Crichton Street Public School
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Crichton Street Public School was an elementary school in the New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa.
The first school in the village of New Edinburgh opened in 1838. The school moved to Crichton Street around 1875. In 1887, when New Edinburgh was annexed to Ottawa, this two-room school house became part of the Ottawa school board. The original structure was demolished in 1919, and a new structure designed by W.B. Garwick was erected.
Over time enrollment fell, and the school was frequently threatened with closure. In the 1980s it became one of a number of Ottawa area alternative schools focused on independent and unstructured learning. It was eventually shuttered in 1999.
In 1999 friends and neighbours in New Edinburgh worked together to preserve 200 Crichton - a community hub for over 100 years. These “friends of Crichton” overcame the odds and secured the assistance of all levels of government to help realize the dream of a community: The preservation of public access to a treasured community asset.
The “friends” became incorporated as the Crichton Cultural Community Centre - CCCC[1] and a volunteer board of directors continued to forge partnerships to make public access for community and cultural pursuits a priority. The City of Ottawa recognized early on that the CCCC would require capacity in the form of space and revenue to run a cultural community centre. In 1999 a resolution was passed by city council granting $250,000 for that purpose. It was to be provided through The School of Dance, who would purchase the building from the city, to support the 4Cs capacity.
In 2000, the CCCC, using their Community Room on the 2nd floor, began offering community programming. That year over 500 people used the room for over 20 different community and arts related activities: meetings, rehearsals, yoga, movie nights, cartooning for kids, speaker series etc – something for all ages. The objective was to offer low cost rental space to meet the needs, interests and budgets of all. The scope and number of courses offered had been limited because of capacity - the CCCC was a group of volunteers, with one room, and no additional sources of revenue.
In 2003, this persistent group of volunteers was continuing to look for solutions to deliver on its mission on behalf of New Edinburgh– the CCCC gained charitable status, had become well established in the community, with strong links to other neighbourhood organizations. The resources to hire a semi-part time program coordinator for 2 years were found and an excellent slate of programs were offered with plans for more in the fall of 2003. The board of directors worked to resolve the capacity issues which limit the realization of guaranteed community access to this public space.
In 2004, the CCCC held the first annual Lumière Lantern Festival [2]. Over 2500 people came to witness the magic and beauty of lanterns, performers and costumed participants in lovely Stanley Park.
In 2005, a group of community volunteers committed hundreds of hours into making the Dufferin room usable. This loft style space, while not fully operational, has increased the CCCC capacity. This year also marked the employment of a full time Community Facilitator.
In 2007, we are constantly growing and developing. We are proud to house the MainWorks Artists Cooperative in 4 art studios and two renowned muscians, Caroline Leonardelli and Beverley Robinson, have a music studio in the community centre.
The CCCC offers over 20 weekly courses per week that range from Visual Art, Music, Fitness & Health, Children, and General Interest. As well a wide variety of workshops, performance, exhibits, meetings, auditions and rehearsals, take place at our Centre. Lumière also continues to expand rapidly with 8,500 people attending in 2006, and over 1000 lanterns were created at Lumière workshops and at the festival. ________________________________________ Mission Statement
WHO WE ARE: A volunteer, community-based group committed to the promotion of cultural and community activities in New Edinburgh and the greater Ottawa area. OUR MANDATE: The mandate of the Crichton Cultural Community Centre (CCCC) is to develop the historic Crichton School building into a dynamic artistic regional hub that supports, fosters, facilitates and develops the provision of gathering places and spaces, programming and initiatives or activities that provide to professional and amateur community-based artists and communities, opportunities for creativity, learning, knowledge and development that are accessible, welcoming, diverse, and fun. WHO WE SERVE: The residents of New Edinburgh and the greater Ottawa area. WHAT WE DO: The CCCC provides affordable gathering spaces for the community's cultural, arts and heritage groups. It creates unique initiatives to interweave a diversity of arts experiences into the fabric of the region’s cultural communities and produces and presents activities to bring people of all ages together. HOW WE SERVE: By creating a hub for local community services and activities and fostering a cooperative model of community development that: • reinforces community identity; • provides opportunities for gathering and meeting; • facilitates the sharing of information; • offers diverse activities for learning and development; • responds to and reflects community interests and needs; • encourages liaisons with other community groups and members; and promotes active involvement in the community by all members.
Currently, the 200 Crichton Street building is owned by The School of Dance. The building houses The School of Dance, The School of Dance Artist-In-Residence, The Celia Franca Foundation and the Crichton Cultural Community Centrecommunity centre.
Rex Harrington, a former ballet dancer for the National Ballet of Canada, visited The School of Dance during his last performance of Onegin in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre.
The School of Dance is well known for their 8 year professional training program. Most students who have graduated from this program have one to dance at different school such as NBS.
