Marla Blackwell - artist & chair of CACC

This week I had the privilege of meeting with Marla Blackwell, who is the present chair of the Cochrane Arts and Culture Committee. This committee acts as an advisory board to town council where the arts are concerned, and works with Sandy Johnson, who is the town's Cultural Program Coordinator.

Marla mentioned that the Cochrane Arts & Culture Committee is in the process of becoming a Society - I believe she said the name would be the "Bow Valley Arts Foundation". By becoming a foundation, they will be able to fundraise and also be open to adding new members.

Marla commented that there are times when folks are disappointed with the slowness of getting things done through the town council. Unfortunately, politics is sometimes a slow and cumbersome beast to work with, but at the same time, from what I have heard so far from several sources, there has been a fair bit of foundation work done. Foundation work isn't always visible or even terribly exciting, but a good foundation can make a world of difference to what is built on it. I'll be looking into more of that as I am able, but for now I have been encouraged by what has already been done.

We discussed the possibility of having an Arts facility here in Cochrane, and would very much like to see that become a reality. There will be work toward that over the next while, and I am hoping to get the arts community involved in that process.

If there is one impression I have of Marla, it's that she is passionate about the arts here in Cochrane. She, of course, with her business partner, Marie Sigurdson, started the Paintbox Artist Supplies store here in Cochrane, much to the delight of the arts community here. (Marla is also an artist and an instructor.)

She was also instrumental in starting the Foothills Art Club.

Her term as chair of the CACC ends this month, but I know that Marla has some other neat ideas up her sleeve - which I am sure I'll be writing about in due time!

Thanks Marla, for a great visit, and I look forward to working with you on the arts here in Cochrane.