A History of Arts and Culture in Collingwood

For more than three years, Collingwood resident Hella Sandberg has been gathering clippings, programs, newsletters – just about anything she can find on the history of the arts and culture community in Collingwood.  The result is three large binders of information about some of the people and organizations that have helped shape Collingwood’s thriving arts and culture scene.

During her hundreds of hours spent compiling and organizing information, Hella spoke about the project to as many people as possible, at every opportunity, in order to garner a broad perspective of information, some of which dates back to the mid 1800’s.

Some examples of notable pieces included are:

• Poetical Directory of Collingwood (1875)
• The First Collingwood Writers’ Club (1950)
• Georgian China Limited (1940)
• artists Ernie Taylor (1922-1999) and Manfred Neumann (1934-1993)

The binders will be housed in the local history section of the Collingwood Public Library and the Town’s website will also feature information so that as many people as possible may benefit from this valuable resource

“Having been very involved in promoting and supporting the arts and culture scene in Collingwood since 1976, both professionally and as a volunteer, I have always been aware of its strong and important presence in the community since then,” said Hella. “To my surprise and delight, I discovered through my research, that Collingwood has always, since its beginning, had a vibrant arts and culture community.”

While Hella is delighted to see the binder on the library shelves, she is planning to add information from time to time and keep the history growing…  If you have any materials you believe could be helpful for the History of Arts and Culture in Collingwood collection, please contact Carole Stuart, the Collingwood Public Library Coordinator of Local History and Genealogy at 705-445-1571 Ext. 6228 or [email protected].