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ECAH is a grant and donation funded non-profit! Your contribution goes directly toward helping provide low-barrier, accessible arts opportunities to our community.

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December 20, 2023

Hello artists, art lovers, and our ECAH community. My name is Laura-Beth, and I’m the founder of the Esquimalt Community Arts Hub. I know this letter comes at a time when many of us face financial strains due to inflation and post-COVID stress, and the need for international humanitarian aid is absolutely critical.

2023 was a big year for us at the arts hub. We added a part-time Program Coordinator to offer monthly workshops and events, and recently completed a two-year project at the Trackside Art Gallery. We produced our 4th Urban Arts Tour, launched a professional development series for artists and collaborated with the UVic Pro Bono Students Society. We hired three seasonal interns this summer and launched a joint walking tour program with the Chamber and Farmers Market. We were also reclassified by the BC Arts Council as a “professional” visual arts organization and added two new additions to our Board of Directors. 

Yet despite achieving all this and more, ECAH currently does not have the financial capacity to continue past early 2024. We’ve tried to maximize every dollar of funding, donations, membership fees and scraps of alternative revenue we can muster up, but we are still unable to secure any operating funds. 

Our whole team is committed to solving our funding issues, but we can’t do it alone. The reality is that we need to raise $15,000 in unrestricted funds throughout 2024.  

If we’re unable to secure additional funding and resources, these are just some of the programs that our community with no longer have access to: 

  • Free craft workshops like at the Esquimalt Farmers Market, Ribfest, Family day, flower pounding, drop-in craft days, take home kits and many more 

  • Supplemented opportunities like our Giving Tuesday initiative that provided 5 no cost spaces for participants in a soap-making workshop 

  • Workshops like our Hallow’s Eve pumpkin carving, frame loom weaving, grimoire making, planter box making 

  • Arts advocacy efforts through ArtsBC and other provincial bodies 

  • Our rotating Driftwood gallery wall featuring artists such as: Jesse Ladret, BOXCARSIX, Logan Langham, Kristen Carleton, Paul Fenger and others 

  • The annual East West Mural Fest, Mural Bootcamp and paid opportunities for artists at the Trackside Paint Jam  

  • The Urban Arts Tour 

  • Experience Esquimalt Tours 

  • The Breakfast Club series 

  • The UVic Pro Bono Students program 

  • ECAH’s Canada Summer Jobs program for emerging arts professionals 

Here’s how you can help: 

  • Make a one-time or monthly cash donation to the arts hub https://www.ecah.ca/donate 

  • Buy or renew your ECAH membership

  • Provide in-kind goods or services. Some ideas include:

    • Volunteer to teach a workshop

    • Donate craft supplies

    • Provide coffee, tea or snacks for our events

    • Provide free space for events and workshops

  • Volunteer on our fundraising committee - email laurabeth@ecah.ca to join 

  • Host your own fundraiser 

  • Help us with corporate sponsorship

    • Is your business looking for ways to give back to the community, in exchange for some high-visibility marketing?

    • Do you know businesses who might be?

  • Tell us how ECAH has impacted you and your community! Community letters of support are invaluable to helping us secure grants and sponsorships - email us at hello@ecah.ca

Thank you for your ongoing support of arts and culture in Esquimalt.

Laura-Beth McDonald
laurabeth@ecah.ca
(604) 999-8427

The ECAH Impact

Powered by Volunteers

ECAH is a volunteer run organization. Our Board of Directors contributes 3-5 hours per month towards governance, oversight of operations and volunteering.

We are so grateful to all of our volunteers for their work in the community.

Giving Art Experiences

Studies show that being creative and experiencing creativity is a key component of human wellbeing. Art allows us to assume different perspectives, increases our emotional intelligence and activates neurological pathways.

Viewing art and creating art is likened to meditation as the body produces dopamine in similar ways.

Access & Inclusion

No one should be excluded from our programming because of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, disability or otherwise.

Through our values, board, partnerships and priorities, we’re creating a brave space where racialized, Queer, Indigenous people, people with disabilities and other equity-seeking groups feel heard and seen through the visual arts.

 

$140,000

BACK TO ARTISTS,

FACILITATORS

& ARTS PROFESSIONALS

Since 2020 we’ve contributed over $140,000 to our local economy through artwork sales, gift shop sales, facilitator fees, muralist fees, honoraria and staff wages paid to arts administrators.

Contribute to ECAH.
Give how you can.

To make ECAH a sustainable and future-proof arts hub, we can't do it alone. We need helpers, community-creators, bridge-builders, word-spreaders, elbow-grease-lenders and especially, you.  

ECAH is a non-profit and powered by a volunteer Board of Directors. We are funded through a private donation and local grants, but we need community support to ensure our doors stay open for years to come. 

We are asking for your time, your social network and your financial investment. 

Two pairs of feet standing on sidewalk, next to text that says "Passion led us here"

Leverage Your Network

Cost: Time, around 10 minutes

Paid advertising costs us money that could otherwise go towards providing no and low-cost programs directly to artists and community members.

Do you have a great rolodex? Or maybe a large online following? Please consider giving ECAH a gift of your time by leveraging your social network.

Here’s how to contribute:

  1. SHARE our eNewsletter sign up form with your friends

  2. LIKE our Facebook page

  3. LIKE our Instagram page

  4. Consider SHARING any of our social media posts to your own page

  5. INVITE your friends to any of our events, classes or workshops

Volunteer and Share your Skills

Cost: Time, a few hours

ECAH remains a primarily volunteer-run organization, and reinvests a lot of money back into the community.

Do you have some spare time? Or maybe a technical skill we could use? Please consider giving ECAH the gift of your time and labour.

  1. VOLUNTEER through one of our open opportunities

  2. Become a DIRECTOR on our Board

Help us Recruit Strategic Partners

Cost: Time, several or more hours

We are looking for corporate sponsors that share our organizational values. Sponsors allow ECAH to invest in capital projects and expand our programming.

Do you work for a local business? Or maybe you’re connected to business leaders? Please consider setting up an introductory meeting.

  1. INTRODUCE ECAH to potential sponsors

  2. CONNECT ECAH with stakeholders and partners or other collaborative groups

  3. Make an IN-KIND DONATION to ECAH