The Haliburton Highlands Arts Centre Foundation is pleased to announce that it has been successful in its LIP (Local Initiatives Program) funding application with the Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC).  Thanks to this funding, the HHACF will be moving ahead with the next phase of its research project.  It has engaged Melissa Johnston to produce a final synthesized report out of the Needs Assessment Reports (NARs) developed by students of Sir Sanford Fleming College (Lindsay campus) in partnership with ULinks Centre for Community Based Research out of Minden.

Melissa Johnston, a highly-recommended independent research consultant with experience in projects based in Haliburton County, will review and validate the information presented in the NARs.  Where there are gaps, she will supplement with her own research, which will include interviews with stakeholders within the arts community.  She will also be performing a high level evaluation of some potential or speculative sites for a future arts centre.

Her report is due by the end of October, 2020 and, so long as findings agree, will provide material, context and data to support the next phases of research, fundraising and community support.

The HHACF would also like to announce that it was not successful in this round of the SEED grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.  The foundation received valuable feedback on its application and looks forward to reapplying in 2021.

After a leave of absence, Brent Wootton has decided to resign from the board of the HHACF effective January 2020. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Brent for his leadership and experience as a founding board member. He was instrumental in establishing our first set of bylaws and brought much inspiration and insight through his work with Fleming College. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours.

We are pleased to announce that Michael Clipperton has decided to join the board effective February 2020. Michael brings a wealth of experience to the HHACF via his career in arts and education. In addition to sitting on boards of various organizations in Haliburton and Simcoe counties, Michael is a director, playwright, producer, university lecturer, and workshop leader. He also brings with him previous experience in arts centre development.

Research has begun for the HHACF and feasibility of building an arts centre in Haliburton County. U-Links Centre for Community Based Research, headquartered in Minden, ON, accepted our application for research. In this, it had paired the foundation up with Fleming College and a graduate class out of their Frost Campus in Lindsay, ON. The entire class of students from the Advanced Environmental Planning Case Studies course (ENVR 122) will prepare a Needs Assessment Report for the HHACF. Subjects covered will include:

• state of the arts in Haliburton County

• comparative case studies with similar arts facilities

• land requirements, in-town vs out-of-town placement

• facility design needs - facility size, functional features

• infrastructure needs - storm and waste water management, parking and traffic requirements, green and renewable energy features

• provincial and municipal permit requirements, zoning

• recommendations and next steps

We’re very excited about this research as it will be the first step in focusing the scope of the project. From here, the HHACF will be able to make informed decisions on subjects for more in-depth research.

The report is slated to be completed in March with a Celebration of Research happening on Saturday March 28th from 1-4pm at the Minden Hills Community Centre. All are welcome to attend. This report will also be made public and available via U-Link’s website.