Ken Blackburn has served as the executive director of the Campbell River Arts Council since 2006.
Over that time, he has initiated – or at least overseen – the creation of dozens of programs, initiatives and opportunities within the community that have made it a more artistic and collaborative place to live, work and play.
“I don’t think it’s going too far to say that the arts council has been a pretty big part of some significant shifts here in Campbell River,” he says. “When we were going through the mill shutdown, for example. It wasn’t a good time to be talking about the arts when people were losing their jobs and the tax base was gone and everyone was saying that the sky was gonna fall, but that’s actually when we amped it up and got to work and said ‘let’s make Campbell River a place that people want to come to. We can’t solve all the problems at once, but we can certainly not get knocked down.’”
He was integral in the creation of the Haig-Brown Lecture Series, which he still oversees after 10 years.
He’s managed the Haig-Brown Festival for the past 14 years.
He created the Living History program at the museum, now having done “at least a dozen documentaries on different aspects of local history, whether it’s been about Camp 5 or war veterans or Sybil Andrews or Roderick Haig-Brown, there’ve been quite a few,” he says with a laugh.
He’s been integral to the creation of both Anne Elmore Haig-Brown Day, Roderick Haig-Brown Day and Sybil Andrews Day, commemorating those figures’ lives and their importance to the community.
He’s initiated programs to get more art into the hospital, worked with a ton of non-profits and social service organizations to get their clients making art and gotten school kids creating more art with new and exciting opportunities over the years.
But like all of the people being recognized in these Local Hero Awards, Blackburn says it’s not really appropriate for him to be the one recognized when it “takes a village,” so to speak.
“I think anyone who says they’re the single reason things change is being a bit high-minded,” he says. “When we look at the arts sector in Campbell River right now, one of its great strengths is that we work together really well. Whether it’s the Tidemark or Rivercity Players or Spirit Square or the museum or the art gallery, we can pick up the phone, talk to people and make a plan.
“It’s not possible without healthy connections.”
But that’s what Blackburn does. He pulls people together.
“I may be a catalyst, I guess, but I’m certainly not the one doing all the work on the ground,” he says.
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