A couple months ago, Surrey was awarded with the official designation as one of the 2008 Cultural Capitals of Canada. The program, funded by the federal government, granted the City of Surrey $2 million worth of funding to support arts and cultural programs and festivals for the community. Well, now, the City has come up with an outline of how it plans to spend that money, and I was pleasantly surprised for once at the exciting, though quiet and lowkey, announcement. The plan includes:

  • Surrey “Fusion Festival” - a three day multicultural celebration of Surrey’s diversity
  • Six public art projects. One in each of the city’s town centres
  • Green Timbers Forest Interpretation Centre
  • “Harvest the Fun”, an international dance competition featuring Indian, Asian and Western dance
  • “Glocal: Me and My World”, a youth and new media initiative
  • Kla-How-Eya Canoe, a 30-foot traditional Coast Salish canoe and educational program
  • Civic Treasures Award Program, recognizing 12 cultural leaders for their contributions to Surrey’s cultural development
  • Inspired Ideas Speakers Series, a lecture and community dialogue series on art and culture

For more detailed information of each specific event, please visit this site. The City is holding an initial public meeting this Thursday, October 25th from 7pm to 8pm at the Surrey Arts Centre in Bear Creek Park to get your feedback on the proposals. I highly encourage anyone interested, whether you are from Surrey or the larger region, to drop in, or send the city an email, supporting these fantastic initiatives which I’m quite keenly looking forward to. It’s these types of community events and programs which will transform Surrey from it’s rural, suburban roots into an urban metropolis like Vancouver.

Sphere: Related Content