Brant artists want to be part of Bawcutt Centre conversation

Brant Art Matters, a new community organization, hopes the arts will be part of the conversation for a redeveloped Bawcutt Centre.

Celeste Percy-Beauregard

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As Brant County looks to repurpose a storied site, a grassroots group of artists wants to be part of the conversation.

After a plan to transform the Bawcutt Centre into a new main library branch folded over concern about too few parking spaces, the municipality put out a call for submissions of interest for a public-private partnership to continue the restoration of 13 Burwell St. in Paris.

The overall vision is for a redevelopment that “celebrates and expands the arts and culture sectors while serving the broader community,” the bid description says.

A local group of creatives says they’re “not in the position to bid or take over the development,” but they want to have a voice in the process.

“We … count, even if we’re not a corporate property developer or an institutionalized arts organization,” Rubyyy Jones said. 

The artist has joined forces with artists Prinx Lydia, Tony Churchill and Lisa Franklin to form BAM Brant Art Matters.

The group plans to use activism, workshops and events to focus on the future of arts in Brant County, starting with its “Save the Bawcutt” campaign.

The community is invited to attend the first meeting on Sept. 25 where they will discuss the campaign, and arts and culture in Brant in general. “Where people are at and where people would like to see it go. What’s missing, what’s needed, what’s working,” Jones said.

In terms of the Bawcutt Centre, Jones believes it’s “imperative” that whoever funds the redevelopment “works closely with the community so that this space can actually be what it needs to be.”

The group says ideally it would become a community arts space, like the Button Factory Arts Centre in Waterloo or the Cotton Factory in Hamilton.

“These are working, established, flourishing models of exactly what we want to do … it’s not like it’s totally revolutionary,” Jones said.

The group envisions studio spaces where artists of all disciplines can work, learn and commune, sell their art and potentially buy supplies as well. Perhaps even a satellite location for the library’s makerspace.

“There just seems to be lots of interesting ways that you could be connecting it to the greater community,” Churchill said.

The creative and cultural industry is one of the three key sectors the county has identified for growth and investment, along with agriculture and manufacturing.

The municipality purchased the former Paris Old Town Hall in 2016 with a $1-million donation from “Degrassi” franchise co-creator Linda Schuyler. It was built in 1854 and is thought to be the oldest surviving example of public neo-Gothic architecture in Canada.

The library project was slated to cost around $37.5 million, including the heritage restoration and a 20,400-square-foot addition.

The group invites creative people of “all avenues,” including professional and aspiring artists and patrons of the arts, to the first meeting, Jones said.

“We’re really interested in seeing young people,” 2SLGBTQIA community members, people of colour and “people who don’t normally feel welcome in community art spaces,” Jones said.

BAM’s first community meeting will be held on Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. at the Wincey Mills. Email BrantArtMatters@gmail.com for questions.

Celeste Percy-Beauregard’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report on stories about Brant County.