'Over the moon': Newmarket creators embrace plans to make town an arts community in Greater Toronto Area

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 28, 2023

Many of the pieces of Newmarket’s creative and cultural scene are already there or in the works.

Take, for example, Main Street with restaurants, shops and festivals; Riverwalk Commons as a cultural spot for events and the TD summer music series; the soon-to-open Postmark Hotel for guests coming to see what the town has to offer; the annual Pride parade,; the renovated Old Town Hall; the Farmers’ Market; NewMakeIt as the only creative space of its kind for artists and entrepreneurs in the GTA; the Newmarket Group of Artists; the renovated NewRoads Centre for the Performing Arts; the future Mulock Park, which will include the Art Gallery of Ontario hosting rotating exhibits of Canadian and Indigenous artwork; the Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association (NACCA), which drives opportunities that foster pride in Black history and culture; and plans by YouTube sensation Peter McKinnon to establish a Main Street creators’ hub.

Now, there is an emerging plan to bring those pieces together, and create new ones, such as at the former town operations centre and the former fire department training facility on Timothy Street, to position the town as an eminent arts community in the GTA.

Over the next month, as council sets out the town’s strategic priorities, councillors are expected to formalize the concept as a fundamental pillar of the town’s economic development strategy and begin laying the groundwork to create a vision to carry it out.

“We’ve done an extremely good job at building out our recreational amenities. But it’s really been in the last decade we’ve seen a -- pardon the pun -- a renaissance and interest and activity and growth in the arts (developed over a century),” Mayor John Taylor said.

“I think we’re emerging, legitimately emerging, as an arts centre in the GTA.”

Coming out of the pandemic, where people realized they don’t have to be in Toronto to conduct business and as they look for a better work-life balance living in a community that offers a thriving cultural scene, Newmarket is in a perfect position to capitalize on its established and emerging arts and culture anchor spaces, Taylor said.

“I think we have the ability to make Newmarket a destination for young entrepreneurs, innovators, artists, and we can create that kind of entrepreneurial energy and focal point around the arts that can really propel us forward in a unique way,” he said.

Artists and creators are embracing the idea.

“We’ve just hit a moment in our collective history or our collective time when things are sweet for this,” Teresa Dunlop, vice-president of the Newmarket Group of Artists and owner of Teresa Dunlop Ceramics, said.

“Art is really important because it’s how we tell our stories and how we, as a society, communicate with one another in a positive way that is meaningful to everyone and is uplifting. So, it’s good financially, but it’s also good for our well-being as individuals.”

Ryan Dibisch, executive director of not-for-profit NewMakeIt, said he’s “over the moon” about the campaign.

“We actually have so many artists in the community that are doing different things and have been working separately, (that) bringing them together and showing what can be done and allowing resources for other artists, I think it’s a wonderful thing.”

Newmarket is not only home to artisans but to a large community of creators whose works are internationally recognized, Beth Stevenson, executive producer of Brain Power Studio, which shoots movies in Newmarket and Sharon, said.

It’s time to capitalize on the groundwork laid over many years to make Newmarket an arts community and market it as a brand, she said.

“It’s an excellent time to now to do that, to put that stake in the sand and very much push to claim it,” she said.

Having a thriving arts community benefits children and youth growing up in a place of culture, Sheryl Thomas, executive director of Marquee Theatrical Productions, which features performances at the NewRoads theatre, said.

“The arts are magic,” she said.