The ACFA Regionale de Saint-Paul hosted its Jazz Art event last Saturday where attendees gathered to appreciate their love of art and music. A jazz band from Edmonton performed and six artists, including St.
The ACFA Regionale de Saint-Paul hosted its Jazz Art event last Saturday where attendees gathered to appreciate their love of art and music.
A jazz band from Edmonton performed and six artists, including St. Paul natives Louise Piquette and Herman Poulin, were on hand to create pieces of art that were auctioned off later in the evening.
Held in St. Paul every second year, Jazz Art helps fundraise needed projects in the French community while providing residents with something a bit different than the typical night out in rural Alberta.
"You don't feel like you're living in small town St. Paul when you come to this," Joanne Lamoureux, a teacher from Ecole du Sommet, said. "You feel like you're at a club somewhere in a big city when there's art and jazz music going on.
"It's fun to come to this because you just feel like it's not something you would normally see," she added. "It's a different experience."
According to Natalie Hebert, the director of the local French Canadian association, in the past the event raised almost $9,000, with proceeds from the live/silent auctions and cash bar going towards each year's fundraising initiative.
"We didn't really know how many people to expect, but there's a lot of farmers that are here and it's greatly appreciated," Hebert said, in regards to the timing of the event and how many workers are in the field.
A good sized crowd, which included local MLA Shayne Saskiw, was present for the event to show support for the two initiatives that Hebert believes will greatly benefit St. Paul.
"There's more and more people wanting to put their kids in French school," she said about the proposed French daycare. "A lot of parents are not francophone or do not speak French so it's hard to put their kids in kindergarten who have never been in a French environment.
"If they go to daycare for a few years that's in French, they'll be able to pick up on it."
Hebert said she is looking for government and municipal funding for support, in hopes of having a new daycare up and running within a year or two.
She would like to thank the sponsors and everyone who attended the event, especially those who bid on the pieces of art. She also thanked the musicians and artists for making the night a success.
