[BCMA] Caetani Centre Receives Major Funding

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Public Service Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



February 10, 2017



*CAETANI CULTURAL CENTRE RECEIVES MAJOR FUNDING FROM DEPARTMENT OF CANADIAN
HERITAGE CULTURAL SPACES*

The Caetani Cultural Centre is very pleased to announce that they have
received notification from the Minister of Canadian Heritage of a
successful funding application in the amount of $75,000. The funding comes
through the Department of Canadian Heritage Cultural Spaces Fund.

Board president Angelika Jaeger stated “We have always believed that the
significance of the Caetani family, their unique and heartbreaking story,
and especially the legacy of the artworks and writings of Sveva Caetani are
of great importance to this area.

This commitment from the Federal government validates what we have been
working so hard towards. This project is of huge significance to this
community and opens up wider arts programming and cultural heritage tourism
opportunities. It’s also bringing our tax dollars back into this region.”

Susan Brandoli, executive director for the Caetani Centre, said “This grant
from the Federal government will go a long way towards our goal of opening
up the house to public access. The project in total is about $225,000, and
includes improvements to the structure of the house, upgrading the HVAC and
electrical systems, and most importantly, the installation of a fire
suppression system.

The sprinkler system installation is the missing key we have been seeking
in order to open up the house to public access. Without this, our hands
were tied for future development into a significant cultural and heritage
site. It will allow us to also to accommodate and expand our public arts
programming and events through the development of an additional
presentation space for this community.”

The City of Vernon and the Regional District of the North Okanagan have
contributed over the years to upgrading and maintaining the 120+ year old
heritage house, located on 1.5 park-like acres on Pleasant Valley Road. The
investment by local governments has gone a long way towards attaining
matching funding from higher levels of government. Thanks to good timing in
2016 with the major infrastructure upgrade project on Pleasant Valley Road,
and the construction of the new traffic calming circle on 35th Avenue
directly in front of the Caetani Centre, they were able to capitalize on
this opportunity to replace aging water and sewer lines, and additional
infrastructure upgrades on the adjacent Caetani site.

“We are so very grateful to all levels of government for believing in our
project, and listening to our future plans for the Caetani Centre. This
proves that great things can happen in this community when we all work
together to achieve our goals,” said Brandoli.

It has been over 20 years since Sveva Caetani, beloved teacher, mentor,
artist and writer, passed away in 1994, leaving the house and grounds to
the City of Vernon for use a cultural centre. The Caetani Cultural Centre
Society was formed as a separate society in 2008 to directly focus on
seeing the bequest fully realized, and many individuals and volunteers have
worked tirelessly over the years towards this goal.

Thanks to this recent funding commitment from Canadian Heritage Cultural
Spaces Fund, the Caetani Centre now has confirmed funding of $177,000 in
total of the $225,000 goal.

“We still have about $50,000 to raise in order to complete our remaining
project funding goal. However, we are confident that we can raise the
remaining amount in 2017,” said Brandoli. “Additional funding applications
are in the works, and the Society will once again be going ahead with its
popular Splash of Red fundraiser on August 24.

“The success of our organization is a direct result of support from local
artists, business and corporate sponsors, volunteers, partnerships with
other organizations, and also the local community who have stuck with us
over the years. Partial funding of this enormous project has also come from
the annual Splash of Red event. We can’t thank all these people enough.”

2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Sveva Caetani as well
as Canada’s 150th birthday. It will be a year of celebrations!

“I think Sveva is smiling down on us today” said Jaeger.

For more information about the Caetani Centre please visit our website at
www.caetani.org or call 250-275-1525.

-0-

Susan Brandoli
Executive Director
Caetani Cultural Centre
www.caetani.org
250-275-1525
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170210/bc8d629b/attachment.htm