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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.
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.
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:
SHARE our eNewsletter sign up form with your friends
LIKE our Facebook page
LIKE our Instagram page
Consider SHARING any of our social media posts to your own page
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.
VOLUNTEER through one of our open opportunities
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.
INTRODUCE ECAH to potential sponsors
CONNECT ECAH with stakeholders and partners or other collaborative groups
Make an IN-KIND DONATION to ECAH