Living Local Arts Grants for Community Leagues - Act Soon!

Have a hankering for art in your community?

Have you always wanted to do an arts or heritage project in your Community League? You can see it now, a sculpture, an art mural, a young musicians workshop/performance or how about a series of historic photos that tell the story of your community's history?

Examples of qualifying projects:

• an event (festival, community celebration)

• artwork (mural, book, video, musical recording)

• interpretive presentation (exhibit, interpretive program, publication, performance)

The Living Local 2011 Neighbourhood Arts and Heritage Grants will provide up to $20,000 towards your project.

All you need to do is hook up with an artist/writer/musician in your community, write up your project and apply!

John Mahon, Executive Direct of the Edmonton Arts Council explaining the Community League Arts and Heritage grants program at the Riverdale Community League on Monday, Sept. 26. Photo Allan Shute, Riverdale Community League.

Here's the deal: 

1. The artist must reside in the Community League where the project is to take place
2. Up to $20,000 is available to be matched with 1/3 from the league (for a $30,000 project) – you can do smaller projects, but 1/3 of the money comes from the league
3. You must host a community event to share, celebrate or launch the arts or heritage project
4. Application deadline is November 18 - decisions will be made by December 12 and projects must be completed by June 30

There is $80,000 available for matching from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Heritage Council. 

So find yourself an artist, get that idea down on paper – and who knows you could be sprucing up your community with an incredible arts or heritage project!

For more information and project
application forms, visit:
www.edmontonheritage.ca  www.edmontonarts.ca  Or contact:
David Ridley, Program Manager
Edmonton Heritage Council
livinglocal@edmontonheritage.ca
780.429.0166 ext. 232

Community League Day photos from Balwin, Belvedere, Kilkenny, McLeod, Steele Heights, Lago Lindo and Rosslyn

Community League Day was a big success all across the City with more than 101 community leagues hosting unique events all across Edmonton. The event kicked off Thursday with the world's largest crocket game. Mayor Mandel and a others joined in as we played crocket through 154 signs featuring the names of all 154 community leagues in Edmonton.
The idea was to drive the message home that community leagues are everywhere and very active in Edmonton!


Once the day arrived,  the highlight for me was Rosslyn's 50th Anniversary event held at Rosslyn Hall Saturday, Sep. 17th. The theme was 1961, after the year the community league was formed. There was dinner, reminiscing, music of the '60s and best of all some very creative outfits allegedly from the 1960s!
The MC was Barb Schmidt, the daughter of long-time Rosslyn volunteer Olive Sydor.
There were past presidents of both Rosslyn and the EFCL in attendance! Bill Marshall is both a part present of Rosslyn Community League and the EFCL.
Here are just a few photos from the event, including one of Greg Hilker, the current president of Rosslyn Community League and Bill Marshall a past president.

For me the day ended by celebrating with Rosslyn, but rewind the clock back to Saturday morning and that's when more than 101 Community League Day events kicked off all across Edmonton, Alberta. The Edmonton Journal headline was No Dalmatians, but 101 events planned Saturday across Edmonton.
The Journal also took special note of Steele Height in Edmonton's north end: Steele Heights celebrates survival on citywide community 

league day
The Edmonton Examiner advises readers to check back their print edition and website on Sept. 21 for coverage.

Then I went on a whorl wind tour of EFCL District B community leagues. Here are a few photos from Community League Day in District B.



I started at Balwin Community League's show and shine, an event that invited local and other car owners to come and show their stuff. Organizer Les De Zwaan was pleased with the turn-out and and had a few favorites among the vintage cars.
Belvedere Community League held their annula free BBQ and fun day for the kids with face painting, balloon art, free food and, most popular with residents, half price memberships for one day only! I ran into Mike Kelparchuk and Lisa and they were very pleased with their event.
Kilkenny held a safety fair and had free food and lots of fun activities for kids. They had a big turn-out including Councillor Dave Loken who stopped in to bring greetings.
McLeod Community League decided to jump on board with their own Community League Day event at the last minute with hay rides through McLeod Park, entertainment by the Sounds of Country band, jumpy arenas, popcorn and more. In spite of the late organization, folks turned out in good numbers! I managed to catch up with two past presidents Del Golinoski and Lionel Stenberg and June Golinoski and Ken Baker and many others.
Steele Heights planned a fun soccer parents-kids soccer game, had a huge jumpy arena and featured some local businesses and artisans at their event. They raised a little money for the "raise the roof" initiative to fix their hall.
My last stop was Lago Lindo up in the northwest forner of EFCL District B. They had their first ever fall celebration and corn roast featuring jumpy arenas, kids activities, good food and a great setting to come and hang out with folks in the community on a fall afternoon.
Great job everyone on your events!
See you soon.

News - Sep. 8 EFCL Board Meeting and RGM

Hello District B Communities:

I hope everyone is ready for Community League Day Saturday, September 17. More than 100 leagues are hosting events all over Edmonton.

Here are the District B events we know about:

• Balwin Show and Shine - Bring your ride and show your pride. 10am - 3 pm.
• Belevdere BBQ - free to all residents who purchase their membership this Saturday (half price memberships this Saturday only). Features Big Bin drop off, face painting, balloon artists from 12 - 3 pm.
• Kilkenny Safety Fair and BBQ - Free food, prizes, safety guest speakers, games, fun for the whole family. 11 am - 3 pm.
• Lago Lindo 1st Family Fall Festival - jumpy arenas, corn roast, BBQ, and more. 12 - 4 pm.
• Rosslyn Party in the Park 50th Anniversary - Sept. 16 meet and greet at 7 pm - Sep. 17 BBQ, sports, entertainment 12 - 4 pm and Sixties theme dinner and dance 5:30 pm until late - Sep. 18 pancake breakfast 10 am - noon.
• Steele Heights Fun Soccer and Fundraiser - kids vs parents soccer game form 10:30 am - noon and a "raise the roof" Community Market Fundraiser form 10 - 4 pm to raise money and awareness about much needed renovations. 

Evansdale held their Community League Day event on Sep. 10, a very successful sports and program registration along with horse-drawn wagon rides, jumpy arenas and free food!

News from the September 8 Board Meeting

Download the September 8 EFCL Board Package.

I did send a short report around prior to the Sep. 8th board meeting. Here is a short report on two items from the meeting itself.

6.4 Multiplex Recreation Strategy - The EFCL is forming a committee with three board members, two planning committee members and two members from the membership to discuss how community leagues think recreation facilities should be developed in the future. The City has committed to a number multiplex centres already - does this mean we will not see smaller, more neighbourhood developments at all? Does this mean some smaller facilities will close? What would really help communities "live local?" For example what about the idea of smaller covered rinks in communities that could extend and improve the skating season and also be used for summer events and farmer's markets. Lot's to chew on here. We will be looking for a few more committee members at the EFCL RGM on October 4 at Glenora Community League 10426 - 136 Street - free dinner at 5:30 pm

6.5 Community Sustainability Report - The EFCL board approved the Mature Neighbourhoods Sustainability Report. The report was produced by the planning committee and numerous meetings were held to seek input. It makes 30 recommendations designed to sustain and maintain mature neighbourhoods.

There is much more in the board package.

Regular General Meeting Agenda

You should have received the agenda and notice for the EFCL Regular General Meeting. Aside from this being a good opportunity to get together with leagues from all over the city and enjoy dinner together the membership will be discussing a few topics of interest. 

EFCL Membership Fee Increase - The EFCL Board is recommending an increase fees from 1.8% to 2.0% and to remove the $500 cap on membership fees for the Community League members of the EFCL. 

The money would be used to fund half of a new community league support program to assist presidents, treasurers, secretaries, facility managers, program directors - all of the key players in the league - to help them learn new skills, network with other leagues and develop workshops on things like filling out grant applications, strategic planning and bylaw improvements. Sessions we have hosted in the past were very popular. 

The board is proposing to fund the program with $22,000 from the increased membership fees, by finding cost savings of $8,000 at the EFCL and by asking the City to match our $30,000 with another $30,000.

Asking for a fee increase is obviously touchy thiing at the best of times. But the board felt the time was right since most leagues just now receiving a dramatic increase in their operating grants. 

Operating grants were increased an average of 44% this year and we are requesting another similar increase for next year. It was council that split our original request over two years.

Here is a chart showing how much league operating grants have increased in District B and how much their membership fees would increase from the proposal.

Since the cap is being removed the fee increase will affect bigger leagues who have more residents and larger operating grants more than leagues fewer numbers.

On average leagues are receiving an increase in operating grants of 44%. But as you can see some of the larger leagues benefit more than smaller leagues from the grant increases. The board is proposing that the price cap on membership fees be lifted which means larger leagues will pay an amount proportional to the number of residents they have in their area. CLICK ON GRAPH TO ENLAGE.

You can download the RGM agenda package and in the package there is a table listing the actual fee increases for all leagues. For example my own community leagues fees will go up $380 because our community league contains three neighbourhoods. However our operating grant went up $8,481 this year too. Leagues will decide and come and vote on October 4th at the EFCL RGM.

Online Membership Cards - the second item of interest that will come up at the RGM is a proposal to issue membership cards for the memberships sold online. A lot of leagues have asked for this and a lot of members have asked for this. Often when people buy membership online it's because they are having trouble getting in touch with their league and they are literally on their way to a sports registration. Getting the card and their membership number right away would be helpful for them. Each membership sold online would also include a message about the EFCL and about their community league. Most of the leagues in district B sell most of their own memberships at events and sports registrations so this will not affect us very much. But it would be more convenient for new members. Members will be asked to vote on this proposal at the RGM.

There is much more happening at the RGM as well, come out and participate!

Enjoy your Community League Day events!

Evansdale's early Community League Day

Hi District B Community Leagues

Saturday was an amazing Community League Day for Evansdale Community League.

Aside from the 25 C temperatures, for the second year running Evansdale combined soccer and program registrations with free jumpy arenas, horse-drawn wagon rides and free hot dogs and refreshments for anyone who came. More is better as Evansdale is learning. By combining soccer, Tae Kwon Do, belly dance and basketball registrations with the Community League Day party, numbers appear to be up in all corners. Evansdale holds its Community League Day celebrations on the second Saturday of September because sports registrations have been planned for that date years in advance. This means we miss the official community league day, but nevertheless it was a very good day!

Check out the photos: Evansdale Community League Day slideshow

Next week the official Community League Day swings into action as more than 100 leagues host events across Edmonton. The official kick-off is Thursday at 10 am at the EFCL offices as we engage the Mayor and some councillors in an out-sized game of crocket through a course consisting of 154 community league signs.

I have the honour of attending Rosslyn's 50th Anniversary Party on Saturday, September 17, but will be attending other events during the day. 

Good luck with your events!

EFCL Sep. 8 Board Package Get it now!

Hi District B Folks,

Sorry for the short notes, but it's late and I am just back from a very enjoyable long weekend! Here is a link to a page where you can download the EFCL Board Package for September 8, 2011. It's the first one on the list.

EFCL Board Package

It was a busy summer for the EFCL. The EFCL hosted meetings with three of the leadership candidates running to lead Alberta's Conservative Party: Alison Redford, Gary Mar and Ted Morton. Our goal was to discuss community issues with the leadership candidates, one of which will be the next Premier of Alberta. It was a worthwhile exercise, although we only met with three candidates.

6.1 (pg. 5) Community League Day is fast approaching - check out all of the leagues that have registered their events with the EFCL by scanned the Community League Day map here: 

6.2 (pgs. 6-8) Our Regular General Meeting is fast approaching - a draft agenda appears in this board package.

6.4 (pg. 10) MultiPlex Recreation Strategy - the EFCL and community leagues can summarize a lot of what we care about  under the banner of "living local" but what does this mean for large recreation complexes and how does this affect our community leagues, our facilities, our programs and our ability to maintain strong interest in our communities. The board will undoubtedly recommend setting up a committee to wrestle with these issues in the context of discussing large multiplex facilities. What about community-based facilities? Should be interesting! If you are interested please provide input too!

6.5 (pg. 11) Community Sustainability Report - the ERCL completed it's draft report on the sustainability of mature neighbourhoods and this has been submitted to the Mayor's Task Force on Community Sustainability. We invited members to workshops and our staff planner, Bev Zubot and the planning committee put a great deal of work into this. It's worth a look if you are interested in the sustainability of mature neighbourhoods. See the board package.

8.2 (pgs. 14-20) 2012 Budget Submission: The EFCL made its annual budget submission to the City of Edmonton. Last year we asked for $3 million for community league capital projects and another $1.3 million in operational funding. As you may recall this request was split over too years by City Council. Last year Council provided $1.5 million for capital projects and $668,000 in increases for operating grants. This year we resubmitted our request for a second increase of $668,000 in operational funds and $1.5 million in capital funding.  If successful this would mean another increase in operating funds for leagues and more money available for badly needed capital projects and upgrades. 

We also put a request in for what we are calling our Community League Growth Initiative. The goal is to provide more specifically training for community leagues executives. We think this will help leagues make the most our of their limited volunteer labour and to do more exciting programs for leagues.

That's just a few highlights from the September EFCL board package.

If you have any comments, questions or input please let me know!

This week I will be meeting with the Policy Chief on Tuesday and we have our regular EFCL Board Meeting on Thursday.