The City of Lacombe has allocated $8,000 in grants to new local programs and services deemed to enhance the quality of life in the city through recreation and culture.

Maddox Dance Company was one of the recipients, awarded $1,250.

Owner and director Brittany Mulder says the funds will go toward a dance production that will be based on a novel. Children aged seven to 17 will drive the creative process.

“The children will get an opportunity to help create and tell the narrative through creative movement,” Mulder says. “Money will go towards costumes, set design, renting space to rehearse and (licence rights).”

She expects the show to be ready next year and will take place at the Trinity Lutheran Church.

Maddox Dance Company has accessed the city’s grant in the past. Two years ago, the company received funds for a program called, Local Motion --  creative dance lessons for kids up to age five, and their parents.

                                     (photo courtesy maddoxdance.com)

Mulder says the funds are integral to making programs accessible.

“Because of the grant that I received in 2015, those programs are still being hosted in Lacombe intermittently,” she says.

“It really jumpstarts the project. It helps (reduce) rates for families in Lacombe, to make artistic events and creative opportunities more affordable.”

A list of organizations that also received funding from the 2018 Recreation and Culture Grant Program:

  • Lacombe Arts Guild for Fall Conference of the Arts, $1,250
  • Lacombe Historical Society for Skills for Homesteaders, $700
  • Lacombe Performing Arts Centre Foundation for Culture Programming Project, $4,000
  • Young Adults of Lacombe for YALA Jump Start, $800