About Us

ALL ARTS & HERITAGE FOR OUR COMMUNITY AND SCHOOLS

Mandate
CAHEP is a grass-roots community-based arts and heritage education organization created to develop and implement multi-disciplinary arts and heritage programming and resources for the benefit of the Thunder Bay community.

Mission
CAHEP empowers children and youth in the community of Thunder Bay by creating and implementing accessible multi-disciplinary arts and heritage programming and resources so that people will discover the joy of arts and heritage within their own lives and create a legacy by fostering a commitment to culture.

CAHEP creates programming that is student/child/youth centered in that they are the leaders in the creative process facilitated by the artists/arts educators in collaboration with the educators/community leaders.

History and Background
In December of 2000, an Arts Education sub-committee of the City of Thunder Bay's Arts & Heritage committee completed a study on Best Practices in Arts Education and reviewed programming locally.  From the results of the study, recommendations were made to improve the level of arts education for our community.

These recommendations were:
1. More financial support for artists
2. More community-based arts education programming
3. Partnerships with private sector and individual artists
4. Artists in Residency programs
5. More venues for young artists to perform and display their talents.

CAHEP began as a pilot project funded through the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF).  A Network Group with 18 stakeholders in arts and heritage that included individual artists, arts and heritage organizations and educators.   They offered suggestions and collaborative input to help develop CAHEP's programming and resources.

Part way through its second year, a small working group from the original Steering Committee refined our mandate/vision and created our constitution and by-laws and became the first CAHEP Board.

In February 2005, CAHEP was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and in June 2005, we received our Charitable Status