The ACS has obtained another exclusive from the office of Mayor Doug McCallum: City of Surrey. The ACS is proud that he has selected both the SPOTLIGHT on the ARTS Newsmag and our website to address the Surrey Arts & Culture communities.

The start of each New Year is always a time of optimism and renewal. While we may be working through the challenges of the pandemic right now, better days are ahead. Your City is working hard to support the arts today and build toward an even more robust and diverse cultural sector for the future.

Did you know the United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development? Surrey’s Sustainability Charter has long recognized the importance of the arts as a foundation to sustainability and our community’s resiliency. Our City actively supports and helps develop cultural organizations and projects through the cultural grants – a program which has been critical for the survival of many organizations through this pandemic. Our civic arts and heritage institutions and programs are award winning, and make our City a place attractive to businesses, tourists as well as residents. And our City understands that investments into new cultural infrastructure is transformative and a catalyst to the economy. In 2021, we will launch community consultation into the development of the new Newton Community Centre including its cultural amenities, realize a new community ceramics studio located in Crescent Park and begin work to build a facility to support Indigenous carving. Many, many more cultural spaces are in our capital plans for upcoming years.

The City of Surrey is pleased to celebrate the outstanding achievements of artists as part of our new Civic Distinction Awards program. Congratulations to author and community organizer, Fauzia Rafique for her award recognizing her contribution to the Literary Arts. The long-term service of Carol Seitz as a dance educator and choreographer was recognized with an award for Performing Arts. Long time Surrey residents, Robert Michener and Ann Nelson, were recognized for their lifetime achievement in visual arts, and their paintings expressing the natural landscape.

Surrey is honoured to be home to many creative people and cultural organizations that are run by dedicated volunteers. The City of Surrey recognizes the benefits they collectively provide to both the health and well being of our residents, as well as the contributions they make to our City’s economy. We have much to be grateful for and 2021 will be a year for us to build a beautiful City that values the arts and heritage.