In this newsletter:
- TISGB continues to grow! Help us welcome Jenn Armstrong to the Board!
- Be a tourist in your own backyard. Find out what’s on this summer in SGB!
- A Brief History of MIFF (the Meaford International Film Festival)
Summer Greetings from the (growing) team of The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay! We are spending the summer season exploring all that our beautiful region has to offer, while also laying the groundwork for two upcoming in-person events. We will have more information on those in August and September. This newsletter is a celebration of our growth as well as the season, offering an informative overview of the “entertainment, food & drink, tours, arts & culture” scene for Summer 2023 across SGB.
Welcoming a new Board Member!
Jennifer (Jenn) Armstrong Jennifer is a finance executive experienced in customer experience, strategic planning, financial analysis, risk management, operations, and compliance in the financial services industry. Most recently, she served as Head of Operations at a full-service brokerage firm where she worked in retail brokerage, investment banking and trading.
Jennifer has a Bachelor of Commerce (finance) degree from Ryerson University as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Strategic Management from Wilfred Laurier University. As a volunteer, Jennifer has previously served as a Board Member for MumNet which is a volunteer not-for profit offering an opportunity for mothers to meet and help face the challenges of motherhood by fostering their emotional, mental, and physical well-being. She is currently a volunteer member of the Social Finance Housing team through the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay working on corporate partner engagement and strategy to raise capital, seek investment opportunities, and housing strategies.
Born and raised in Collingwood, Jennifer is passionate about engaging the community to collaborate and think outside the box as a Board Member of the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay.
Be a tourist in your own backyard! Stay connected to events in our region!
Provided by Melissa Twist, Director of Regional Tourism (South Georgian Bay Tourism)
South Georgian Bay has so many great events happening all year around throughout the region. If you’re looking for something to do in Collingwood, Blue Mountains, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, or Meaford, we are here to provide you with endless opportunities for some fun. Whether you are looking for indoor or outdoor activities on the water or land, our regional event calendar has you covered with an assortment of options to cater to everyone.
Visit our website’s main page to discover the events happening in your area, and browse the different categories such as entertainment, food & drink, tours, arts & culture, and so much more! Plan your visit to SGB by checking our calendar for events ranging in dates from the upcoming weeks to several months in advance. There’s always something for everyone to participate in and help support our local business community.
We don’t want you to miss out on these great experiences, so make sure to follow us on Instagram to stay up-to-date! Each week, we post to our story a list of featured events taking place in the region so you can make plans according to the fun things happening in the area. We hope you find our regional calendar helpful when looking to explore and engage with the South Georgian Bay community. Remember, our website is always being updated with new events, so be sure to visit our page regularly so you don’t miss out on all the exciting opportunities! Happy planning and have a fantastic time exploring all the events SGB has to offer!
A brief history of MIFF- the film festival that almost wasn’t
Provided by Robert Uhrig, Councillor, Municipality of Meaford; Director, Meaford Culture Foundation
MIFF is the film festival that almost wasn’t.
In April 2007, the Meaford Hall had been open for less than a year following its restoration, and there was no screen or projector in the Hall. Showing films was part of the business plan for the Hall, but that was still in the future.
So, when Gough Lewis approached the Meaford Hall & Culture Foundation Board, comprised of Barb Clumpus, Ted Brown, Bert Chalmers, Terry Harris and Michael Anderson, in early 2007 with the idea of putting on a film festival, it seemed like a very long shot. No one on the Board fully appreciated what they were getting into, although they knew they could rely on the experience that Paul Osborn, the General Manager of the Meaford Hall at the time, brought to the project. Nonetheless, the Board did have a sense of the potential. Holding their breath, they decided to take on the financial risk of presenting MIFF in partnership with Gough as the founding Festival Director, a role he held for the first two years. Using the Gen Art Film Festival as his model, Gough developed the format that is still going strong today: Four Nights, Four Films, Four Parties.
What a summer! What a challenge!
Gough immediately set to work finding four award-winning films and arranging interviews. Michael Anderson took care of marketing and working with the Hall to put on a four-day event that was bigger than anything attempted since the Hall reopened. All of this was made possible by the help of many, many enthusiastic volunteers. One took an armful of brochures to Thornbury and stopped drivers in the street, telling them that they simply had to come to Meaford! Some worked on the parties under Ted Brown’s direction, others decorated the huge marquee tent that went up in Market Square, beside the Hall.
The screen was installed in the Hall in the middle of August, and the projector arrived a week before the Opening Gala. Read the full blog post here!