Brush with Art - Press/Media

By Martin De Groot

The second annual Brush with Art campaign kicks off next week.

Starting Saturday and throughout the whole month of April, volunteers will be canvassing K-W neighbourhoods, workplaces and businesses asking for donations in exchange for high-quality house paint brushes, paint kits and other gift packages.

Brush with Art is a grass roots fund-raising initiative dedicated to raising awareness of the visual arts in our area.

The original inspiration came from Aggie Beynon.

Angered and frustrated by the never-ending, up-and-down cycle of public support for artists and arts organizations, she decided it was time to do something about the situation.

The result is an original K-W enterprise that has become a phenomenal success story. Over 150 volunteers got involved in last year's drive. Their efforts harvested a total of $75,962 in campaign revenues and in-kind donations.

There was enough money to:

Pay for product and cover expenses for both the 1999 and the 2000 campaigns.
Give the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery $14,500 each
Set aside the sum of $5,000 to establish the first-ever Visual Arts Endowment Fund, which will be managed by the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

The endowment will take a few years to build up. The aim is to create a permanent source of funding for "individuals, groups or organizations that make a measurable contribution to the K-W visual arts community."

Why this special attention to the visual arts? A life-long personal interest, to begin with. Beynon is a prominent figure in local arts circles; she is known as the managing partner of Waterloo's Harbinger Gallery.

Part of the original motivation was the fact that the general support system for the visual arts is not as well developed as it is in some other branches of the arts.

The K-W Community Foundation, for instance, has some well-established, special-funding programs related to music and to literary endeavours, but there has never been a visual arts equivalent--until now.

A growing sense of confidence in the strength and vitality of the visual arts in this community is also part of the picture here. Beynon is particularly pleased with the new directions at the K-W Art Gallery and the Canadian Clay and Glass under its new director.

As Kitchener artist Kathryn Forler explains, speaking as a charter member of the Brush with Art organizing team, part of the purpose is to "up the momentum" set by local visual arts success stories such as Art Works! and the Globe Studios expansion.

Brush with Art has now become a major contributing force in its own right to that growing confidence and that rising momentum.

It is one of the many indications we have seen of late that the cultural life of this community is reaching a new level of maturity.

It is exciting to watch this happen.

And the word is getting around. People are beginning to pay attention to what is going on here.

They are certainly taking note of Brush with Art.

Community Foundations Canada has selected the project to represent this area for its national Our Millennium initiative. You might have seen Aggie Beynon herself in that TV commercial with Dan Aykroyd that is currently running to promote "getting together and giving together."

Brush with Art has been getting so many calls from all across the country that there's talk of putting together some kind of information package for those who are interested in starting something similar in other communities.

This year's campaign has a few new features, most notably a line of corporate gift baskets generously provided by Vincenzo's of Belmont Village (I do mean generous: Vincenzo's handles all aspects -- design, assembly, distribution, the whole works -- and Brush with Art receives all proceeds).

There's also a new option of contributing the cost of a paint kit to have it donated in your name to a charity such as Habitat for Humanity, Anselma House or Globe Studios.

Brush with Art has attracted balanced support from Kitchener and from Waterloo, from individuals and from businesses, from artists and from the community-at-large.

A special kind of harmony seems to have developed among participants at all levels: there's a sense of pride, of ownership, and of genuine affection among them.

One of the most attractive features of this remarkable community enterprise is that there are so many different ways of getting involved--buying a brush or a gift package, pledging money or services, or working as a volunteer. Every bit helps.

Even just a $5 donation for a brush or an hour or two of your time.

If you're interested in finding out more, there's a pre-campaign, kick -off party at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m.

Drop by, bring a friend, join the celebration. And, if the spirit moves you, enter the circle and lend a hand. For more information about Thursday's party or about getting involved in the campaign, call JoAnne Kittrel, 463-9636 (evenings only) or Doreen Brisbin 745-5294.

For more information about Brush with Art, contact the Harbinger Gallery, 22 Dupont St. E., Waterloo. Phone: 747-4644. Fax: 747-4063. E-mail: BrushwithArt@TSMnet.org

Martin DeGroot is co-host of Monday Night With the Arts on CKWR-FM 98.5 (Mondays at 7:30 p.m.). He comments on arts and culture Tuesdays in The Record. You can reach him by e-mail at: mdg@golden.net

Brush with Art stroke of genius