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Cambrian College's Open Studio leaving downtown, moving to Barrydowne campus

College hopes change will bring more traffic, as well as cost savings
270318_OpenStudio_Cambrian
Five years after opening, Cambrian College's Open Studio is moving out of the downtown and relocating to the college's Barrydowne Road campus. (Supplied)

Five years after opening, Cambrian College's Open Studio is moving out of the downtown and relocating to the college's Barrydowne Road campus.

Cambrian hopes to have it up and running again on campus by the fall semester. The studio will remain open downtown until the end of May.

Low traffic at the current gallery, especially for student exhibits, is part of the reason for the move, said college spokesperson Dan Lessard. Attendance at Open Studio exhibits has been as low as 20 and as high as 200.

“So when we looked at all those factors, it was more sustainable to have the Open Studio relocated back here,” Lessard said.

“We're going to save on some of the costs, like rent and running the space. It's going to be easier for students to go back and forth from their classrooms to the actual exhibition space.

“We think by having it here where you have a built-in audience of a few thousand students and staff and faculty at any given time, we'll actually be able to get more traffic than what we actually had downtown.”

The part-time studio co-ordinator position is also being eliminated, although that job cut is something that will debated during upcoming budget deliberations.

That means if there's community exhibits, there won't be a dedicated Cambrian staffer working to put those shows together. Student exhibits are already curated by faculty members.

In case you'd like to check out Open Studio before it moves from its current location, it is holding a Collage Party from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 31.

“Join us with very special guest artist Sydney Rose for an afternoon of cutting, clipping, tearing, folding, pasting and any other descriptor to create paper collage,” said a description on a Facebook page set up for the event.

“Sydney will show us the tools of the trade, her favourite scissors and paper media and will even bring some of her collage works for display.”

Admission to the event is free.

For now, at least, Open Studio is located at 93 Cedar St., unit 303.
 


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Heidi Ulrichsen

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