The Durham West Arts Centre is a 'hub' organization working to establish links with artists, arts groups and arts lovers. We host exhibitions, activities and events at the Centre as attractors. We want to meet and talk to the groups and individuals who are willing to help build the infrastructure for a permanent arts centre in Ajax-Pickering.
Finally, DWAC has been extremely fortunate in its volunteers who will be recognized as part of this program. All their contributions have been valuable and cherished but none more so than the hard work of graphic designer Andrea Ketelaars. We are indebted to her for almost all of our design work. We thank John Cormier for the logo design which has found multiple uses.
Before I close with the large tasks that are still ahead, I need to acknowledge the links and partnerships that have been forged in a mere six months. DWAC is working on projects with: The Art Gallery of Ontario, The Durham District School Board, the Ontario College of Art, The University of Ontario, the Town of Ajax (Off the Hinges), the Pickering Museum Village, the Pickering Village B.I.A., and Dunbarton High School of the Arts. We have been blessed with 'friends in high places'.
The largest part of the work ahead lies in the consultation process for building a community vision for a permanent arts centre. We need to build up our membership base in order to show that there is strong community support for a permanent arts centre. We need to establish a Foundation to serve as the hope chest for our 'dream centre' and we need to work very hard on having realistic long and short term sustainability plans in place.