Casa Facility

Casa continued to provide low-cost opportunities for community members to take arts classes, develop art practices in their preferred mediums and exhibit art works in gallery and auxiliary spaces visited by thousands of people each year. In addition, Casa is the home of many local arts groups and guilds who use the facility for meetings, rehearsals, performances, lectures, fundraisers, classes, demonstrations and markets.

Arts-related events hosted at Casa in 2018 included performances by the Musical Theatre Society, Centric MusicFest, Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society, Chinook One-Act Festival, Chinese Manie Opera Society, the Lethbridge Symphony, New West Theatre and the LCI Fine Arts department dance troupe, to name but a few. Numerous other arts events took place that were open to the public, such as photography workshops, artist talks and information sessions. Casa acted as host venue for the Lethbridge and District Music and Speech Arts Festival adjudicated performances, Trinity College speech examinations and other local groups using the space for theatric auditions and casting calls.

Annual Allied Arts Council initiatives such as the Christmas at Casa artisan market, Family Fun Day, and Arts Days once again proved to be popular free, family-friendly events.

Many local non-profit groups chose to meet and host events at Casa this year. Among these were the popular Harambee Grandma’s Travel Chat presentations, Lethbridge Food Bank and MS Society fundraisers, the local edition of Help Portrait and a celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

CASA FACILITY RENTAL STATISTICS 2018

ROOM # OF BOOKINGS # OF ATTENDEES

ATB Financial Community Room 235 20,170 Meeting Room 337 4314 Dance Studio 878 9683 2D Classroom 507 3449 3D Classroom 413 3985 Textile Studio 33 370 Woodworking Studio 61 598 Atrium 23 125 Rotary Square 3 661 Upper Patio 3 55

3D STUDIO ......................... 1983 2D STUDIO .......................... 597 WEAVER'S STUDIO ........... 1560 DANCE STUDIO .................. 127 TEXTILE STUDIO ................. 162 WOODWORKING ............... 137 DARKROOM ...........................10 PRINTMAKING .......................18

Corporate and government rentals were made regularly too, and space at Casa was booked by numerous University of Lethbridge departments. Non-arts-related events included product demonstrations, meetings, workshops, training sessions and City of Lethbridge open houses, as well as annual community events like the Moonlight Run road race and Heart of Our City awards reception Celebrate Downtown.

Casa’s studio spaces were incredibly well used, with 376 unique visits to art studios on average each month. While the clay studio remained the most popular, use of the woodworking studio increased and many dedicated artists and hobbyists made use of the 2D, printmaking and textile studios. In addition to being used for Casa Artist Partnership classes, the Casa dance studio was rented again for classical, recreational, and therapeutic dance programming by various community groups and institutions.

The University of Lethbridge’s Conservatory of Music continued to bring many visitors to the facility for private music lessons, string and voice ensembles, and live music performances such as the popular Lunch & Listen concert series.

Casa building facility count tracked similarly to 2017 numbers, with a marginal increase. Casa staff and management are pleased to be part of the ever-expanding network of artists and arts-related organizations that call southern Alberta home by providing a place to meet, create and share works of art. Thanks to all who have supported the facility in its first five years of operation. 2018 ALLIED ARTS COUNCIL STAFF CASA

Facility Programs Manager Brenna Lowrie

Facility Operations and Maintenance Manager Brad Goruk

Gallery Services Manager/Curator Darcy Logan

Education Manager Kelly Reay

Summer Facility/Education Program Assistant Sheila Shaw

Clay Services Manager Aaron Hagan

Facility Attendants Andrew Rabyniuk Ethan Roth Sheila Shaw Baz Skinner

Reception Alison Grigg Lorraine Lee Andrew Rabinyuk Angeline Simon

Custodian David Farstad