Eltuek exhibition celebrates student artists amid cuts to school arts programs

SYDNEY, N.S. — A new pop-up exhibition at Eltuek Arts Centre celebrates the creativity of young artists while highlighting the school programs that made their work possible — programs now facing elimination due to recent provincial funding cuts.

Still Unfolding, Art in Schools opens Friday, March 13 and features a film created by students at Sydney Academy through the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s ArtsSmarts Program.

Inspired by the work of Helen Hill and her filmmaking resource Recipes for Disaster, students worked with filmmaker Nelson MacDonald to create their own unique and expressive animations using direct-to-film techniques. With acrylic ink, markers, scratching tools, and storytelling, they transformed 16 mm film into one-of-a-kind animation.

“Celluloid film isn’t exactly ancient technology, but none of the students had ever seen a film projected before I showed up in class with a 16-mm projector,” said MacDonald, an award-winning Cape Breton artist whose films have screened nationally and internationally and whose film Edges is on permanent display at Eltuek Arts Centre.

“With a little guidance from their teachers, the students dove straight in and started scratching, drawing and painting directly onto film. To think one of them might someday return to celluloid filmmaking or animation is a real thrill.”

The ArtsSmarts Program — supported by Arts Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education — has had its provincial funding eliminated by the recent budget cuts to government grants.

Artists in Schools, a 20-year-old program connecting professional artists with classrooms across the province, will also disappear as a result of the cuts, which include a 30 percent reduction in operating grants to arts organizations. Other eliminated programs include Artists in Communities, the Nova Scotia Art Bank, and Equity Funding for individual artists.

“These losses disproportionately affect young and emerging and BIPOC artists,” said Mel Kearney, Curator at Eltuek Arts Centre. “The impact is both immediate and long-term: students lose access to professional arts mentorship, communities miss meaningful engagement with the arts, and artists face drastically reduced avenues for income, visibility, and career growth.”

Running from March 13 to April 11, Still Unfolding, Art in Schools offers the public an opportunity to experience the creative work produced through these programs — and to reflect on what may be lost as funding disappears.

“The gallery looks beautiful with student work — vibrant, colourful, full of energy,” Kearney said. “Students need access to arts programming as they grow. And there are no better guides for that journey than our artists, storytellers, singers, and makers.”

In Unama’ki–Cape Breton — a region shaped by Mi’kmaw culture, newcomer cultures, and the many traditions that continue to thrive and take root — arts education plays a critical role in helping young people find their voices and connect with one another.

“The arts in schools are not a luxury,” Kearney said. “They are places where young people learn to see, to speak, and to give form to what they feel and imagine. They help sustain the cultural life of a community.”

When resources grow too lean, protecting creative space becomes an act of faith in what is still unfolding, and in the voices of young people already shaping the stories of this place. While the funding cuts pose serious challenges, Eltuek Arts Centre maintains its commitment to the resilient and vibrant creative community in the region.

“Here at Eltuek, we are heartbroken, but we remain committed to supporting the artists and communities of Unama’ki, Cape Breton. We will continue to adapt, sustain artistic growth, and nurture the community that so many people have worked hard to build,” said Kearney.

Still Unfolding, Art in Schools, like all exhibitions and arts programming at Eltuek Arts Centre, is free and open to the public. All are welcome. Gallery 203 is open Monday through Friday, 9am-4pm and Saturdays from 9am-3pm. Evenings and weekends on request.

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EXHIBITION DETAILS:

ABOUT ELTUEK ARTS CENTRE

Eltuek Arts Centre opened in February 2020 in the former Holy Angels Convent, ca. 1885. New Dawn Enterprises purchased it in 2013, and the 130-year-old heritage building is the largest adaptive reuse of built heritage in Unama’ki, Cape Breton Island.

Eltuek (el·du·ehg) is a Mi’kmaw word that means “We are making (it) together.” The (it) refers to whatever it is (we) decide to make – a meal, a conversation, a painting, or a poem. Art, community, social change. We do it together. The name, Eltuek, was shared by the Eltuek Elder Advisors, with the intent that Eltuek Arts Centre is accessible, inclusive, and continuous.

Eltuek Arts Centre is an artist-led creative arts hub in North End Sydney that features private artist studios, an Open Studio for shared artist workspaces, gallery and exhibition space, Cafe Marie and Meals on Wheels, arts and community organizations, and creative gathering and event spaces for the community.

Eltuek Arts Centre is a non-profit arts organization that is owned and operated by New Dawn Enterprises. New Dawn is a private, not-for-profit, volunteer-directed social enterprise dedicated to community building. We are the oldest Community Development Corporation in Canada and a founding member of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network. Our Mission, to engage the community to create a culture of self-reliance, is as relevant today as it was when the organization was founded back in 1976.