Dear Councillor Buck,
I'd like to share this report with you from the Ontario
Government about the economic impact of the arts. There were many reasons that
the Town of Aurora should have been more encouraging of the August Jazz Plus
Festival. One of them was pure economics. Restaurateurs, taxi's, musicians,
music stores, bars, Go Transit etc. all lost revenue from that weekend now that
it is no longer here.
Saddest of all is the fact that a group of volunteers
dreamed this up, passionately developed it and then had the rug pulled out from
under them. The reasons Council used to justify it held no merit. It is
unconscionable that Town Council acted so callously to citizens who were
enriching our town life. You all had an opportunity to stand beside them,
embrace them and share in the glow of a successful resident sponsored event and
instead you put up roadblocks. In my opinion you've seriously drained your
political collateral on this issue when you could have leveraged it for the
positive event that it was. Your loss and the Town's.
I'd like to think that as citizen groups come forward in
future with ideas to enrich life in Aurora you'll now appreciate the valuable
asset they are to the town. They will bring ideas like new Tennis courts,
sports fields, cultural centres, festivals, tournaments, runathons, trails etc.
to Council and I'd like to see you welcome them and their enthusiasm for
donating their time enriching civic life. Unfortunately, the elected Town
Council is often an unwelcoming place for citizens to look for support.
*****************
Good Morning....
Thank you for your perspective on this
issue. You will not be surprised to realise it is not
shared.
Aurora has been a welcoming place for arts
and culture long before your pet project presented
itself.
The Optimist and Rotary Clubs are witness
to their intentions .
We have a different understanding of
"volunteers" .
For they are the Aurora group, who
provide the community with the magic of the theatre and compete successfully with theatre
groups throughout Ontario and created a gem of a theatre out of a shabby
little factory building provided to them by the town.
They are the Arts group who created a
first class adjudicated annual art show in very short order. It has continued
to grow in excellence for fifty years with support from the town for all of that time.
They aehe Pine Tree Pottery who got their start in space for kilns provided for them by the town.
They are the passionate users and supporters of
excellence in library services who encouraged the town to provide first class
facilities. Many cultural opportunities are offered at the library as part of their
mandate.
They are members of the Optimists and
Rotary and other service clubs who commit to the betterment of the community
and regard giving instead of taking ,as the meaning of volunteering.
Mr. ... I have committed many years of my
life in service to the community and I am extremely glad to have had the
opportunity.
I am well aware of what constitutes an
attractive quality of life.
Over the years, the town has consistently
enjoyed an influx of people choosing Aurora as the place to raise their
families because of how they perceived it . The ultimate would be to live and
work in the same place and not have to spend hours and a good part of one's
income going someplace else to work.
The people you so admire are not seen in
the same light by others including myself.
While I do not detect hostility in your
communication it is certainly not short of criticism.
I am not inclined to accept that. You are
not as well-informed as you think you are.
When the Ontario government puts out a
report on economic advantages of tourism, literally dozens of centres,
including Toronto. Ottawa . Niagara, Stratford . Elora, Elmira and a host natural areas like
Georgian Bay come to mind. All have spectacular attributes necessary to lure
tourism .
To speak of Aurora in the same category is
to indulge oneself in fantasy.
I am not so inclined and I am not inclined
to accept a lecture from yourself.
Have a great day. It will not come again.
8 comments:
A well deserved Whack at that critic. Everyone is heartily sick of talk about the Jazz Group. And we may not be done with them yet. Last year, Sher did not decide until March to hold that event. They are waiting & hoping no other outfit applies and will then pounce. This was made very clear in Councillor Gaertner's many comments last night trying to make sure that " fencing " did not get vetoed. " They really want that annual cash in-flow. Which, by the way, does not flow into the rest of the town as all food and product is confined behind the fencing.
In other words.... "Piss off. I know about culture and the St. Kitts are not it."
11:27 AM
I was wondering about that. She kept trying to narrow a general discussion down to the issue of fencing. Then glancing out for approval to her left.
Rather than lean on Councillor Buck as the person to blame for the demise of the festival, first ask the other councillors why they supported MS. Bucks initiative for other groups to bid for the same weekend. Ask the mayor. If the Jazzfest is as professional as it claims to be, why didn't the principals of the event address the mayor and council, and present their ideas for 2013 to council as requested, rather than use negative press to outline their intentions. Ask the vendors that don't support the dynamic duo anymore. Ask the volunteers that worked with the St. Kitts directly and why they don't help anymore. Ask the many folks that have attended in the past but say they probably wouldn't return. Get the whole story before you attack Councillor Buck.
Thank you, 12:14 PM. You can do good work.
It takes a majority of council to pass a by-law or to make a change so yes Anonymous 12:14 you are certainly right. And not to say the Aurora festival had it’s good moments but the negatives seemed to outweigh the positives. And yes, where was the Aurora Festival of Arts (the apparent group running the event)?
Now the event has been moved to Newmarket (still to be finalized & approved I believe) and there is now the “Arts Music Festivals York Region” another non-profit organization that will apparently run this event. The common thread though is Sher St. Kitts, she’s the face and persona behind the Jazz+ Festival. She stated that the Newmarket Festival “is new and not just the Aurora festival moved across the border” and yet their Newmarket jazz logo is just a copy of the same one they have used for Aurora and the Arts Music Festivals York Region logo is the same as Aurora Festival of the Arts except for a new dancer in the York logo. Perhaps it easier to do so and less costly. But I would have thought that you’d want to have a clean start. (And similar to the past, The Arts Music Festivals York Region website directly and blatantly advertises the St. Kitts Music company – read their “About” tab at the AMFYR site).
So what else will be the same and what will be different? (perhaps all the controversy will now just be shifted north). And where is the Aurora Festival of the Arts now? Where is the accounting from that non-profit?
My point – good luck to Newmarket with the “new” festival and the “new” Arts Music Festivals York Region. Time will tell if it is a smooth success but I think they should keep their eyes open as history can repeat itself. So Newmarket you are forewarned: “buyer beware”.
"Aurora festival had it’s good moments but the negatives seemed to outweigh the positives."
I agree. We don't need more political divisiveness in this town !
We have to learn from the past council term, be thankful for the current council term and move on.
7:53 AM....
Are you kidding? No really... are you kidding?
This council is as divided as the previous ones... nothing is changed.
I'll say it again... are you kidding?
Post a Comment