Relaunch of Caledon Public Library’s “Artful” program puts local creatives in the spotlight

By Zachary Roman

Caledon artists, authors and musicians have an organization to help them promote and showcase their work, free of charge: the library.

Artful Caledon first launched in 2017 as the Caledon Public Library's (CPL) creative platform for the expression of visual, literary and performing arts.

Mary Maw, CPL's Manager of Communications and Community Development, said the initiative was going well — then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Even the pandemic wasn't enough to stop CPL's vision for the program, as Artful Caledon was relaunched in Fall 2021 with a brand-new website that was created in-house.

“There was a great opportunity for us to start really supporting art and culture in Caledon,” said Maw. “...it was a role that we could play.”

Any Caledon resident can be a part of Artful if they have art they want to share or promote.

There's opportunities for creatives of all ages to promote their work in-person and virtually.

“We'd love to shout it from the rooftops, we'd love to share (your work),” said Maw.

Here's how the virtual aspect of Artful works: If a painter became a part of Artful, they'd get a page on ArtfulCaledon.ca dedicated to them, which would showcase some of their paintings and say a bit about them as an artist. If desired, that webpage could include links to the painter's own website or personal Instagram account, for example.

The in-person aspect of Artful has taken many forms and continues to evolve today. An example of an Artful event held in the past saw multiple local authors meet up at the same branch, not only to speak to the public, but to each other as well.

For local visual artists, CPL keeps space available on its library branch walls to showcase their art. When Artful relaunched, art was put on display at branches again and more new art is set to be displayed this spring. Whenever an artists' work is displayed, they get shared on CPL's social media channels.

Maw explained CPL is hoping to start offering art courses and workshops in 2022.

“Pre-COVID, we actually had the ‘Artful Salon' where the artists just came together to meet… to talk about art and techniques and… share with each other,” said Maw. 

“So, we're really looking forward to providing the space for them to do that again.” 

With authors and artists involved in Artful, Maw said the Library looked to the future of the program and thought it would be a great idea to have musicians, and eventually the performing arts, featured.

Music is a part of the Caledon Public Library as it has a musical instrument collection. Guitars, ukuleles and drums are available to be signed out and Maw said it's a great tool for parents whose children may want to try an instrument. This way, the child can do so without a large financial commitment from the parent.

“Pre-COVID, we had something called ‘Music in the Afternoon'… we would invite local musicians in the community to come to a branch and maybe just sit for an hour and play music,” said Maw.

“We do try and have some quiet study space in the libraries, but for an hour we would put a sign up that says ‘it's going to get loud in here'... sort of forewarned our customers, and they loved it… I was actually just speaking to a musician this morning (March 28), he was really excited to get back and do something like that.”

Part of the Library's mission is to give people tools to create, not just consume, said Maw. That's why at two Caledon Library branches, makerspaces are in the process of being made. The Margaret Dunn Valleywood Branch is going to become the Margaret Dunn Valleywood Collaboration studio. It's going to have a small business centre and recording studio. 

The Caledon East Branch is going to become the Caledon East Creativity Studio and feature things like a green screen, sewing machine, and generally cater to the arts and artists. Maw explained the goal is for the makerspaces to not overlap with each other and provide a wide range of services to the community.

The Margaret Dunn makerspace is expected to be complete by the end of this year, while the Caledon East makerspace is expected to be complete by the end of 2023.

Those interested in becoming a part of the Artful initiative can visit the “About” tab on the Artful Caledon website.

“We… envision this website growing. We want to see it filled to capacity with all these very talented people in our community,” said Maw.

“In some ways, we've really only touched the tip of the iceberg. There's so much more we can do and we're just so excited that it's almost like everything is starting to align.”