Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.
(Supplied)
Alberta Culture Days

Community art project honours Red Deer’s front line workers

Sep 16, 2020 | 3:22 PM

Central Albertans are encouraged to join local artist Erin Boake over the next two weekends to help in the creation of a community art piece thanking front line workers.

As part of Alberta Culture Days during the month of September, the Red Deer Culture Days and City of Red Deer initiative is free to participate and open to all levels of artistic abilities.

Wendy Meeres, Culture Community Development Coordinator with the City of Red Deer, says physical distancing will be in effect, with sanitizer and masks provided, as well as all art supplies from The City of Red Deer.

“We are inviting the public to come downtown and paint little 5×5 canvasses with hearts on it to thank our front line workers for all that they’ve been doing since COVID started,” explains Meeres. “Once they complete it, we’re going to put it all together in one large piece and it is going to be hung permanently at the Red Deer Regional Hospital.”

There are two dates to choose from: Saturday, Sept. 19 from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at Roland Plaza (4804 50 Avenue) and Saturday, Sept. 26 from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at Imperial Block (4919 49 Street).

“We’ve been doing art projects for Culture Days every year,” says Meeres. “We’ve been doing Culture Days since it started (2008) and every year, The City has an art project for the community to do and I was in other communities seeing lots of hearts there and thanking front line workers and I hadn’t seen a lot of that here in Red Deer. So I just thought, why don’t we make this year’s art – hearts to thank the front line workers!”

Meeres hopes that those who participate feel proud of being part of a community project like this.

“I hope they feel a sense of creative expression, getting to do something playful and fun and realizing that art is for everyone,” says Meeres. “And I hope they (front line workers) know that people realize the risk that they’re putting themselves at, and we realize what they’ve been doing is an essential service and we are very grateful for them.”

According to provincial officials, more than 100,000 Albertans participated in Alberta Culture Days celebrations in 2019, with 55 communities hosting 424 events.

This year, a record 99 organizations received grants from the Alberta government to host online or in-person Alberta Culture Days events throughout September.

Click here for more information.