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Arts & Culture: A review of the local arts scene in 2022

Artists continued to be challenged by the pandemic over the past year, but there were plenty of twists and turns in the Greater Sudburyu arts and culture scene over the past year

On a stage set by the pandemic, Greater Sudbury's 2022 arts scene had more twists and turns, ups and downs than a whodunit play.

The year started with a winter of discontent. While families were still taking down their holiday decorations, the province announced the renewal of strict COVID-19 restrictions. For artists, it was a good time to stay home and work on their projects, but social gatherings were restricted to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors. Schools returned to remote learning. Attractions, restaurants and bars were closed for the month with slow reopening’s starting in February. The city's state of emergency, declared in April 2020, was lifted in March.

After 75 years and due to declining membership, the Kiwanis Club of Sudbury could no longer sponsor its legendary annual music festival and dedicated supporters developed a new festival to showcase the talents of young musicians. Sudbury Music Festival was born in February. While the 2022 music festival was held virtually, the 2023 Sudbury Music Festival will be held live in front of adjudicators and an audience from March 25 to April 5. 

Registrations are open until Jan. 31. Click here to register

In March, Sudbury Theatre Centre's artistic director John McHenry, who had navigated the theatre through troubled waters while it was battling a large accumulated debt since 2018, tweeted he was leaving with the simple phrase, "Exit stage left." 

His contract was not renewed. The theatre centre, shuttered for most of 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, was forced to cancel the final production of the 2021-2022 season. Later in the spring, the theatre centre board announced it had worked out an agreement with YES Theatre about merging its operations. There was controversy about how the agreement was reached with little community consultation, but in the end, all's well that ends well. 

YES is building a new and younger audience for live theatre. McHenry moved to St. Catharines where he is the communications director for the Niagara Symphony Orchestra.

The best news of the year was the grand opening of Place des Arts at the end of April. Seven Francophone organizations worked together to bring to fruition this ambitious $30-million project with its state-of-the-art performance centre, art gallery and offices. 

Designed by a consortium of Yallowega Bélanger Salach Architecture and Moriyama & Teshima, and located at Larch and Elgin streets, Place des Arts was selected by the Ontario Association of Architects for this year’s Queen’s Park Picks exhibit program.

The City of Greater Sudbury named a new poet laureate in May. Kyla Heyming is a bilingual Levack/Onaping poet and author. “For Those I Have Loved,” her first poetry collection, was published by HARP Publishing

During her two-year term, Heyming plans to host workshops and events devoted to the writing of poetry. She said she plans to inspire the community to read, recite and write poetry. 

In June, the future of the Art Gallery of Sudbury (AGS) made headlines. Its ties to financially troubled Laurentian University cast a shadow on the future of its art collection and the gallery building. To be or not to be?

An agreement was reached to allow the art gallery to continue to operate out of the Bell Mansion, which is owned by the university, until 2025.

The Bell Mansion is valued at $1.3 million. According to court documents published June 17 by Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz, the university will be free to sell Bell Mansion once the gallery has moved into its new home at Junction East on Shaughnessy Street in 2024.

As part of the agreement, AGS "agreed as part of the settlement that it does not own the art and, for all purposes, that it does not own or does not have any property interest or similar type of interest in the art collection and the BA McDonald Funds."

The university agreed to give the AGS 90 days notice if it intends to sell any part of the collection.

Sudbury music lovers rejoiced at the return of Northern Lights Festival Boréal in July. The festival had been cancelled for two years. This year, the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Sudbury’s Up Here urban and emerging art festival took place downtown from Aug. 19 to 21. Now in its eighth year, Up Here artists have created more than 60 pieces of public art in and around downtown Sudbury. The 2022 festival celebrated Indigenous art. Anong Migwans Beam from Manitoulin Island was the guest curator for this year’s festival. The 2023 festival will be held from Aug 18-20.

In September, Jazz Sudbury took advantage of the city's new performance space and moved the festival from Bell Park to Place des Arts. The lineup featured Alex Cuba, a Grammy and Juno award-winner. Other top entertainers who performed in Sudbury in 2022 included legendary folk singer Judy Collins (July 10 at Northern Lights Festival Boréal) Canadian rocker Brian Adams (Oct. 17 at Sudbury Arena) and folk singer Murray McLauchlan (Nov. 4 at Fraser Auditorium).

In October, the Sudbury Arts Council hosted Rendezvous North, a two-day arts conference that attracted participants from throughout northeastern Ontario. It was held at the McEwen School of Architecture. The keynote speaker was Juno-award winning singer Crystal Shawanda. The singer with Manitoulin Island roots talked about her path to success. 

Ground was broken for the Refettorio stage project in November. YES Theatre plans to turn a vacant lot on Durham Street into an outdoor theatre with 180 seats to host an annual summer festival. The province gave YES $750,000 to kick-start the project. 

A news release from YES said, "With plans to open next summer, this marks quite a revolutionary theatrical milestone in the city. As exemplified by the recent opening of the Place des Arts, bolstered programming at the Sudbury Theatre Centre, a renewed focus on new work with Pat the Dog and more, professional theatre in Sudbury is undergoing a renaissance.”

In December, the season of giving, City of Greater Sudbury announced its arts and culture grant program had provided support for 32 local organizations with a total of $559,288 in funding or about $3.50 per citizen. 

Grants included:

  • Carrefour francophone de Sudbury $54,000
  • Cinéfest Sudbury $52,000
  • Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario $35,000
  • Jazz Sudbury,$30,000
  • Le Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury $34,000
  • Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario $55,000
  • Northern Lights Festival Boréal $45,000
  • Sudbury Indie Cinema, $11,500
  • Sudbury Symphony Orchestra $25,500
  • Sudbury Theatre Centre $32,000
  • YES Theatre  $22,000
  • Sudbury Arts Council $5,000
  • Sudbury Multicultural & Folk Arts Association $10,500
  • Sudbury Performance Group $10,000
  • Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival $10,000

Applications for the 2023 Arts and Culture Grant program are now open with applications due by Feb. 9, 2023.

Vicki Gilhula is a freelance writer and president of the Sudbury Arts Council. Arts & Culture is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.