Common Weal Community Arts Inc., in partnership with the North Central Community Association, is hosting an Artist in Residence for one year, starting in September of 2008. The Artist in Residence, Gordon Keewatin, will spend 50% of the allotted time responding to the community's needs for development in the arts and for the remainder of the time, will pursue his/ her own independent art practice.
The purpose of this Artist in Residence program is to create new opportunities for the community of North Central Regina that will help facilitate, encourage and increase artistic and cultural involvement, development, diversity and identity. The Artist in Residence will use community art as a tool for social development and to share the collective voice and stories of community members.
The community that the Residency project will focus on will be the North Central area of Regina. North Central is an area with a high level of individuals and families (47%) who are considered to be low income. Half of all of the properties are rental properties and there is a lot of movement in the neighbourhood. A large percentage of the community members are Aboriginal. In the past few years, this area has been discriminated, targeted and was recently deemed Canada's Worst Neighbourhood by MacLean's Magazine. What aren't properly represented are the community's involvement, diversity, and cultural history of this community. The North Central Community Organization being one such facility. By working together with the community of North Central Regina to enhance the quality of life by representing, promoting, developing partnerships and unifying the community and its image through effective communication, programs and services, this agency has become the representation of the strength of the community.
