On October 3 2025, host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by Kate Maddigan, Bruen Black, Amy Robertson, and Genevieve Cruz, for a special group discussion on revenue diversification for rural non-profits. Tune in for talk of circular economies, transportation, a brainstorm on creative revenue solutions, and updates from the Cortes Natural Food Co-op, CCEDA, and the Cortes Housing Society.
Continue reading Folk U: Revenue Diversification for Social Profits
What does it mean to be a neighbour on Cortes Island? This question is at the heart of the new Cortes Island Museum exhibition ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbour?’ curated by Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the museum and Monica Hoffman. Opening Sunday May 4th the exhibit invites visitors on a visual and narrative journey through both the historical and contemporary communities that shaped life on the island.
“The idea of focusing on neighbourhoods came from the prior exhibition, ‘From the Ground Up,” explained Hoffman.
Boyle added, “We did touch on how people work together to build structures, in terms of collaboration. It was also about repurposing material and sharing of resources and, in a way, this is also what this new exhibition is about. Collective land arrangements are a way for people to live affordably on Cortes, to share the land, but also to share the material, resources and work collaboratively. So there’s a lot of overlap.”
Continue reading At The Museum: ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbour’ Exhibit Explores Community Life In Cortes Island
The final exhibition of the 2024 season at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery invites us to Paths of Beauty. These works by six artists: Lisa Gibbons, Karen McDiarmid, Donna Naven, Jane Newman, Amy Robertson and Brigid Weiler invited me to think about “what is beauty in art?”
Continue reading Ways to Walk Paths of Beauty
Art is a language received through the senses, and viewing the Member’s Show at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery is a perfect opportunity to learn how this visual language creates feelings and messages when we look at the art works.
Continue reading Seeing the language of Art
Eighty-three people turned out on Friday June 7, for the gala opening night of the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery’s 2024 season. This is a group show, which will be open to the public on Fridays (6-9 PM) and on weekends (2-6 PM) until June 16th.
Bianca Lee, Manager of the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery, was delighted by the large turnout, “I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out having the member show at the beginning of the season, but it worked out pretty magnificently. There was so much interest and participation in the show. It seems like a really beautiful way to start out the season, get people excited about the gallery and also avoid the burnout of late season.”
Continue reading Opening Night of the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery’s 2024 Season
