If there’s any one thing our society needs right now, it’s hope.
So says Campbell River Art Gallery outreach coordinator Mike Davis, as the gallery teams up with the local Immigrant Welcome Centre’s Welcoming Communities Coalition to inspire just that.
Launching tomorrow (Saturday), ‘Hope Rocks’ encourages locals to reflect not only on what they’re hoping for, but the steps needed to turn those hopes into reality.
The unique project from the gallery and the coalition also shines a light on diversity and aims to bring locals together by celebrating the many linguistic communities around town.
The coalition says people of all ages are encouraged to paint the word hope on a rock in any language they choose, and then bring it to the gallery – located on Shoppers Row, a stone’s throw from Spirit Square. The collection of rocks will then be displayed at the gallery, before being moved to another community location at a future date.
Participants can pick up a rock painting kit at the art gallery or at the Immigrant Welcome Centre’s Campbell River location (200-1170 Shoppers Row) during open hours, between June 12th and 17th.
Davis thinks the strength of the local community, in many ways, comes from “the huge variety of lived experience that we have here.” By showing that diversity, he’s hoping people will see we’re far more alike, as people, than we are different.
