The "Hope" Cycle was spun into motion at a launch party held Saturday Jan 21 2017 at UOIT's Charles Street campus in downtown Oshawa. On March 25 the ground floor of the historic building will be taken over by the first rotation of The Cycle. It will feature collaborations by Oshawa/Durham based artists of all genres. The theme of the event is "Hope".
Kerr's vision, inspired by a trip to Florence Italy, is to see the collaborations continue on into the coming years, with events themed after the Seven Virtues; Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence and Justice.
Members of he Oshawa Art Association and the Living Room Art Community participated in the launch but the call is also being sent out to artists who were not present.
There is no budget for the event but artists will be allowed sell their work, and no commissions will be taken says Councillor Kerr. There is also no curation and no jury process to the work. The only limit seems to be the space itself, which lends itself to a long list of participants and collaborations.
Standing with Kerr for the launch were Oshawa Mayor John Henry, MPP Lorne Coe, MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes (Parliamentary Secretary to PM Justin Trudeau), MP Colin Carrie's Executive Assistant and the President of the UOIT Dr. Tim McTiernan.