Why would the Kaatza Art Group be promoting a calendar which doesn’t feature any of their artwork? Because they love their community and feel it is undervalued.
The idea for the calendar came from a one-time government grant made available through Arts and Culture.
“It was a very strange series of events,” comments Kaatza Art Group president, Loretta Puckrin. “One of the originally targeted communities on the mainland was unable to achieve their goals. This left some funding that had to be distributed. Because of our close relationship with the Cowichan Valley Arts Council we became eligible for a portion of the funding.”
Between the federal funding and the local sponsorship there will be enough funds to create a minimum of 1,000 calendars which will be distributed free of charge to residents.
“This funding is very important to an expensive project like a full-colour local calendar,” stated Pauline Thompson, treasurer of the Kaatza Art Group.
“So many of the not-for-profit organizations are asking our small business base for financial support that they can’t give very much to any specific project.”
The calendar will feature photographs of the local area shot by local people.
“The idea is to celebrate the wonderful views and the creative efforts of the people. It is amazing how many great photographers and captivating scenes we have for a smaller community,” explained Puckrin.
This year there won’t be prizes for the winning photographs, as the Kaatza Art Group is putting all the funds into calendar production costs. The judging, assembly and distribution will all be done on a volunteer basis. Every winning photograph will be credited and a copy of the calendar will be given to those 13 lucky photographers.
If you want to be sure you get all the calendars you want you can order extra copies (at a cost of $5 each) before Nov. 7.
All special orders have to be pre-paid. It would be a great gift at Christmas for family out of town, for those parties where you need to bring a small gift or simply to send to contacts who might be encouraged to visit our town.
Submit your entries (no entry fee) by emailing photographs to Loretta@puckrin.com. Please put the word ‘calendar’ in the subject line. You can start sending your submissions right now, and the closing date is Oct. 31, so get yours in before Halloween! The winners will be notified by Nov. 7 and the final calendars are expected by Dec. 10.
“We invite everyone to enjoy the calendars and show them off to all your friends, family and visitors,’ concluded Puckrin. “If the community agrees that this is a good project, we will undertake to do a calendar every year. What better way to celebrate our little bit of paradise?”
–submitted by Kaatza Art Group
