Eptek Centre to host Culture PEI seminar

Eptek Centre to host Culture P.E.I. seminar
S. RYAN QUIGLEY
JOURNAL PIONEER

    Culture P.E.I. will be holding a seminar on Tuesday morning at 10 am at the Eptek Arts & Culture centre in Summerside to talk about job openings in P.E.I.’s cultural work force.
    The event is made towards those who have an interest in employment fields such as video game design, music and sound recording, writing, etc.
    The business is one, according to statistics from Hills Strategies Research Inc. in 2008, Islanders contribute over $100 million to every year and is the highest among Provinces with 3.3 per cent of Islander spending going towards this every year.
    Henk van Leeuwen, executive director of Culture P.E.I., said there are approximately 2,000 Islanders reported as working artists in P.E.I. according to the recent Statistics Canada survey, though he says there are more.
    “There’s a good chance they put down that Primary Occupation as whatever else first, before they put down they were an artist.”
    The objectives of the seminar are to let people know who they are and bring attention to help out artists, he said.
    “You could be a singer/ songwriter by night or by weekend but you might have to work as a server in a restaurant to augment or supplement your income because they’re having a hard go of it. That’s one of our objectives too is help change that reality.”