Culture, social justice, environmentalism, humanitarianism and personal growth — these are the five building blocks of a new non-profit organization.
The Footsteps Art and Music Foundation is still gestating before it makes its big debut thanks to the guiding hands of Foothills-based painter Susan Burris and St. Albert’s Robert Symon.
“Susan and I had a vision, unbeknownst to each other at the time, to develop a foundation or a charity or some sort of project to help people who are less fortunate,” began Symon.
With that basic premise they want to establish a centre like a teaching facility. There they will provide help to people experiencing challenging life circumstances, “whether they be single moms, single parents, unwed mothers, lower income people or fixed income seniors and mentally and physically challenged people.”
They were both inspired by the famous Footsteps in the Sand poem about someone asking where God was when he or she was suffering and needed help. Burris and Symon want to let people know that they don’t have to suffer and struggle alone and that they can be there to help guide you on a better path.
It all has to do with compassion, conscientiousness and teaching to the person.
Burris has taught art classes in the past and has seen the power of adapting her teaching style to the student.
“I had one boy in particular. His mom came to me and said, ‘Can I use it as a bribe?’ [meaning] he could come to art classes if he did his schoolwork.”
She asked the mother why the boy was having troubles at school and she responded that he had attention deficit disorder (ADD), something that Burris had never encountered before. While teaching him, she began to explain concepts with a dry paintbrush.
“I took his hand … and I showed him on his hand what I was trying to show him on the canvas. He did some awesome artwork after that. There’s people there you just have to understand how to communicate to them and it opens a whole world for them.
“That’s my challenge. I would like to be able to break those barriers.”
Before the foundation can get off of the ground, there is the small matter of finances. Their start-up budget is estimated at $550,000 and they’ve already put in $60,000 of their own personal funding and inventory like recycled art supplies. Provincial and federal grants have been applied for and corporate and private sponsors are being sought.
These are creative times for finding solid backers of new community groups so solutions must be creative too. That’s where the Pepsi Refresh Everything contest comes in. The soft drink giant is offering up $1 million to Canadian charities this year and the Footsteps Art and Music Foundation was recently approved to be a contender in the Art and Culture category with $10,000 on the line. People can vote daily at www.refresheverything.ca until the contest ends June 30. If they get enough public support, Burris and Symon will use the money to run an Art in the Park program this summer.
