Gallery puts call out for new members in lead-up to November’s Members’ Show
Winkler Arts and Culture invites you to supper next week.
The Park St. gallery is hosting its Farm to Table fundraising dinner on Thursday, Oct. 23 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Chef Kevin Funk will be whipping up a meal of locally-sourced dishes to celebrate the area’s agricultural roots.
“He sources a lot of his own vegetables from his own garden. He raises his own chickens,” shares gallery executive director Jered Hildebrand of Funk. “And whatever he doesn’t do himself, he knows another person who does. He’s getting it all straight from the source.”
The menu includes blackened tomato soup, pork medallion with apple chutney and roast veggies, pulled beef with sweet potato, honey-glazed carrots, and microgreens, and apple crumble for dessert.
Providing the soundtrack for the evening will be Talladega Gregg, who is a teller of tall tales and a musician with a unique sound.
“It’s a mix between folk and country and his own thing,” Hildebrand says. “He’s a great storyteller and very entertaining to listen to.”
The dinner is a great opportunity for people to enjoy the gallery space while also raising funds for the arts centre’s programming.
“All the money that we ever raise goes right back into programming,” says Hildebrand. “Most of our operational costs are covered through grants or other means, so that means when we do fundraisers it’s to help subsidize the costs of things like our kids programming.
“We are really committed to making sure that our kids programming or any other family-based programming remains affordable, as well as our adult workshops,” he says. “It’s important to us that everybody who wants to can and does participate, rather than us trying to profit off of everything.”
Meal tickets are $75 each or $400 for a table of six and can be purchased at the gallery, by calling 204-325-0578, via email to karina@kb-marketing.com, or online at winklerarts.com.
Also coming up at the gallery in a few weeks is its annual Members’ Show, and Hildebrand stresses that it’s not too late to join as a member and have your artwork on display.
“We do still have some spaces available in the show, so if someone has got something they’ve been working on for the last little bit or even something they’ve finished up in the last year or so that they haven’t shown anywhere yet, we’re happy to be the place for that.”
Anyone can become a WAC member, artist or not.
“It’s another way to show your support of the gallery,” Hildebrand says. “And it gets you access to all the benefits.”
Those benefits include discounts on WAC’s classes and workshops, art supplies at Janzen’s Paint and Decorating, classes at Winkler Clay Works, and purchases at Coffee Culture in Winkler.
“And we are working on partnerships with one or two other arts-based businesses, so there should be a few more [discounts] by the end of the year that will be added on to that,” Hildebrand notes.
For artists, membership also gives you the opportunity to sell items in the gift shop, and, of course, space in the members’ shows.
“That’s where it all started,” Hildebrand says. “Winkler Arts and Culture was not originally an art gallery. We were a group of artists that met frequently just to create, and then they decided to start putting on shows together, all throughout town. And then they had this big dream to create this space here, but it all started with a group of artists. That’s our core.
“So for us to devote one month of the main gallery to that is the least we could do to make sure that there is still space for local artists to show their work, especially those that aren’t necessarily going to be putting on a whole exhibit of their own,” he notes. “There’s a lot of artists that do this as a hobby, that maybe have one or two works a year that they want to share, and this is definitely an opportunity to do so.”
Membership is $30 a year, $20 for students and seniors.
