#LIVEART: A night of community conversation

CM
CCE SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

On Feb. 11, we hosted our first community event, LIVEART. A meaningful and engaging community conversation about the successes and challenges to organized arts and culture events in the Kitchener-Waterloo area was discussed as community members, students and arts organizers gathered at The Jazz Room.

The event began with Paul Maxwell, owner and founder of Maxwell’s Music House in Uptown Waterloo. He explained the importance of the music community in Waterloo and stressed the idea that we have music, concerts and talent right here in town – no need to make a trip to Toronto to find the music scene. Maxwell noted that we have such a music scene in Waterloo that if you wanted, you could go to a concert almost every night of the week, most weeks of the year. He also announced that Maxwell’s is in the process of developing a new community-music space in Kitchener that will house 800-1000 people, open to a variety of groups to use as a music venue and for community events.

The next portion of the night included a panel discussion with the following panelists:

  • Jason White – Founding Director of the Grand River Jazz Society and pianist for the KItchener-Waterloo symphony
  • Tamara Louks – Executive Director of the Grand River Film Festival
  • Charlotte Armstrong & Ryan Consell – Local cultural event planners (KW Nerd Note & Rock Band Night) and rock stars themselves.
  • Dan Lauckner – Public, community-building event planner under the name KDUB.ca.

The panel discussion focused on the following three questions:

  1. What has inspired you to plan events and be involved on the Waterloo arts sector?
  2. What are some challenges you face organizing events in the tri-city area?
  3. What could be provided to help arts organizations plan and manage events in the area?

Panelists answered the questions, probing into deeper topics that involve our community and arts and culture scene, challenges faced, and opportunities yet to explore.

After the panel discussion, our event keynote speaker, Bob Egan of Blue Rodeo and downton Kitchener’s Bob’s Guitar Service, took the stage and spoke about how to successfully implement an arts culture and events. Bob spoke about the vibrant KW community. A quick Q&A session was held after Bob spoke, with one event attendee asking Bob how he thinks this area measures up in terms of arts and culture as compared to other Canadian cities. Bob replied with this response: “Kitchener-Waterloo is on the cusp of greatness”. Egan talked about two rules to strive towards for success  –  #1: do what you love and love what you do, and #2: relentlessly pursue the perfection of your craft or skill. 

Here’s what some people had to say about the event:

https://twitter.com/NolaSophia/status/301160179611889664

https://twitter.com/B_Sheehan/status/301150657799413760

A big thank you to the Waterloo Arts Collective who co-sponsored the event with us, and The Jazz Room for graciously hosting us.

Stay tuned for information about upcoming events, as well as blog and news articles about arts and culture in Kitchener-Waterloo.