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It’s less than a year old, but the artist-run centre in downtown North Battleford has been a busy place.

Director Joseph Campbell says, "There has been lots of activity over the past while at ARC."

The centre had more than 370 participants and visitors during its first year in operation. 

"The support and excitement was really fantastic and it was great to get that sense of the community embracing a creative presence downtown," says Campbell.

Several times a week, ARC has been holding open studios, free for everyone, during which people can come in to the centre and create art. 

"There were also free drawing sessions offered over the winter, held on Wednesday nights, and turnout was good, with up to 12 people coming some weeks," says Campbell. 

It's fundraising time for ARC, he adds.

"We are a community-based arts collective and we count on our community to keep us going."

ARC is announcing its first ever crowd-funding campaign. Keep the Arc Afloat is a GoFundMe campaign and anyone can donate by visiting , says Campbell.

"Our first fundraising event, Spark the ARC, back in September was a big success and we are hoping this one will be, too," he says.  

ARC is located on the main floor of the Kee's Tae Kwon Do building at 1106 - 101st St. It opened in the late summer of last year. There are 12 artist spaces and a storefront display area. (The rental of the artist spaces brings in revenue to cover the overall rent of the space.)

Instrumental to the inception of ARC has been financial support from BATC Community Development Corporation, says Campbell.

"Their support is really what has allowed ARC to become a reality, and we can't thank them enough. This is a great organization that does a lot of good in our community and we are very appreciative."  

The idea behind the ARC is to create an open community-focused space for artists to work individually and collaboratively. Locating it downtown has recognized the group's commitment to the steps being taken by the City of North Battleford and the business improvement district organization of Downtown North Battleford to revitalize the downtown core neighbourhood.

Campbell says, "We are very excited to have some plans in the works in partnership with the downtown NB business improvement district. One of our main goals from the start has been to not only operate in our city's core neighborhood and bring traffic there, but also to be a positive and proactive force for improving the downtown.  We want to bring people in the community together to create public art displayed in place of some of the empty storefronts in the core neighbourhood."

ARC wants to engage the community as much as possible, he says.

"We would love to have volunteers of all ages and any skill levels come out and help us to make art front and centre downtown," says Campbell. "You don't have to be an artist to come out and help, generate ideas, and generally support our efforts."

ARC can be contacted by email at [email protected] and it also has a Facebook page "Arc Creative Studios" to keep everyone up to date on its activities.

A list of some of ARC's activities over the past year follows:

ARC Gallery Space – Exhibitions have been held by the artist collective, Rosemarie Stadnyk and Chris Hodge. ARC is open to proposals from community to use this space as well.

Open Studios - These happen several times a week and they are free for guests to gather to create art and to be inspired from one another. 

Drawing Sessions - Offered free and as a drop in session for anyone. Two members led this activity once a week for three months. As many as 12 people at a time attended. 

Photographing Your Artwork - This was a free workshop for artists wishing to learn how to properly photograph and archive their artwork. This was offered by CARFAC.

Portrait Drawing Basics - A drawing class with Kevin Quinlan. 

Battleford Immigration Resource Centre Open House - ARC had an opportunity to meet and connect with newcomers to Canada living in the community during BIRC's International Friendship Night. "This was a great evening shared with our downtown neighbour," says Campbell.

Emerging Cultural Leaders Exchange - ARC was the site of the fifth and final gathering of this innovative pilot project with a focus on creating cultural leaders through mentorship. The weekend retreat brought together senior government and arts organization leaders as well as some of Saskatchewan's newest up and coming cultural leaders in the Battlefords and put the focus on what's happening here in the arts. "Turns out, there's quite a bit happening here," says Campbell.

Silent Survivors - a residential school project in the community for a week in October. Performers were invited to participate in an art healing activity and talking circle.

ARC became a production centre for the cast of the Vagina Monologues to create pieces for the production at the Dekker Centre in February. "It was really great to be able to lend our space and resources to this important fundraiser for the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre and Interval House."

Spark the ARC Open House - Approximately 65 people attended the open house fundraiser, including musical guests Back Roads and a theatre performance of Sedna: A Creation Story. 

Open Gallery and Studio Viewing - ARC is regularly open twice a week to the public and joins in with events as promoted by the Downtown North Battleford improvement district.