After a one-year absence, the Collage Multicultural Festival will be returning in 2013.
While speaking to Estevan city council during their Jan. 29 regular meeting, Michel Cyrenne, the executive director of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce, announced that Southeast Newcomer Services has taken on the event with plans to hold it in late September.
Held in 2010 and 2011, Collage did not run last year as no local group stepped forward to hold the event.
Cyrenne told council that the first Collage was headed up by Community Futures Sunrise and the Saskatchewan Southeast Enterprise Region with support from a number of other local groups. However CF Sunrise felt that Collage didn't fit their mandate and backed away from the event which prompted the Estevan Chamber of Commerce to intervene and hold the event in 2011.
Although it was a successful event, Cyrenne said the chamber also felt that Collage didn't fall under their mandate and elected not to run the event in 2012. Feeling that it was still a worthwhile event for our increasingly diverse community, Cyrenne said the chamber spoke to Southeast Newcomer Services about hosting Collage, an arrangement that makes sense as they deal with the local immigrant community on a daily basis.
Cyrenne said the SENS board of directors met to discuss Collage and made a request for funding which was approved by the Ministry of the Economy which oversees the newcomer gateways in the province.
"Just last week we met with a couple of employees from newcomer services and they are now in the process of planning the event for the latter part of September. They are hoping to coincide with Culture Days," Cyrenne said. "We definitely think it's a fantastic event, great for the community especially with the way we are growing now and we have a more diverse population. We are quite excited to work with them to bring this event back as a part of our community."
While in council Cyrenne also provided an update on three other matters involving the chamber.
For the past couple of years, the chamber has been working on improving signage throughout the city to help visitors and new residents get around better. The chamber received funding from the City to hire a firm to conduct an audit which is now underway.
"(The group conducting the study) came in and drove around the community and got a better understanding of the city itself and got a better understanding of some of our common concerns related to signage and accessibility," he said.
A first draft of a signage plan has been completed by the group and forwarded to the chamber and City. The two sides are currently reviewing it and will eventually send it back to the firm for final revisions.
"(The improved signage) will make our community safer and more navigable," he said.
Cyrenne also touched on their work to strengthen the local hotel association and their attempts to get all of the hotels in the city involved.
A consulting firm has also been hired to work on developing the association and the chamber expects to receive the first draft of their plan in the near future.
The final topic was the economic development plan which the chamber is working on. Cyrenne said a first draft of the plan was completed in December by economic development officer Manpreet Sangha.
The chamber's economic development committee was expected to go over the draft on Thursday and will meet again in one month to go over submissions from local groups. From there a second and final draft will be completed which will be presented to council.
