Inaugural Winner of 'Our Park' Community Art Grant Activated Ada MacKenzie Park
The York Region Arts Council in partnership with Markham Public art selected artist Zoe Kwan, as the inaugural ‘Our Park Grant’. Our Park is a new funding program conceived and funded by Markham Public Art, and managed jointly by the York Region Arts Council, to incubate local community arts initiatives.
Zoe’s project, Carnival of the Arts, was presented in Ada MacKenzie Park in Markham on Saturday, June 24th, 2023, to rave reviews.
“Carnival of the Arts is a site-specific dance festival that aims to immerse individuals into an evening of arts,” Zoe explained. “A music workshop will open the festival and then we will premiere four original works that have been created specifically for this project.” Working in collaboration with Melissa Bettio (choreographer), Sheldon De Souza (Rhythm Works workshop/pre-show performance), Alex Purcell (musician) and Norman Than (Qi Gong expert), Zoe’s unique vision was a welcome addition to the Markham cultural landscape.
Our Park grant aims to provide funding to Markham-based professional artists, arts organizations, artist collectives, and non-profit organizations to create and present free arts programming in selected parks located in Markham. For the inaugural edition, the selection panel members include Allyson Adley (Education and Community Engagement Coordinator, Art Gallery of York University) Erika Hennebury (Senior Cultural Affairs Officer, City of Toronto), and Ilana Shamoon (Deputy Director & Director of Programs, Toronto Biennial of Art).
MARKHAM RESIDENTS – We want your input to create this “Our Park” project together. Please complete this survey to include your feedback. It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions please contact Monica del Rio Pain, Program Curator, York Region Arts Council monica@yorkregionartscouncil.com