More funding for Canada 150 events in Prince George

The City of Prince George has partnered with the Prince George Community Foundation to support community events celebrating Canada’s 150th.

“The announcement today was about the Community Foundation grants that were given out in partnership with the City of Prince George,” Mayor Lyn Hall said at a community announcement this morning. “We created a partnership so we could leverage more 150th grant dollars and this is also an initiative by the Community Foundations of Canada. Good news for a number of organizations today.”

The Community Foundation is providing $25,000, which the City has matched.

“Total amount of granting was $50,000 and it will be used by individual organizations to promote their organizations and bring festivities to the city. It could be anything from festivals to culture and the arts – there’s a wide variety of organizations receiving those funds.”

Supported events include Volunteer Prince George’s yearlong volunteer challenge, a Lheidli T’enneh First nation Art Gallery in partnership with Exploration Place and a snow and ice sculpture celebration set for February 12.

The Prince George Public library will be hosting an Adult Summer Reading Club featuring books that explore what it means to be Canadian. Two Rivers Gallery is presenting a 10 week exhibition of BC artists and Huble Homestead will feature an exhibit exploring how and why Canadians have traditionally celebrated Confederation.

There will be a Young Canadian Music Festival in October hosted by the Community Arts Council, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and the Prince George Conservatory of Music. In November, the Prince George chapter of the Alpine Club of Canada will host a 2 week festival celebrating Canadian climbing history.

Hall says the support of volunteers and community groups is what makes initiatives like this possible.

“It builds on what we’ve talked about for a year and a half – on the legacy of the 2015 Canada Winter Games legacy and what they did for the city. We just saw that as a stepping stone for opportunities for organizations to provide entertainment to the community.”