There’s been positive feedback received from the Kickstart Party of the Cochrane Integrated Arts Society (CIAS), last Saturday.

A year in development, the society held its first full-fledged event that tied in with a Passport Tour of other art centres and activities happening in the community.

A wide range of creative works was on display at The Clubhouse launch including painters, sculptors, potters, animators, wood carvers and authors while two cellists created the ambiance.

“A lot of the people that I heard from really liked the variety of arts that were there,” says CIAS founder and president Evelyn Marinoski.

“As well, the artists seemed to enjoy just being able to hang around with other artists and creative people. There’s just that synergy that happens when you get creative people together.”

“I know from past experience that when people work together there’s something really unique that can happen and so to start seeing people connect and enjoy that is a really good indicator we have something to work with.”

She was impressed to see emerging artist Sydney Lightfoot, 14, participating in the opening event.

“I was just so tickled pink that there was a young person who really wanted to be involved. I think that’s a good thing moving forward, too.”

The interactive “Wall of Art” drew attention to the wide range of opportunities in Cochrane and, as hoped, some people added items to the list.

“They were quite impressed that we have that much stuff going on.”

Society members will soon be holding a debriefing on the event. Their aim is to hold two special events annually.

“What I’m really hoping to get is more of the community involved. By that I mean art businesses and maybe other businesses hosting an art show for the event. I think that will be the most important thing to aim for next time around.”

Marinoski is also keen on making the organization sustainable.

“I want us to develop a strong and powerful vision for going forward so that we all have a sense of this is what we're aiming at down the road."

“If you can put solid plans and processes in place so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time is going to be really important.”

“I know that’s going to be a little bit of a time-consuming process upfront, but I believe it’s going to make a lot of difference going forward.”