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AlgomaTrad trying to raise $300,000 through crowdfunding campaign (6 photos)

Money will help leverage grants of $2.5 million needed to build the AlgomaTrad Centre

NEWS RELEASE
ALGOMATRAD
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ALGOMA – AlgomaTrad is preparing for an exciting and critical next step in its journey to build the AlgomaTrad Centre, an environmentally sustainable, year-round home for the celebration, learning, and sharing of traditional music, dance, and heritage arts on St. Joseph Island. AlgomaTrad must raise $300,000 In order to leverage grants of $2.5million for this ambitious project. To accomplish this, AlgomaTrad is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Saturday, Dec. 5 at Fundrazr.com/AlgomaTradGrows.

“AlgomaTrad Grows!” will help raise the necessary funds to transform the facility by: winterizing buildings; adding a new kitchen large enough to host foods workshops year round; building a signature hall for hosting workshops, performances, dances, and events throughout the year; and improving the facility for accessibility. By leveraging pending provincial and federal grant money, every $1,000 raised in the campaign can help secure up to $9,000 in contingent grant money, making this an extraordinary opportunity. A compelling video to support the campaign will be released online at Fundrazr.com/AlgomatradGrows and will run until Jan. 9, 2021. More detailed information about the project can also be found on the organization website

Since 2004, AlgomaTrad has partnered with arts organizations, local schools and municipalities, and First Nations communities to provide over 300 programs, workshops, dances, festivals, and camps throughout the Algoma district. “We have seen the power of people joining together in a welcoming community of dance, music, and craft,” says artistic director Julie Schryer. “We have long envisioned establishing a place where more people can have that experience.”

In 2016, AlgomaTrad and its supporters acquired the 50-acre, former Algoma Music Camp property on St. Joseph Island to develop the Centre. AlgomaTrad has created a business plan and design drawings for a $3 million renovation and upgrade of the infrastructure. Recent site improvements include a large timber frame pavilion built with a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation as well as financial support and muscle from over 100 volunteers.  “It is an incredibly magical space,” says co-founder Pat O’Gorman, “and we want to create more of that magic. We want to build a destination in northern Ontario for this kind of multi-generational and inspirational learning, sharing, and celebration.”

The annual AlgomaTrad Family Camp brings local, provincial, national, and international musicians, artists, and students to the area. Cate Sandstrom travels yearly from New York to St. Joseph Island to attend the annual Family Camp.  “A whole new world has been opened up for me at AlgomaTrad,” she says.  “It’s been amazing — life changing,” declared Sylvia Trembley from London, Ont. Babu Marcuse, who traveled from Paris, France to attend the camp in 2019, shared his experience, “Discovering this level of engagement around folk music was a very unique experience for me. The joy of arts, the dancing, the music, the scenery — I had never seen anything like that in one beautiful place.”

Julie Schryer and Patrick O’Gorman, founders and Artistic Directors of AlgomaTrad, each bring over 40 years of involvement in Canadian traditional music as performers, teachers, recording artists, and festival organizers. They are passionately committed to promoting and preserving traditional music and dance, heritage craft, sustainable agriculture, and environmental health, as well as building supportive and strengthened community based on these principles. “We invite everyone to join us in being part of this community-built project,” say Julie and Pat.

Besides being a beautiful place where both the local community and visitors to St. Joseph Island can immerse themselves in hands-on learning and cultural events and programs, the Centre will benefit the Island and Central Algoma Region through tourism, local employment, support for local farms and businesses, and will be a catalyst for new arts entrepreneurship on the island.

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