By Teresa Wouters
Grande Prairie’s Centre for Creative Arts (CFCA) is generating new life into the art world with its new director, Marco Keller.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Marco moved to Grande Prairie sixteen years ago. As the newest director since July 12th, Marco has brought diverse business experience. With part of his background being in hospitality management, Marco likes “to think of the center like a hotel in that all the studios need to be rented out. If a day goes by and a studio isn’t being used, that’s lost revenue.” As an artist, Marco discovered CFCA after attending a pottery class and, like many local artists, he’s been involved with the center ever since.
Looking forward to how the Centre for Creative Arts can grow as an active hub for Grande Prairie Arts and events, Marco says, “I believe that the center has a lot of potential. The first issue is that a lot of people don’t know that the Centre for Create Arts exists, so it’s a work in progress to get the word out. We have art classes, parties, events, team building workshops, and we also have studios to rent. We had a birthday party and a shower just last weekend.” With new hours of the CFCA being open seven days a week, there is always something going on including monthly gallery shows, drop-in programs, cultural events, spring break and summer camps, and even wine and craft nights. There are plenty of rental rooms available for the public, schools, and non-profit organizations. Some programs include day programs for home school students, Friday art openings, and the reactivation of the Healing Arts Program Initiative (H.A.P.I.) for non-profit organizations’ clients. “If this place is full and busy all the time, it has some amazing potential.”
Upcoming November classes include sculpture, drawing for kids, and acrylic and oil painting.
For events, the Friday of every month is an Art opening; the next one is November 6th with four local artists. On the same day, there will be an open house where the public can meet the new board members.
A Christmas sale will happen from November 29th until December 23rd.
Check out the website to find out more about classes and monthly events: https://creativecentre.ca/.
