Many Brains. One Heart.

Heath Fletcher 0:02
Hey there, welcome to the many brains one heart podcast. If you're looking for some feel good stories from people who are changing the world, you've come to the right place. We've got a collection of interviews with some amazing individuals who aren't afraid to share their ups and downs on their journey towards making a difference. Sure, it takes a lot more than one brain to make things happen. But when you've got a group of passionate people working together, there is no limit to what can be accomplished. So grab a seat, sit back, and let's get to the heart of the matter. Welcome to episode number three. My guest today is Rodney Goodchild. And was that for

Rodney Goodchild 0:43
That was just me confirming that that's correct.

Heath Fletcher 0:48
My guest today is Rodney Goodchild. He is the manager of the burning community art center. It's great to have you here. It's great to be on this podcast. We've talked about podcasts a lot over the way

Rodney Goodchild 0:59
Over the years. Yeah. flirted with the idea.

Heath Fletcher 1:04
So here we are. We're on one finally. Well, thanks.

Rodney Goodchild 1:06
Thanks for having me.

Heath Fletcher 1:07
Let's start with talking about your role at Vernon Community Art Centre and what that art center is. So some people will be listening that know what that is. But there probably be lots of people that have no idea.

Rodney Goodchild 1:20
You know, it's true. It's a it's a bit of a community jam that seems to be hidden in the open, if that makes sense. So we're under the umbrella of the Arts Council of the North Okanagan, the Arts Council of the North Okanagan has two remits one, promote arts and culture within our community, working with our stakeholders, with our community groups. And with sort of, sort of the city of around tourism RDNO You know, all those people, just to, to build on what we already have. And the other remit is then we have to execute our community art center, which is me, the bricks and mortar, the building that we have in Polson Park, everyone describes it as the one right behind the Science Center, which I want to replace by people go on. Is that right beside the community art center when they talk about the science center, but yeah, no, we're not there just yet. So yeah, it's we've been we've been going for, for I think, 30 years, we've been in that building for 20. Really, even longer. Where was it before that?

Heath Fletcher 2:29
The Boys and Girls Club? Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's before my time here.

Rodney Goodchild 2:34
Yeah, yeah. And you find this out, like, in my role, I'm just, I'm just a custodian right now. Yeah. Like, and you meet people over time, that have played their part in the growth of it, whether it be the Arts Council, or the Community Arts Center. And that is sort of something that we are going through that transition right now, we are identifying the two different arms of the organization, we have the Arts Council, and we have a manager for that. Their role is to work with community and then you have the Art Center, which is myself, different branding, different website, different look, physical location. We're, we're we share the same building. But we are two we offer two distinctly different things.

Heath Fletcher 3:22
And you the Art Center offers a lot. It's not you know, eight, that's that facilities pretty amazing the stuff you've got in there.

Rodney Goodchild 3:31
And what we can offer is huge all under one roof. I have yet to come across a place that can offer what we can offer within the Province of BC so we are able to offer its arts education is what we do for all levels. And for all ages. So we're offering courses in clay, glass, fiber drawing, painting, printmaking jewelry, and I'm forgetting pottery that pottery that's that will be the clay

Heath Fletcher 3:33
Oh, Clay Right. Of course. It's number one. That's the biggest we got. Right. People love it. Yeah, I mean, I've done a class there. I mean, wait until you actually experience it. You don't really know what's what it's what's available there. It's It's It's phenomenal. And the talent that you have not only for what the desire, because your course is fill up to write which is really cool. But also you have the talent in Vernon to teach these courses.

Rodney Goodchild 4:28
That's what makes the place come alive is the staff and the instructors, you know, so we have staff who are administration staff that that helped run the center. And then you'll have instructors who come in specifically for the instruction of a class and then you'll have a combination of staff and instructors and we have many of those. So it really just shows just the passion that that they have for the for the place.

Heath Fletcher 4:53
And I like how it's set up as far as you know, you become a member right so you take a course you don't have to become a member, but you can become a member. But what I liked about it was that taking I think we did printmaking, my son and I, once you're a member, you can come back. And now that you've taken a course we we were able to go back and do our own printmaking on T shirts and stuff like that. But that's really cool opportunity to be able to continue because quite often you do a course, and it was fun. And then it stops there. Because you don't have the tools, you don't have the materials, you don't have the resources to do that at home. But now people can do that they come back to the Art Center and dive back in again, do their own thing, which is really cool.

Rodney Goodchild 5:31
I think you've done a better job describing this place than I am. You? Well, I used it to switch roles. But you've nailed it. And really, the membership comes with the benefit. Become a member. We're a member led organization and we have 750 members, you know, and they can access becoming a member allows you to get a reduced price on the cost of classes. But it also gives you access to the studio use. So programming is obviously very important to us. And we have a number of structured programming hours throughout the week. But we have set times and hours and days where people can come in and use the specialized studios with a specialized equipment to work on their own projects. And you see the advancement, you see someone that will start as a beginner clay class, they'll take a beginner wheel class. And after a couple of weeks, once they get an orientation of this of the studio, they get an education on what has to happen for a community center to operate. And sort of the guidelines and principles that we have, they can come back in and start working on their own projects. And you see that advancement, because after a couple of weeks, couple of months. They go you know, I'm gonna take now the intermediate class or the B level class, and they work their way up. And you see, you know, you you see the achievement, yeah, someone comes in, and I can't do anything to producing some beautiful and there's some beautiful pieces of work that come out of that center. It's pretty special.

Which we all get to see. In the in the major fundraiser. You do Artsolutely, right, because a lot of people participate in that at some point, right?

Artsolutely is our it's our major fundraiser it's been going for, I think this is the 17th year, the 19th year I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's a long time started by Patricia Doyle. I'm sure she wasn't alone in that. And Patricia dollars as a staff member, longtime staff member, longtime instructor with us, just has so much passion and love for it still to this day. Ooh, just we get so many compliments about her. I'm sure her and a team founded this idea of an arts fair, arts market if you like. And it's moved around a little bit over at the start on location before it became the home of the Art Center. And it just grown in popularity. And you know, it was pretty big before COVID hit and COVID hit it rocketed to a whole new level.

Just the whole emphasis on supporting local shopping local people realized that this was here. Now it's like anything is getting a message out. The key thing that we haven't mentioned here were nonprofit organizations. You know, we don't have resources we can just throw around particularly for marketing, or investment in promotion or so we rely a lot on our members and our membership and communicating with them. And for them to get that word out and help us share that message.

Heath Fletcher 8:52
Yeah, you brought up a good point, let's talk about nonprofit and some of the challenges of running a nonprofit, particularly in the arts industry. What kind of challenges did you run into when to when you took this position? Because you've been there two years now?

Rodney Goodchild 9:09
Right? So yeah, sure. years? Yeah, a couple of weeks. Yeah. When you're not countin, im not countin. I want to make it clear on the ground. So there's, there's some nonprofits out there that rely solely on grant funding, operational funding, applying for it. And no matter how much money that they get, the demand for their services will outstrip what they can do. You know, I want to make it very clear that there's those people really are up against it. I have a tangible, right. I have something people want, right. And it's not me obviously, it's the center of the center can generate a good proportion of its own revenue. So we're very lucky that way. So does although grant funding and operational funding is vital and we need it. You know, we also can work in terms of building up our own revenue sources, right, whether that's through programming and the diversity of programming and ensuring we get, you know, we constantly changing and up in terms of what we offer in terms of finding. And the key thing is finding good quality instructors to come in education. We also have an art shop, where that's it's juried in, so this is people that that either make work at the Art Center, or they make it at home, they apply to sell work. So these are local artists, whether they're doing it on a part time or full time base, sell their work. Within our center, we get a commission for that. We have art supplies, we obviously sell paint brushes, and paint and clay and clay tools and glass and glass tools. Our building is huge. It's an old school building little Fulton school. Yeah, the high school, right. Yeah, the old shop. So we've got these huge studios that local member groups rent out, you know, when they hold their meetings, you know, like we have, there's the carve Okanagan carvers, there's the rock and lapidary club, there's photography club, there's the Okanagan artists or Canada, the Federation of Canadian artists of the North, Okanagan. I'm scared to miss one now. The gardening club? I think that's the more I'm sure there's another one. But you know, and they're all members of ACNO, right. There are member groups, all that know. And being a member of ACNO for a community group, they get the opportunity to rent space within

Heath Fletcher 11:32
Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot, there's a ton going on there.

Rodney Goodchild 11:36
And then we also have our center gallery. And each month, our marketing coordinator does a great job in creating and coming up with ideas each month, where the show will change. So right now, or tomorrow, Wednesdays go up. Later, Oh, no. Well, I'm gonna say May 2023. We're having what we call the mugs of May. Oh, so these are just mugs, hundreds of models that I got from all different artists that are going to be sold. And it's a bit of a fundraiser for us as well. Mugs, people like mugs, great gift, it's a tangible, you can use it people understand that we just finished for April. The show was raining cats and dogs, which was all our members. Not all of them. But many of our members come in submitted artwork of you know, their theme and that thing. That's cool. And the theme is very broad as your own interpretation. Sure. And we've got many changes each month then mugs event is that annual it has been the last I think it's this is the third year. Yeah. And it's successful. Yeah, yeah. Sort of really build on it. Yeah.

Heath Fletcher 12:52
Yeah, it's cool. Because really, you've got, I mean, yes, your nonprofit, but you're also you're a business, you're and you're always looking for new ways to increase that. And you know, so you're, you're always you're juggling that to nonprofit running a business creating revenue.

Rodney Goodchild 13:09
Yeah, I think there is a balance. Yeah. You know, it's not necessarily profit driven. Right, for sure. We are, we're member driven, we're opportunity driven. We're, we're space driven, we're creativity driven. You know, but my view would be that we also have to be responsible as well. You know, so it's a balance.

Heath Fletcher 13:30
What do you find the most challenging aspect of all that?

Rodney Goodchild 13:34
I don't know, the challenging, you know, I'm sure there are, there's the daily challenges, you know, there's, there's lots to it, you know, we have many members, you know, when it's very, very difficult to when you have so many members, so many users using particular studios, you know, you can't you have to be restrictive sometimes and, and well in the do's and the don'ts, that becomes very black and white at times and you lose this personal touch. But you know, you try and balance that, but you have to sort of think of the greater picture. And the challenges would be just make it another thing, the biggest challenge that faces the Vernon Community Art Center, is it maybe awareness, showcasing what we have within our building? It really is not just to the residents of Vernon, but also to the decision makers and to the you know, to the people that that run our city on our on our Regional District, and they know they support us while just educating like what does what do we offer our community you know, and that's a lot of members and they're not just from Vernon, North Okanagan. We get some far away from Kelowna and Lake Country. A few more from you know, little further afield Salmon Arm, but predominantly, it's going to come from the north, Okanagan. Right.

Heath Fletcher 14:52
So two years you've been there, and then you took on a really big you took on a big project When you took that position, you took on a rebrand. And you took on a new website.

Rodney Goodchild 15:10
Those are big those were we changed. We've changed a lot in the last couple of years. And you know, careful with my wording when I say COVID was horrendous for many, many people. Sure. And it was. But it had a real positive impact on the Berlin community art center. And by what I mean by that is, sort of pushed us into making changes that we hadn't done previously pushed us into doing things that will benefit the center moving forward. And whether that's going online, putting on an E-commerce system, or changing our systems and procedures, moving to a booking system, to how we how we accept members into our system. And, you know, there was some funding available for us to ensure arts and culture groups continued and maintained. So we took those resources, and we really did improve how we operate. And the key thing we did was we give, we give ownership back to our members. Previously, we were pretty, we were analog, we were papers and pans. We were Excel spreadsheets and telephones. So if you wanted to book something, or you wanted to go, you had to contact us whether you to physically come in or call us. Right, you know, people are counseling, and there's a lot of administration where we've gone online. It's not rocket science, but we have the resources to do it. And now, the members can now book online, they can decide when they want to go to a show, when the when they want to go to a class or when they want to use a drop in studio, they can cancel it, they can renew their membership all themselves online. Amazing.

Heath Fletcher 16:50
Yeah, that's amazing. And that just, you know, do you think, do you think that because of COVID? Do you think because people were forced to stay home forced to stay in their communities that they went looking in their own communities for things to do? And other things to tap into? Do you think that's what changed? How, how people saw the Art Center? Or how maybe they that's how they discovered the Art Center? If they didn't know it was there before? But do you think that was what maybe brought people down there? I mean, I kind of think that way about a lot of things are in COVID. It's like, I think we all discovered trails and parks and campgrounds that we never knew existed because we had to stay home and no one was going anywhere. And it made us explore, you know, our own environments more. So do you think that had an impact on that?

Rodney Goodchild 17:41
And it must, it must have had an impact and a positive impact in that. But I think there's also something underlying there on the grounds that, you know, I don't think I can give you dates. There's this underlying need to create, and to produce, and to explore your own creativity. And even though I'm not, I don't come from an arts background, I'm not what I would deem as artistic. But there's creativity within me for sure. And I recognize that yeah, when people go, Oh, I could never do that. You could, it might not be as good as other people. But if you can explore and you can find something. So I think there has been this culture, where we're going back to this space where we're making ourselves, we're renewing ourselves, we're repairing where we're no longer buying something when we know we can make right. And I think this is all part

Heath Fletcher 18:36
of it. Yeah, the silver linings. Yeah,

Rodney Goodchild 18:40
you know, this that's underlying, particularly in our culture where we want to create we want to produce we want to renew. Yeah, like that. Yeah. And the Art Center gives people that place to connect with those. And that's a big hub. It is a hub. People find their people within the art center, right. So allows people come together, and we have groups that will come we look open, clay classes or open paint classes. We're just a group of individuals come together and work on their own projects, but they're doing it in a community setting.

Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, yes. Yeah.

My knowledge of, of art. It can be a lonely process.

Heath Fletcher 19:22
You know, yeah. Yes. Because you're you stay at home you paint at home, if that's what you're doing painting. And how often do you get together and you know, communal paint? Yeah. We can do that. Yeah, you have this? Yeah. Do you have the facilities to do set up paint? Like, can they drink wine while they paint?

Rodney Goodchild 19:41
No, we do have classes. We do have. We have a number of classes. So you know, the style of of teaching. So we'll have we'll have like a clay class that you could learn how to throw a pot on a wheel. It's over six or eight weeks. So it's once a week, couple hours a week for eight weeks, and then we will also have like a Friday night Clay and Cabernet evening. And that's come down a couple of friends by yourself, you know, you pick a spot. And you make by the end of the evening, three hours you make, you know, you make an item, tangible item that you can use at home, and you get a glass of wine. Nice. So yeah, and we've got to Paint and Sip and we've got a I think a Glass and Gewurztraminer. That's good for him to Print and Pinot maybe. But then their popularity things. Yeah, you know, coming down to group. Yeah, friends date nights. Yeah, that's

Heath Fletcher 20:41
Yeah, really cool. Awesome. And everything now is on the website. So everything goes there you go find out, find the program, find the course, find the workshop, sign up.

Rodney Goodchild 20:52
We offer a lot. That's, you know, one of them, you know, we probably I know have missed out key things like another big program that we have, is Joining Hands, offers arts education for adults living with different abilities. And it's a program that runs twice a week, all day, no cost, it's funded part funded by PC Gaming. And it's a really enjoyable program, we have one instructor that coordinates it and structure it. And it's, it's a popular program that comes through. individuals tend to love it. The highlight of the center when they come and go, and they bring bring a lot of joy, you know, to the center and to the staff and to the members and the users.

Heath Fletcher 21:38
That's cool. I like that one, too. What about kids? Is it a kids does their kids programs as well,

Rodney Goodchild 21:44
Lots of kids program.

Heath Fletcher 21:46
Summer camps, summer camps?

Rodney Goodchild 21:47
We do we do kids programs all year round and want to attend like, like an expo community expo where we go, when we showcase the chamber or those style of events. I'm always reluctant to bring our kids information, because sort of people do seem to know us for youth. And we're much bigger than that, right?

Heath Fletcher 22:09
But youth is a key part I was gonna ask you about youth youth is yes.

Rodney Goodchild 22:13
We do really well in offering programs and encouraging children and youth to come in from the ages of maybe five to 14, and then the sort of 15, up 15 to 20. Actually, it's even more than that. It's 15 to probably 35 We don't do well with I think it's sort of that stage in life where art is not always a priority for the sort of the the older teens. And if it is, the community art center is not the place for them, or there, we haven't been able to create it. So they're that it is their spot, right? And then, you know, you get into our 20s or early 30s you're settling down here, you know, you're building life, you're recruiting families, so, you know, your artistic endeavors get set in the backseat.

Heath Fletcher 23:07
You're focused on the kids. So you get the kids involved in stuff and you know.

Rodney Goodchild 23:11
We get lots of people come back when I was in school, or when I was younger, I did this a lot. Yeah, and now they come back.

Heath Fletcher 23:17
And then the empty nester is, of course, have more free time and more cash in their pocket.

Rodney Goodchild 23:23
You know, we try to put on, you know, programs that fit that.

Heath Fletcher 23:30
You hear quite often that you know, and I had teenagers, have teenagers, there's always talk about why it's not enough for youths to do around here. You know, I don't know, I don't know what it is that they need. Particularly, I mean, they need a place to hang with other people but right, they find all that online now. It's it's hard to compete with that when they find their communities, you know, through through their computers, you know,

Rodney Goodchild 23:53
We could probably be doing more in terms of digital art.

Heath Fletcher 23:59
Yeah, you know, yeah, maybe Yeah,

Rodney Goodchild 24:01
Another, you know, for there for that, and tech especially.

Heath Fletcher 24:05
Somthings that's tech, but also creative and artistic.

Rodney Goodchild 24:09
We have we have the space. Yeah, actually, we even have equipment. Oh, really slacking instruct. Ah, actually, there's a pair to penny drop. So we did have an instructor not my time, but I was told a couple of years ago, she worked for Sproing. Oh, yeah. And then she left spring to start her own business. Amanda possibly, possibly. But she was an instruction that she likes.

Heath Fletcher 24:37
Yeah, that's exactly it because she Yeah, she came from she has an Arts degree from Ontario in Ottawa, I believe. Yeah. Amanda. So you she used to be a graphic designer? Yes. All makes sense. Now. No, every right now she owns Kaleco. Okay. Yeah. Well, that's what she started about.

Rodney Goodchild 24:50
So I'll just see her she's got our own stuff on her plate rather than coming in depth.

Heath Fletcher 24:57
She owns Antler. She's got two business two stores. the gents place? Yeah, that's her suit. Yeah. The Kaleco right beside The Roxy and then Antler down.

Rodney Goodchild 25:06
Beside we're Brenda Hala Photography was. Yeah.

Olive Us.

Heath Fletcher 25:13
All of us. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, maybe there needs to be a filmmaking programming at the Art Center?

Rodney Goodchild 25:20
One of these days. We're keen to expand our programming. Yes, man, but we offer Yeah,.

Heath Fletcher 25:26
That's cool. So you're obviously not from Vernon?

Rodney Goodchild 25:32
You know, how do you know? How do you know I've been in a stereotype who was from Vernon?

Heath Fletcher 25:41
But how can you tell? You know.

Rodney Goodchild 25:44
Someone will say Oh, yeah, I'm born in Vernon. You're born in Vernon. Wow.

Heath Fletcher 25:51
It's a rarity. It is I've only met a handful.

Rodney Goodchild 25:55
Unfair because a lot of my family were born in Vernon.

Heath Fletcher 25:58
Well, my kids are born ever. Yeah. No, they weren't. They were born in Calgary. What am I talking? i've been here so long? I feel like they were born in Vernon. Yeah. But when did you you moved here a year before me? 2006 I arrived? Yeah. Oh, yeah a year after me. Right.

Rodney Goodchild 26:15
17 years, 17 years, one day, based on today for me to go back to the day where we're filming, recording. Filming and recording?

Heath Fletcher 26:24
Yeah, actually, you I think you were we've talked about this before. You're one of the first people I met because we lived block from your living at the at the hostel.

Rodney Goodchild 26:34
The old Hostel? And yeah, well, yeah. At the time, just to clear it up for the listeners it was converted into rental accommodation. Apartment. Yes. But that was a fantastic house. Yeah, it was really reflection here and didn't really get me involved in the community aspect. Because before that, maybe I was just sort of a bit wonderous. had moved around a lot, you know, but isolated a bit immune to what or how house how community works or how society works, you know, head in the sand just worrying about myself. Yeah.

Heath Fletcher 26:34
Lone wolf.

Rodney Goodchild 26:36
Yeah, to a point. Yeah. It's probably to Canada in the first place. You know, sort of, I needed to change why here though. I had family environment. And I had come. I have come for a fantastic holiday. When I was like 23. And then it came again in the summer. For my cousin's wedding, I was just fabulous. And then I can remember coming again, pretty close after that. Over Christmas and New Year. So I got to experience the two extremes. Yeah, the valley offered. And I think my cousin said you should come. They weren't they were fantastic beam integrated me. You know. So here I am. 17 years on one day later.

Heath Fletcher 28:03
That's cool. Yeah. And so I live in that house there. There was lots of opportunity to meet people because that was quite a hub of people in that yeah, it was a lot of them are so are still here and doing stuff in town here. Yeah. But there was they used to have a get together in that house.

Rodney Goodchild 28:22
Are you're gonna say the Red Lips Party. The Red Lips Party Yeah.

Heath Fletcher 28:27
You met a lot of people here in that through those events. Those are great. That was such a great space. Yeah, house 100 plus year old house Heritage House. Yeah. Yeah, that was fun. And I met you. Yeah, I met you there. Yeah, I think I met either one of the dinner parties or something like that. But and then you went, Uh, you were doing all kinds of other things prior to the Art Center. Well, you were you were a purveyor of

Rodney Goodchild 28:58
well it really um, probably know me most for Okanagan Spirits. Right. So I was with Okanagan Spirits for 10 years. Really, I came in at the right time, they were just starting out. I was here. They needed a sales guy that in a marketing guy, and I said, I'm not too sure I'm a sales or marketing guy. So good to have the money for us as a marketing guy. You'll be great.

Heath Fletcher 29:22
You're perfect. Really perfect.

Rodney Goodchild 29:23
And yeah, so that business your exotic your. Yeah, so yeah. So 10 years with them, you know, the business changed a lot over the years. Yeah, it was a lot of you know, and it's a liquor industry. So it's exciting and the right age for it to the right energy for it was really good, nice to see it grow. And it's still growing. It's becoming an awesome success.

Heath Fletcher 29:47
And that was a great way to connect with people in the community to because you know, they were at lots of, you know, whether it was a business after five or fundraisers or anything like that you were there.

Rodney Goodchild 29:57
We would do a lot. Yeah. A lot of those events to showcase So our organization group we offered and then also we did a lot of events and house cocktail events. Yeah. A lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, they were awesome. They were awesome. And then also, do you remember the night that we won the chamber award? Chamber Award? It's 11 o'clock. Well, I know somewhere we can go. Don't be telling anyone. These are probably it's.

It was an after party. It was an after party.

I do remember that was a fun. Yeah.

Heath Fletcher 30:30
There was a few people there. Yeah, sure.

Rodney Goodchild 30:34
We're gonna go home. Wow, can I take my award home?

Heath Fletcher 30:44
Then you did something new. A couple of other things after that, right?

Rodney Goodchild 30:49
Myself and Gabrielle my partner, Gabrielle Strong. She's an artist. An amazing artist.

Heath Fletcher 30:56
She's very talented. I have one Oh, no, I have a Strong you have a strong, I do.

Rodney Goodchild 31:02
Myself and got back we founded a company called GRO Organics. And we, we ended up acquiring the Weeds and Seeds brand. Yeah. We had that sort of from 2017 2018. So it's no longer with us. It's not something we have anymore. But it was good for a couple of years. And then I was working with a Sport and Culture Society, Sport and Culture Society, was an organization set up to work with sports organizations to bring, you know, to bring tournaments to bring people into our community. You know, there's lots of people that would like to do something they just don't know, how do we do it? Like, what are the things we should be aware of? You know, where do we get volunteers from? Where do we, you know, get hotel nights? How do we put on an event?

Heath Fletcher 31:51
you were there for the kickoff of the birth that baby.

Rodney Goodchild 31:55
COVID started, and there's no events. Actually, I was chatting to one of the directors not that long ago, but this in a sense, it actually helped again, COVID helping out, because what allowed us to do was build an infrastructure, build some resources. So we could go to, you know, community groups and say, look, here's an event toolkit. Here's all the things you need to know. You know, that took some time. Yeah, so you know, I believe those are those toolkits are starting to be used now.

Heath Fletcher 32:30
I think they are. Yeah, Josh is rolling those out. Yeah.

Rodney Goodchild 32:33
Which is awesome. Yeah.

Heath Fletcher 32:36
And then you did you did a little bit of anyone I only know this because I know you quite well is a get into the puppy business.

Rodney Goodchild 32:45
We did not get into the puppy business. We have puppies Yes.

Ah, so So yes, we had a litter of pups during COVID. They were so cute. We had five puppies. And Poppy man, my, my girl. She had five beautiful pups. And we found five homes for them there was toggling. So we have right now we have three dogs, because we're collecting. So we do collect, collect. I don't know what to collect. We have Otis. He is our Oh, of Grow. Gabrielle Rodney & Otis. Otis, he's, he's an older. He is 14 now. Poppy, is now five. But even if you go back a couple of years, you know, the gap between them? Just there was no engagement or is it no time for you know, a young, spritely puppy dog. Yeah, yeah. So we discussed, you know, should we get Poppy a little friend and we sort of thought, Well, it'd be nice if you know, we had a litter. Maybe we could keep one. And so we had the litter and we found a beautiful start up and lay country. We weren't looking and just sort of came to us. We had the five pups. And the hardest thing about the pups was actually finding homes. Although it was very easy during COVID.

Heath Fletcher 34:33
You guys got emotionally connected. I mean, that's a that's a it's a big job. It's your you want them to go to a good or not.

Rodney Goodchild 34:40
That is probably the hardest part. It's this is why we're sort of saying we don't we're not is an emotional connection to you want him to go to the best place in the first time. We found just five awesome homes just through either word of mouth or just our own network. And we're still in touch with all of those pumps today, you know four out of five.

Heath Fletcher 35:05
One of them is grand pup of my neighbor.

Rodney Goodchild 35:09
Well actually that's because we did this twice. Remember?

Heath Fletcher 35:15
Twice, but you're not in the puppy business?

Rodney Goodchild 35:19
If Poppy was here right now she would tell you we're definitely not in the business.

So we had two letters one we then kept we kept Daisy so another five pups one state in town we're still close, one went to the island two went the island actually, which was a fabulous trip. I got to take them justice two pups on the ferry. I'm showing them holding them out over the ferry. I wanted to make it we are not in the puppy business.

Heath Fletcher 36:03
I said that, you didn't.

Rodney Goodchild 36:06
We love our pups, we love them or what kind of pups what kind of dog are they're Poodles so medium poodle so amazing. Poppy is about 25 pounds. Her daughter Daisy will probably get to around 30 pounds Oh she'll be bigger than just taller cool, but yeah, so Daisy is now 10 months Poppy is five in May of 2023 all reference to it less than less than five years he's got a puppy.

Heath Fletcher 36:38
Gabrielle is about to do another art show right?

Rodney Goodchild 36:43
Gabrielle has a she has acquired a new gallery there's a new gallery opening in North Vancouver . So her her work or her fine artwork is very much landscape coastal. So it's geared to the coast. So I know she's got a successful gallery in Victoria. And this would be another one in North Van. So she's doing a body work right now. She likes the coast loves the coast yes she's from the coast and she reminds me all the time. How lovely it was back there. I said sure. We'll just move back to Kitsilano or buy a house.

Heath Fletcher 37:15
Just easy easy peasy lemon squeezy. Sell a few more paintings.

Rodney Goodchild 37:22
Sell a few more dogs.

Heath Fletcher 37:28
Just to live in Kitsilano, Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we didn't I can't we I said you. You're obviously not from here, but it actually didn't we actually discuss where you are from.

Rodney Goodchild 37:41
I'm from Northern Ireland. So I was born there. I lived there for 20 years. And then I moved to London for two years. And then I moved to a place called Stoke on Trent for four years. And so a million population million, maybe a million and a half population.

Heath Fletcher 38:04
Only in England. Would you call something Stoke on Trent.

Rodney Goodchild 38:07
Stoke on Trent stoke on the Trent. The Trent is the river Trent. Yes, stoke okay, I'm sure I'm sure we use terms like that.

Vernon on... Toke on the Lake but not Stoke on the Trent.

Vernon on Kal?

Heath Fletcher 38:25
Coldstream on Kal, Coldstream on Kal? Yeah. Vernon on BX.

Rodney Goodchild 38:31
Vernon on Vernon Creek.

Heath Fletcher 38:34
So, and then some couple of your other hobbies you love hunting and fishing and all that?

Rodney Goodchild 38:40
I do. Yeah, it's something that burnand brought to me. Yeah, that's probably one of the reasons not hunting and fishing. More of the outdoors. Like I've never experienced anything like yeah, just to like when you come from populated areas, you just accept that they're just populated. And that's what it is. Yeah. But really the outdoors is really what drives me to go up into the, into the woods or you know, just be so remoot, remote, remoot. r

Heath Fletcher 39:07
Remoot? That's probably an English phrase.

Rodney Goodchild 39:12
My mom will listen to this show go remoot?

I just love it. Yeah, I love it.

Heath Fletcher 39:18
I think that's what keeps most of us here. It's like it's so you get here. You come here for political reason. I came here for family too. But it's like what keeps you here? It's like it's just where we are. It's like yeah, it's pretty special.

Rodney Goodchild 39:31
I've been really enjoying it so whether it's Gabrielle's not big into the huntin the fishing, but foraging mushrooms in the fall. Yeah. so fabulous.

Heath Fletcher 39:44
Which we still want to do with you guys. Well, you know, we gotta wait to see when is over? Yeah,

Rodney Goodchild 39:52
September October time. Yeah, for the snow when the rains are in. So many awesome place.

Heath Fletcher 39:58
I'd like to do that. But The type of fishing the dots, you typically go to the coast for that.

Rodney Goodchild 40:04
We do. I'm very lucky to have some some friends that come together each year and head out to the far side of the island. So we did come back with some beautiful, yeah, good sized fish.

Heath Fletcher 40:17
Really we're here but I mean, that's like a day to get to the coast where you can fish for salmon. bed ready pretty awesome.

Rodney Goodchild 40:27
just unheard of really? Yeah. I come from a world where you just went to the supermarket for your food. And it goes back to maybe what I was saying about how we're taking back ownership where we started to make things ourselves are starting to grow things ourselves, whether it be bread, whether it be vegetables in your garden, whether it be hunting, fishing, foraging, whether it be making your own clothes, whether it be making your own pots, making you know we're no longer relied upon this commercial machine.

Heath Fletcher 40:57
It was a good lesson for people to realize that things can run out.

Rodney Goodchild 41:03
Supply chains. Yeah, you know.

Heath Fletcher 41:05
The shelves may not always be full or have the things you just expect are there.

Rodney Goodchild 41:12
We are privileged because we go yeah, we grow apples and apples are delicious, but I want an orange I want to kiwi I want a papaya you know a mango, a pineapple. Lemons, limes we don't grow those here no yet we expect to see them on the shelves when we walk in through the door I want one we have to appreciate what we do grow we can't sustain but anyway that's my views on that, big strong, big strong views. That might be my platform.

Heath Fletcher 41:54
I know we we both like beer so that's something else that we we do share since we share.

Rodney Goodchild 42:00
Full disclosure we would meet on the regular for a beer. Why they need to know that?

Heath Fletcher 42:05
I don't know, their not even listening anymore. Next!

Rodney Goodchild 42:21
I'm gonna go back to Dauna Kennedy

Heath Fletcher 42:26
Any hidden places or secrets or things that above Vernon that you love the most that you want to share?

Rodney Goodchild 42:33
Yeah, not necessarily Vernon but like King Eddie. Just Just go up a little bit further from everyone else. You know, topping it rise above keep just keep going. Just keep going. You come into just some beautiful areas that overlook Vernon.

Heath Fletcher 42:52
There is everything out there fishing, camping, hiking, it's all their.

Rodney Goodchild 42:56
Nature and its finest.

Heath Fletcher 42:59
Is that where you tend to go to for hunting.

Rodney Goodchild 43:02
No, not necessarily. We will probably go further afield. But I just you know I do like just going up there. I went up there. Take the dogs.

Heath Fletcher 43:08
I honestly haven't been I've been up there for a couple of hikes with the dog. But I haven't. I haven't gotten a lot up there. There's a parachuting goes off. Well, yeah, I've seen I've been up there to see somebody take off and do that.

Rodney Goodchild 43:22
They can get all the way along me. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. It'd be an awesome way to go though. I'm not great with heights.

Heath Fletcher 43:31
No, I don't I don't think I'd do it either.

Rodney Goodchild 43:34
Yeah, it'll be alittle nervous. Yeah, unless we did the tandem. But then I'd worry that we're both going to die.

Heath Fletcher 43:42
Doesn't someone have to drive? So it couldn't be you and me. You'd have to be like, I'd like to go with somebody that knows what the hell they're doing.

Rodney Goodchild 43:51
Two amateurs.

Heath Fletcher 43:58
Okay, this is fun. Did we capture everything

Rodney Goodchild 44:02
Actually I could sense you a wrapping up there. And I'm sort of thinking oh, what did I miss about the Art Center?

Heath Fletcher 44:08
How long have we been going anyway? I didn't even realize.

Rodney Goodchild 44:13
30 minutes, maybe 20 minutes. 25 minutes. Really? I know I can talk. Yeah. verbal diarrhea.

Heath Fletcher 44:23
Yeah, we could touch on arts and culture as a whole round around Vernon, I suppose. Yeah. Because you're in the hub of it.

Rodney Goodchild 44:29
I can talk and I suppose in a sense, I don't want to step on anyone's toes for that, because we do have, you know, that is the Arts Council role. And we have a manager there, Shona Patenaude. Right. That is her role. And that's what she's growing that and rolling that and getting integrated in in that culture. So I can talk that it's, you know, on top level, just how vibrant it is and what we offer and seeing things such as culture days last year of which we were part of acne, hosted it. Vernon was the hub and Vernon Community Art Center became part of, of those events. And this year, maybe you know, a little bit more, but there's gonna be the Sundog Festival. Yeah. Which is gonna be an exciting for anyone listening in 2024 it's going to be an exciting festival that we're going to build upon that. So yeah, like there's a lot that's going on.

Heath Fletcher 45:19
It seems like there's, there's a there's a there's a growth in the industry? And I don't know if it's because we have I mean, I know based on studies, there's like 8600 people who actually make a living off in the arts and culture, industry and live right here.

Rodney Goodchild 45:37
I did see those stats coming out of the Regional District. But I know ourselves. I know ourselves, just the demand for programming and the number of users that are coming into use our Studios is it's I can't obviously comment whether it's record high, but it's higher than it's been in the last couple of years. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah. Which is awesome.

Heath Fletcher 45:56
I don't know what you think, is the biggest challenge for arts and culture here. I mean, besides funding, I mean, I guess there's never really enough funding for things like that. But is there other challenges that that we're seeing?

Rodney Goodchild 46:12
How political do want to get and that's unfair, you know, we do get great support. But we're a sports town. Sports is the driver, and I don't I think people understand sports, it's black and white, there's a winner, and there's a loser. You know, it's very simple to understand what sports can do, they can visually see it, they can see how it brings in, you know, revenue and hotel beds, you know, what with culture, like, it's not a black and white tangible, but the research says it is people will come and stay in our community much longer prefer arts and culture than they will do for sports.

Heath Fletcher 46:49
And the the breadth of their spend and their stay reaches many more areas of the economy as well, right?

Rodney Goodchild 46:58
There will be some opinions that would sort of say that the Expand spending or investment arts culture is probably a frivolous as opposed to necessary. But it is necessary to get people in to talk with authority on this, and they will emphasize just how important arts and culture is to their community, the vitality and they ensure just what it breeds from within. And, you know, the Cultural Center would probably be a prime example, you know, how many people are sitting alone? Do we really need it? Is it worth all this money, right? It is, you know, it will bring it will grow and it will, it will pay for itself.

Heath Fletcher 47:34
And the nice thing about the Art Center is that it's reinforcing that by drawing people in letting them find that creative side in themselves, experience things, try things, and then they go back out in the community and share what their experience was.

Rodney Goodchild 47:50
So you know, it's it's not the norm. But you'll have seen people that come in, they're doing a job, I can think of one person and thought in my mind right now, worked in a retail environment, managed to store was very successful. Took a class, loved it, took another class, loved it, perfected that skill, and then went on and made a full time business out of it. Really? Yeah. Wow. And that's one example. I'm sure there's there's lots.

I'm not quick to bash sports. Some sports is big. Yeah, you're a sports guy to watch guy like, I'm on teams, and I love it. And it's yeah, it's an outlet for me. Yeah, enjoy it. And I look forward to it, and the camaraderie and what it brings. Well, that's me. Other people will get all of those things, all that release all that?

Heath Fletcher 48:48
It's not one or the other. No, it's we need both. We need both both. They need, they need to be equally supported. Right. They need to get equal airtime and equal funding. It's not one or the other. Because you're right. Sports does have a role. Yeah. 100% It's important for kids, you know, it's important for grownups. But so is art and culture.

Rodney Goodchild 49:12
I think that's great. Gabrielle mentioned it, that, you know, when she was growing up, so Gabrielle grew up, went through high school. And left, she was she was born in Prince George. She doesn't mention that doesn't matter, keep her secret. And then she came to Vancouver. And you know, she got a number of jobs and she got working on cruise ships. And she went around the world and she loved it. And she came back to sort of like, what am I doing? And she was very creative growing up. And she was one of the best in her art class and all that but no one ever said to me, there's a career in this for you. You know, follow up. Here's where you would go. Gabrielle was unaware of Emily Carr University in Vancouver She didn't find that out too much later in life. And then she essentially she took a class. She qualified and then she was there for three, four years. So she went through that graduate program. And here she was now like, yeah, that's a full time working artists. Yeah. You know what? It's It's tough. It's not. It's not all black and white. No, sure. It's, it's ebbs and flows. But I see what it brings.

Heath Fletcher 50:26
How many times you heard this term starving artists, right. But I mean, art can become a business in its in its own right, you know, and being an artist can become can become a business. Yeah. Okay. It's not always easy for artists to run their own business. And I think that's where they tend to run into blocks and challenges and in that process, but you know, it's very doable, and it's viable.

Rodney Goodchild 50:53
Being true to yourself, too. For sure, you know, no, not changing things up, not sort of making something for the sake of making something, you know, it's a balance.

Heath Fletcher 51:04
It's a balance. Yeah, really is. Yeah, you know, yeah.

Rodney Goodchild 51:12
I have an appreciation for the arts. It's not my background, I've been very fortunate to be in the position I am in, I really am coming in, from an administration point of view to help the center make and we talked about some changes already. There's a number of changes happening in the center, and we're continually trying to improve our systems and procedures and raise our profile. You know, we're working on some new, some new signage right now, just to draw people in like we are in a big gray building. But there's so much life that happens inside it. Yeah. How do we get that message across?

Heath Fletcher 51:50
Dare I even bring up Behind the Mask and the mural that you're hoping to put on the back of the of the building, which would be so great. I love that. That one and what a great location for it facing the the skateboard park right.

Rodney Goodchild 52:06
We have a we have a great wall that is very visual perfect from it's not really highway six. It's sort of the quote at the intersection of a corner of a highway six and an alga. Yeah, whatever that is. Yeah. Opposite a A&W, but very, skateboard park, huge exposures. We were approached, obviously, at the art gallery, at the very start to be one of 10 locations around town. We had no hesitation, sir said Yeah, absolutely. We were disappointed. Speak. I'll speak for myself. I was disappointed whenever sort of the negative the negativity came out from him. You know, I get it. The images aren't for everyone. But it's an awesome story. Yeah. You know, obviously, of course, you were involved with the documentary. Yeah. And it's, I think it's a great part of great story, the tale. And we push these issues, sort of stay in my lane here. And I want to get out too much. But mental health is huge. Yeah. And I can speak to it from the Art Center, because I see people come in for their mental health, and it improves it. Oh, yes. So you know, we talked about, you know, population with lived experiences here, you know, and Polson Park is prominent for a lot of those individuals, you know, they come they use the park a, you go through the park. So I thought it was really important that we put a mural up there. Obviously, it got shut down. It's starting to go back up again, there's, there's still a few hoops before any mural would come to come to us. We're looking at, first of all, what does that look like? Yeah, could we get approval? I think that will be the next step. I gotta go. I think even at this stage, I would have to get full Board approval at this stage. It's it's not, it's no longer an operational decision because of how it's been blown up. But I believe we would support it. I know, I have a number of people on our board, who are keen to sort of see it not die, which was a shame, just so much work. So after that, we go to the city.

Heath Fletcher 54:18
It wouls be so great to have it up.

Rodney Goodchild 54:21
There's talk now that it's not just going to be one it would be an amalgamation of all the murals in some way. Yeah. So we're waiting to sort of see what signs are like that.

Heath Fletcher 54:32
It's another it's another, you know, there's a bigger story on that around public art, too, right, which is what the Behind the Mask did, it kind of brought up two things. So you know, our cities approach to public art, but also mental health. And it created those two discussions. It brought up two very important things is that we don't invest in public art, and we should have an actual program around that. And it also brought up the story of mental health, which is what that was supposed to do was supposed to do is trigger that conversation? And I don't know, you know, you know, we I talked to Dauna about it, it's like it did, they did the job they meant to do was to make people talk about mental health, which we got national coverage. Project got national coverage, and it did stimulate a lot of discussion around mental health. So on one hand, it did do one side of its job, but we didn't actually get to put murals up in our city.

Rodney Goodchild 55:30
It's hugely disappointing for those individuals that were involved. Oh, yeah, they were devastated the artists, and also the Art Gallery, and all those stakeholders that were, you know, yeah, ticularly, you know, you particularly the, the 10 individuals and the families and their partners.

Heath Fletcher 55:48
We were filming it, we were in the military. And our purpose was to film it as a, just as a project as an art project to show what the gallery had done and what this project looked like. And so, but of course, in the middle of it, or we ended up in the middle of this controversy. So the ending changed, because it was supposed to be about putting the murals up, and showing how they actually came to be and where they ended up. being displayed. So halfway through, we ended up having to shift gears, and now we were interviewing the participants and getting their feedback on, on how this was affecting them. And so, yeah, there was some negative impact on those individuals. But the same time, you know, they probably, they were, yeah, they were still really happy to be part of the process. And that's what I heard from them every time was that, the, the creative side of it, and that the process of building those masks and telling those stories behind their masks, and why they chose that particular face. And, and, the costume. And they were part of the planning of the photos and everything. And that, you know, they talked about, every one of them talked about how creativity and art was a part of their childhood or their youth. And due to various circumstances, it was no longer a place in their life. And they have really enjoyed bringing that back. And it kind of reignited that little bit of passion that they had. And it was really touching to see them talk about that how, how much they loved that part of it. So when you talk about mental health, and like you say, people doing art and using their creativity and exploring that side of themselves. I think it has a huge benefit for all of us.

Rodney Goodchild 57:37
Yeah, you make a good point. I think there's always in someone's youth. We start off young and we started crawling. We start off all those years until someone says, Well, you need to need to get a career. You need to get a job. Yeah, drummed out. Yeah. And for many people, it's easy for other people's it's a it's a loss.

Heath Fletcher 57:57
We covered a lot. I hope so. Thank you. No, that was fun. Yeah. We'll do it again. You'll come back.

Rodney Goodchild 58:06
Say something else give me another topic. Thanks for keeping us on track.

I'm giving them the thumbs up if anyone's still listening.

Because there's an imaginary audience. Yeah, my mom's she's gonna go right away. We stop recording. Can I can stop.