It takes the whole community to ensure it’s survival and according to community development expert Ken Blackburn, that includes the arts.

Blackburn is the executive director of the Campbell River Arts Council and was contracted by B.C. Assembly of Arts Councils to deliver workshops in 10 communities around the province, including Quesnel.

He met with various members of the Quesnel and District Community Arts Council Saturday to discuss how the arts fits in with strategies for community survival.

“If you want to know about survival, talk to an artist,” Blackburn said.

Although the workshops were designed and mapped out before the current economic challenges came into play, Blackburn said now is the perfect time to deliver the message to arts groups.

“In these tough times, resources are impacted and what tends to happen is there is a spike in social issues, people are out of work and stressed, family dynamics change and new tensions surface, there’s usually a spike in social violence as well,” he said.

“It requires a multidimensional partnership in the community.

“The arts is a valuable partner in dealing with these issues.”

He said Quesnel is very similar to

Campbell River.

“We’re also resource based and are finding more and more younger, vibrant seniors choosing to retire in our community,” he said.

“They want activities, and many are very talented.

“But the arts also serve early childhood development, developmentally challenged and play a positive role with social agencies.”

He went on to say the arts are a great engagement tool in working with many different issues.

“We’re working with health care providers with stroke victims and have a new program with head-injury society and possibly with John Howard Society,” he said.

“These are just

examples of how

arts thinking has shifted.”

He said many people once thought arts were frill or fringe activities in the community, but now the arts are recognized, more and more, as an integral part of a community’s health.

But the arts community needs to reach out to the other elements, like business, industry and local government to promote the important role it can play and how it fits with overall community planning, Blackburn said.

“There’s all sorts of statistics on the value of the arts contribution,” he said.

“The community needs to understand the arts’ role.”

Blackburn said it’s also very important for the arts community to be aware of the funding dynamics in today’s market and to know what resources are out there and who’s doing what.

“We need to look into what we can do with community organizations in their various missions,” he said.

And in a resource-based community, arts groups need to partner with industry, they bring the resources, but artists bring the creative thinking, Blackburn added.

“It takes creative thinking to survive and artists are used to thinking outside the box,” he said.

“We need to start discussions with government, business,

social organizations and

service clubs in order to find where the arts can fit into a solution.”

But in the course of this process, Blackburn cautioned the arts community not to become frustrated. Education is very important in helping people make connections and find solutions.

“Talk to city council, service clubs and business and make the connections for them on the value of arts in a partnership,” he said.

“Many are unaware of the arts community and the benefits of partnering with it.”

Quesnel and District Arts Council past president Bernice Heinzelman was very pleased to have the workshop in Quesnel.

“I was delighted to have Ken facilitate this workshop and we’ll be following up by developing goals and building on the partnerships we already have,’ she said.