bit more intimate, and also – there was a lot of bitching going on last time. And with bitching – comes raised voices, conflicting opinions and a lot of jokes. All of this contributed to a pretty boisterous atmosphere.

This time, I got much more of a productive vibe.

Many of the sessions were focused on how to get some specific things in action around town, and so it seemed like everyone was making a lot more progress than last time, but maybe having a little bit less FUN. Which is ok, I think.

Here’s the sessions I attended:

1. About the “CCID”

aka – Centre(s) for Community Innovation and Design.

This session was done by Eric and Beth and discussed their recent feasibility study which can be found here.

This was quite a big session… and there was some annoying questions asking, but overall a great face-to-face presentation of what Beth and Eric are working on.

I’m pretty interested in this topic, so stay tuned for a separate post over the week.

2. Culture and the upcoming municipal elections.

I hosted this session to gauge the interest in the upcoming election, and see how we could make culture an important piece of the candidates discussions.

This was an awesome chat – and I have a few action items to do this week.

3. Sustainable Heritage

This session was offered by Jack Jackowetz – whose art and volunteer work in Brantford focuses on Heritage architecture. Really interesting talk about the current issue of the Rockway Seniors Centre on King St. The building has a long and colourful history, but is not designated as a Heritage building. There are some building issues with it – and the city is pushing to have it torn down, and a hi-rise to be put up in it’s place. Urgh. Gross.

I’m doing some more research on this issue and will have some options on how you can get involved if you’re interested in protecting our region’s architectural past.

Overall, awesome day.
Thanks for putting it together Brock, Ingrid and the City of Kitchener.

H.