Pictou is W(here) artists will be

The Pictou County arts community is moving to the forefront.
Mary MacDonald, Pictou native and MFA candidate at OCAD University in Toronto, has been working over the past few months to make contact with local artists in the area to help them come together and work collaboratively.
MacDonald initially held a ‘speed-dating’ event for local artists in November where they met and discussed needs and issues. She is returning February 16 for a meeting at Carver’s Coffee House to “hear feedback from the local community, workshop and field-trip ideas and answer any questions residents might have,” she says.
She is organizing a W(here) Festival in Pictou County June 26-30 and is working with local artists to provide them with the type of activities and workshops they require to excel in the area.
“I have organized a series of events that will form the base of the W(here) Festival,” she explains. “This includes lots of opportunity for local artist participation, as more opportunity for visibility was identified by local artists, in the form of artistic field trips, two exciting visiting artist projects by Marlene Creates and Sheilah Wilson, a social evening of local artist talks and fingers crossed, an outdoor video drive-in!”
The structure and content of the festival will be quite broad to incorporate all forms of artistry in Pictou County from performance art to painting and everything in between.
“No matter your medium you can participate,” MacDonald says.
Currently, MacDonald has sent out a call for various field trip ideas led by community members and artists.
“This series is entitled Walking in Place: Field Trips in Pictou County and explores local knowledge of home in an active way, which I hope is intriguing to both the artists and the public,” she says.
Thursday’s meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is being used as a means to gather the artistic community and hear feedback and ideas or comments and concerns regarding the festival.
For more information regarding the meeting or to learn about conducting a field trip contact MacDonald at wherefestival@gmail.com or by phone at 647-389-6393.