Partners

• Archway Insurance
• Marie-Thérèse Bourgoin
• Jean Coutu (Kim Levesque Côté) pharmacienne propriétaire
• Communauté Rurale de St-André
• Dr André & Rosie St-Onge
• Pat et Lily Durepos
• Société culturelle de St-Basile

• Village de Drummond

• Appareils Godbout Electrique
• Gilles Laforest
• Kadam
• Liverty Tax
• Gagnon Ornemental
• Guy O'Reagan
• Anne Daneault
• Hill Top Restaurant
• Dr Lyne Lavoie Dufour
• Mc Clure Toyota
• Sticky Master
• Crystal Flooring
• Denise Lagacé Rioux
• Benoit Morin
• Dr Sylvie sénéchal
• Agence de ponnes de terre
• Miguel Gagnon
• Marcel Ouellette
• Janet Toner
• Atlantic Super Store
• Pro Vending

• Ronald Lapointe
• Centre Floral
• Dr Serge Abud
• Pierre Morin
• Laminage Francine
• Home Hardware
• Tpner Chevrolet
• Guildor Lavoie
• Jeannette Martin
• Fernande Malenfant
• Eve Bouchard
• Marie-Ange Gagnon
• Pierre Sénéchal
• Gagnon Crushing
• Tina Lagacé Rivard
• Patricia Cyr
• Thérèse Sénéchal
• Rino Durepos
• Ar,amde Neaulieu
• Claude Gagné
• Maurice Rivard
• Jacinthe Soucy
• Monic Michaud
• Gaétane Roussel
• Silvie Cyr
• Carole Bourgoin
• Marlene
• Julien Cyr
• Germain Belzile
• Raymonde Belzile

November 2019

Dear Sir/Madam

The 22^nd Symposium will be held at the Rodeway Inn (Près-du-Lac) from April 29^th to May 4^th  2020. It is through your support that we are able to hold this event. We are very cognizant of the support you give us and in order to continue working together to develop our cultural community, we have developed several plans for our sponsors.

Option 1 – Gold Sponsor

For every donation of $500, you will receive an original painting from a participating artist. The value of the painting exceeds this amount. Along with your receipt, you will receive an invitation for 2 people to attend our wine and cheese plus a 2020 calendar prepared by regional artists.

Option 2 – Supporter of the Arts

For a donation of $200, you will receive the most recently framed lithograph. With your receipt, you will also receive a 2020 calendar prepared by regional artists and free participation in our LOTTO for the month of May2020.

Option 3

A 2020 lithograph of international artist Eddy Dion entitled “If we were going to walk” at $50 each or 2 for $80. A framed copy will cost $100, taxes included. You will also receive a free half and half ticket, and a 2020 calendar prepared by regional artists. 

We are aware that the arts and culture are at the base of all civilization which is why we are proud of this event and want to keep it in our beautiful region. The Symposium has become a cultural event of great importance throughout the province, thanks to its educational value.

We wish to sincerely thank you in advance for taking time from your busy schedule to read this letter and are most grateful for you’re doing so. The lithograph is displayed at the Caisse Populaire La Vallée de l’Érable.

Sincerely,

Danielle Bergeron
Founder and General Manager

Dear artists
Ladies and gentlemen
 
It is an honour for me to have this privilege to speak to you about the importance of art in our region. It has been 12 years since this event has unfolded and is underlined by the arrival of spring. This is the best present we can receive at this time of the year. Your presence, dear artists, brings us the sun in your paintings, in our hearts, and the warmth of your presence is a special stamp that gives us the taste to live and understand what each of your works teaches us. To make us see what is beautiful, big in all these fabulous paintings.
 
This event has grown every year, the need is there to develop and awaken the talents of our region. Art is an immense wealth of our history, our heritage experience, and for the youngest who have access to this culture, through this event is a treasure in itself, and in addition to publicize our environment. The importance of being able to promote and awaken the culture of art in our region is an extraordinary achievement. Now, people understand the greatness, value and richness of this culture.
 
I remember very especially the first time you arrived in our region, it was so wonderful, it was an extraordinary and unforgettable experience, a beautiful dream that is repeated every year and how rewarding.
We could not fully understand everything that took place in our little corner of the country, and I can assure you that the wealth, the awakening to this culture by your presence and your extraordinary talents had an immense impact in the development of the arts of our youth, and the artists of our region. For me, it is a collection of beautiful and good memories. We do not forget the artists who came and come back every year; it's just wonderful. This symposium is an honourable event and worthy of all the talent in this room here tonight.
 
Every year, artists, who care about the interests of our local artists and young people, give training courses. The schools are visited and the young generation is given basic courses, and here are some of these young people who will later become great artists following these initiations they will have received from these devoted artists, to make known the wealth and the beauty of a painting that always has a story in itself.
 
This level of culture is the wealth of our heritage. We are so blessed to have the chance to enjoy and live an event of this magnitude and also enriching every year. It is an event that has a very important impact on the cultural level and also on the economic impact of our region and much more. To awaken talent that certainly without this incredible chance to have the opportunity to participate and see all these artists at work, gives the poorest the chance to amaze, awaken, and seduce the artist in itself, and develop a talent to make a career.
 
To learn all the mediums, the techniques, the arrangement of the colours, the design and how many others, it is quite a chance to have you among us and to be able to visualize all these techniques.
 
We have people from all over the country visiting us during this symposium. Everyone benefits in one way or another from the richness that surrounds us.
 
This activity requires a lot of effort. Mrs. Danielle Bergeron, a founder who, as an artist, has seen the need to develop this culture and wealth so that young people can take over and that local artists have the opportunity to grow and improve their knowledge and skills as well as their talents.
 
Many business people are aware and understand very well the importance of this symposium, especially in terms of the economic impact on our region. Every year, these business people contribute their support and efforts to make this activity a success that is always remarkable.
 
It should not be forgotten that the members of the board of directors who, over the years, supported the event by their attendance at meetings and other tasks towards the smooth running of the activity.
 
Let's not forget the importance and the economic impact that this event brings to our region; it is an inestimable wealth.
 
To each of you, spend an extraordinary week in the company of our artists who will amaze you and seduce you with their talents.
 
Looking forward to sharing this special week with each of you. Good evening and good week and hoping that Mother Nature is favourable to us. Thank you!

Arts Symposium May 2, 2012

Good evening and welcome to Grand Falls and our Symposium,

I say at our Symposium... because it takes a multitude of people to get there.

I see that the audience is mainly composed of artists and donours.

Let me first address the artists. You create this event by inviting us to enter your creative world. For you, it's networking and exchanging, it's about talking about yourselves and your paintings - giving credibility to your work. Selling your own salad is not a natural activity for you, however, we, the common people, it is through your explanations that you open our minds and beautify our world. The diversity of talents here tonight goes hand in hand with the variety of artists from elsewhere and from home who have chosen to seduce us with their creativity.

Why do we have to support the arts financially? I feel like I am preaching to the converted! If you are here, it is because you believe in it. Generosity never goes one way. Every donation, no matter how much, plays an important role in promoting and supporting the arts - Donating to culture is the Gift of Culture. It is about encouraging, promoting and supporting the artistic and cultural life and this mission can be achieved only through our collective efforts.

The job creation and the monetary impact created by the arts are enormous. It says that it is an economic force that generates for every dollar invested, three dollars of income. This kind of ingot, we know it, we can count it. What culture brings in identity, because of life, enthusiasm, social cohesion and education, is a thousand times more important and not counted. It shows, but is not counted in figures, income and expenses. Culture moves us forward, it moves humanity forward and makes us better human beings. Culture takes people to do it, to create it, but it also takes an enlightened public to support it, to love it, to understand it, to participate in it, to enjoy it - and for that, I thank you for being here and believening in it.

Cities can have an industrial park, a shopping center with several shops, that's not what will give it its identity. These are among others, the artistic and cultural projects that will give a particular face to a city, which will give it its identity, its own personality. And in these cities, it is sometimes enough to inspire a single person, or a small group, to successfully mobilize the entire village in an artistic project, such as our symposium. Thanks to Danielle Bergeron and her team.

We are solicited on both sides for sports activities, which we all support without question. We know the importance of integrating sport into the school environment, its value and the social recognition of sports performance. I am of the opinion that cultural practice should benefit from the same considerations. I do not suggest replacing physical culture with hours of culture. It's one and the other - a healthy mind in a healthy body. But, we must also deal with the spirit. The taste for culture does not fall from the sky; it is grown every day. Curiosity and the taste of the unknown and discovery are not innate - it takes stimuli. Not all young people who paint will become artists, but one thing is certain: they will remain attentive to cultural life all their lives. The Symposium gives young and up-and-coming artists the chance to take advantage of the reviews of master painters.

We are proud of our culture and the arts should be seen as a treasure, a natural resource, a common good that everyone must help, financially or otherwise, to develop, promote and protect.