Venetia Crawford, longtime matriarch of the Pontiac Archives, has a dream of growing her project of chronicling and celebrating Pontiac’s history from the basement of the Shawville public library into the Stedmans V&S store across the street.
Her vision is to purchase the Stedmans store, currently listed for sale, and in it open what she calls a Pontiac Cultural Centre, a space that would showcase the archives’ growing collection of historical artifacts and offer a variety of public cultural events and lessons
Crawford is passionate about preserving cultural heritage. As president of the Pontiac Archives, she is well aware that the tiny basement is running out of room for storing the collection of historical artifacts it has been growing over the years.
“We keep getting more and more stuff, and instead of . . .
feeling excited about it, I say ‘Oh no where am I going to put it?’” Crawford said. “That’s sort of the start of it all. Where are we going to put stuff, but then we don’t want to just have a bigger archive.”
Crawford, who is also a former ballroom teacher, said she would also love to use the space to teach dancing.
She explained she practices line dancing at Killarney’s Bar in Shawville, but said minors aren’t allowed into the bar to learn with them, so her vision of the culture centre includes an open space where she can teach ballroom dancing to all ages.
“I [taught] it through the high school and in order to teach it, I had to teach for three hours for it to count as a class. I’m 85, I can’t do three hours anymore,” Crawford said. “But I do still like to teach dancing. And I could do it for one hour if I had a place to do it.”
On Wednesday evening, Crawford convened a group of Pontiac residents interested in her vision for this Pontiac Cultural Centre to form a committee that will take on the management of the project.
Gathered at the Pontiac Archives, the group discussed options for how to purchase and restore the Stedmans building so it could become a home for the cultural centre in the heart of Shawville.
Nikki Buechler, president of the Western Quebec Literacy Council board of directors, was appointed the president of the committee.
She said as an artist and a musician herself, she believes the space holds an opportunity to teach subjects like music and visual arts.
“It would be fantastic, having a centralized location where people can collaborate, teach each other, and show their work,” Buechler said. “This is a good opportunity for tourism, for culture, for history, for the community, and for our kids. It’s all around a brilliant idea.”
Jon Stewart, owner of Calumet Media, was appointed as treasurer and secretary for the culture committee.
He said acquiring funds is the next big step.
“We have to figure out the dollars and cents,” Stewart explained. “So what does it look like to own a building? Who owns the building? [What is] the structure of the ownership of that? What kind of money do you need from an operating budget? How much does it take to run the electricity and the bills? All that analysis will have to be done before we actually put pen to paper and move forward.”
Although the quality of the building, currently listed at $269,900, has not yet been explored by the committee, they did discuss the potential for additional costs to repair and restore the building.
“I’m not an expert on renovations in the slightest, but I can easily see taking the purchase price of a building and doubling it [in renovation costs], ” Stewart said during the meeting.
Shawville mayor Bill McCleary and MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller have also voiced their support for the project. Crawford said Toller expressed her interest in helping find financial support to acquire the building.
by Guillaume Laflamme
Shawville
May 22, 2024
