Station Arts Centre focuses on local artists, artisans
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Follow the arrows directly into Station Arts Centre where you will discover local artists and artisans in Tillsonburg.
Since reopening after a COVID-19 shutdown, a limited number of programs have been offered and more people have been rediscovering the galleries.
“It was a slow and steady start, and since then it’s been picking up,” said Tabitha Verbuyst, program and community co-ordinator and gallery curator at 41 Bridge St. West. “We’re getting a lot more people that are really taking to the ‘shop locally’ and supporting the local artists and artisans.”
Station Arts Centre has been operating a few children’s programs that have also grown in attendance as summer nears its end.
“We’re looking at running a few afternoon programs for the week of Sept. 8 because all schools in the area have been pushed back until, I think, the 14th. So we will be doing one extended week of children’s programming.”
They are also working on new adult programs with safety protocols in place. Class sizes will be smaller with heightened sanitizing. The plan is to launch them by October.
“It will be less (adult) programs this year. I would say we will probably have about 10 programs that we will be running from October to December. We’re looking at doing a few intro classes, probably focusing on workshops that will be a little easier to do.”
Other programs will be coming back when it is safe to do so.
Station Arts Centre has also been forging forward with its artisan gift shop sales.
“We’ve really been focusing a lot – even during the COVID shutdown – on supporting and highlighting our artists and artisans in the gallery space,” said Verbuyst. “We’ve been in close contact with them when they’ve been bringing in more and more work. We are actually working towards an online format as well to do online shopping. We’re hoping to launch it by mid September.
“We have noticed more people coming in due to the fact that they don’t want to do big day trips anymore, so a lot of people are shopping locally for any kind of home decor and artisan wares. The Farmers Market that runs on Saturdays is very popular and is also helping bring more and more people into the gallery space.”
cabbott@postmedia.com
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