Arts and Culture in Rural Communities

Culture and leisure are one of the eight domains of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing.  How we spend our time and pursue a variety of interests directly impacts how we view our quality of life.  Arts and culture can look different across the urban-rural divide but either way, the impacts from it can ripple across the other seven domains and help rural communities stretch their resources while still improving life for their neighbours.  On July 29, Green Hectares is hosting another Big Exchange Roundtable to discuss how important arts and culture are in a rural community and how we can support these organizations to create a unique identity around rural culture.   Our conversation leaders are Peter Smith of the Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity and Paul Muir the Executive Director of the Rosebud School of the Arts and the Rosebud Theatre.

Peter Smith is the executive and creative director of the Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity (CCRC). Based in the Village of Blyth, Ontario, Canada, the CCRC is an independent research centre and an environment for rural experiment.  By building a strong rural voice the Centre offers creative solutions while contributing to a sustainable world in the 21st century. The CCRC produces a Rural Talks to Rural Conference biannually. It is a gathering that brings rural innovators from across Canada, the States and Europe to share adaptable ideas for action.

An award-winning writer, Peter has been an artist for the past 30 years and has worked coast to coast to coast in Canada as an actor, director, writer, and producer. As artistic director of the Blyth Festival on two different occasions, as artistic director of Playwright’s Workshop Montreal and associate artistic director at Canadian Stage, he has been involved in the development and production of stories of all kinds in television, radio, film and theatre. His film Tripping the Wire won a Gemini Award in Canada and a Hugo Award in the United States. His adaptation of the Iliad and Odyssey won a META Award in Montreal.​

Paul Muir has been working in Rosebud as an actor, director, educator, and administrator since 2000, and most of that time has served as Education Director. In January of this year the RSA Board added Executive Director to his plate and is honoured to be trusted to lead Rosebud School of the Arts & Rosebud Theatre out of this pandemic. Before coming to Rosebud, Paul was a freelance actor & director working professionally in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Chemainus, & Toronto. Paul holds an bachelor’s degree from the University of Alberta and a Master of Fine Arts from York University. He was also thrilled to serve as artist in residence in 2014 at Trinity Western University.
 
Paul is passionate about the transformative potential of storytelling, and strives to pass that passion on to the students he works with. In his new role as ED, Paul is excited to launch transformative methods, models, and ideas into the Rosebud paradigm and help the organization become sustainable for many years to come.

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