Brush with Art - Press/Media

By Martin De Groot

The first annual Brush with Art campaign, a new fund-raising initiative for the K-W Art Gallery and the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, appears to be off to a good start.

The idea is to collect modest ($3-$5) donations in exchange for high quality house paint brushes, something everyone can use.

There are also $100 gift packages designed for corporate sponsorships.

The timing is right: It's spring, the planting season, a time of new beginnings. The ground-work has been done.

More than $25,000 in seed-money for basic supplies and promotional materials has already been raised.

Germinating some excitement over a new fund-raising effort is no mean feat. But that's what seems to be happening. Volunteers for the project are enthusiastic and primed for action.

And they're spreading the word with a warm evangelical glow.

There can't be a fire without a spark. The ignition factor in this instance is Aggie Beynon, a prominent figure in local arts circles, best known as a managing partner in Waterloo's Harbinger Gallery.

The original inspiration came from the Maritimes, where a coalition of arts groups once ran a fund-raising campaign that involved sending out a pledge package with a free paint brush to local businesses. The message: "Don't brush us off." The phrase stuck in Beynon's mind.

After mulling over possibilities for a number of years, she came up with the Brush with Art plan.

This is not just another charity sales package with a predetermined product line and ready-made promotional material imported from out of town. Brush with Art is an original idea -- a good idea that deserves the fullest support. The emphasis is on partnership between business and the arts.

Part of the purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness, especially in business circles, about how important it is to keep the arts alive.

For instance, a Brush with Art flyer points out that the Mobil Oil Corporation has been running advertisements urging American businesses to support culture because "the arts spark economic development, encourage commercial and real estate projects, foster tourism and attract new business."

Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr says much the same thing in his Brush with Art endorsement message: "Our ability to attract business and skilled workers depends on the quality of life in the region. "This fund-raiser improves our quality of life by protecting our cultural heritage."

In other words, everyone benefits. Which to my mind means that everyone should share the costs.

The danger, of course, is that voluntary fund-raising efforts like this become a substitute for sound public support. The fact is, a campaign like this cannot even come close to restoring the funding that municipal, provincial and federal authorities have taken away from public facilities like the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery and the K-W Art Gallery over the last 10 or 15 years.

That's frustrating.

But you pitch in and do what you can to help -- only to watch Mike Harris running around with his jar full of loonies or Paul Martin beaming proudly over his balance sheet saying "See? That wasn't so hard." With nary a mention of all the work that's being done to keep things from falling apart.

That's galling. Now everyone is talking about what a great economic boon a vibrant arts community can be. It brings in tourists, creates jobs, attracts businesses and raises real estate values.

And that kind of message, without an accompanying call for some firm steps towards restoring a fair level of public support, adds insult to injury. Even corporate donors who give freely while others refuse but gladly share the benefits must get the feeling that they are being used.

There is no indication, however, that this situation is likely to change in the near future. And Beynon may have the right idea about what to do in the meantime.

She talks about how she searched high and low to find just the right paint brushes -- beautiful brushes with fine wooden handles and state-of-the-art double-boiled natural bristles. Hearing her tell the story reminded me of the buying adventures we used to read about in Dave Nichols' original President's Choice reports.

Brush with Art isn't just partnering with business.

It is doing business. In this case, selling paint brushes. Why stop there? What about tooth brushes? And toothpaste? Or natural spring water? Smoked salmon? Flashlights, perhaps? And batteries?

Why not develop a full range of quality products -- an Artists' Choice collection as broad and varied as the private label lines featured in supermarkets, drug stores and hardware chains?

Why not indeed. Down the road in the megacity they'll soon be selling a specially selected municipal beer to raise money for children's water parks. The kind of public, or at least public-spirited, enterprise that Brush with Art represents may well prove to be the way of the future.

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

Brush with Art campaign just the start