By Cheryl Jahn

Arts Hall of Fame coming?

Arts Hall of Fame coming?

Dec 21, 2023 | 1:54 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – There’s plenty of artistic talent in this city, whether it is the young musician or the professional orchestral performer. And there are some early moves to create an Arts Hall of Fame to acknowledge those talented folks.

“We approached the Community Arts Council,” says Andy Beesley, Director of Civic Facilities and Events. “This is a topic we’ve talked about from time to time over the years, but this time a little bit more formally.”

Even though the idea has been bandied about for some time and the concept is closer to reality than ever before, it’s in very early stages.

Day of Mourning

"One fatality is too many:" National Day of Mourning to call for safer work conditions

6h ago

PORTLAND PREVIEW

Portland Winterhawks "excited" for series against Prince George Cougars

7h ago

Prisoner Turned Advocate

Former Prisoner Turned Advocate: Resident Fights for Disability Rights in Clothing

10h ago

“It’s extremely preliminary. The closest model we can go after is the Sports Hall of Fame and the city partners with the Sports Hall of Fame in the sense that we provide them spaces to display their various pictures and awards and that type of thing. And of course, we’re always really happy to chat with them and try and help them along the process.”

It’s a community that is much larger than many realize, not being as overt as the sporting world. Having dabbled in the arts himself, it’s something Andy Beesley can attest to.

“I think that Prince George’s got a lot of remarkable things. Many people like myself, moved here decades ago to put in a year and get the heck out. And then we found that we really grew to love the community. And one of the things that I discovered with Prince George is there is a very rich and diverse and incredibly deep arts community here, all the way from artists to drama to theater, etc. It’s more than meets the eye, but the people that know about that are the people that are involved, not necessarily the general public as a whole.”

He says, often the only people who know about the robust arts community are those directly involved with it.