Arts council programs cast wide net Applications now open for multiple opportunities

Are you an active creator, an aspiring visual artist or performer, or someone who appreciates locally produced arts and culture? Salt Spring Arts is the local organization with the aim to help you get involved. Supporting access to and participation in the arts for everyone in the Gulf Islands school district, the community arts council offers multiple routes for exploring and expanding a creative life.

Salt Spring Arts’ 50-plus years in the community have seen it develop core programs while also creating special arts initiatives that are responsive, and reflect islanders’ evolving needs, interests and concerns. Bringing arts to the island is one role the arts council fills, ensuring our broad community has many ways to engage in arts and culture with a variety of free-to-access events and installations that are inspiring, engaging and sometimes provoking. Cultural/historical lectures and art talks, visiting exhibitions, mural installations and outdoor concerts in the park are just a few ways that Salt Spring Arts has been building local engagement in the arts over the past couple of years.

Helping people realize richer lives through the arts can also mean direct support for visual artists and makers, such as providing an exhibition and sales venue for more than 100 islanders every summer at the Artcraft Gallery. It can mean funding innovative arts educators for sessions in local classrooms. Or it can be small one-time grants that help islanders realize their community art projects.

Community members who are wondering how they can be part of these programs will find lots of information on the organization’s website, saltspringarts.com. Check out the Artist Calls section this month to apply to the 2023 Artcraft show, and/or to submit an exhibition proposal for the 2024 Showcase season. Online application forms are also now open for Artist in the Classroom instructors and workshop proposals for the 2023-24 school year.

Salt Spring Arts’ spring funding cycle also opened on March 1. Look for the Grants and Awards page under Programs to access application forms before April 30. The available awards this period include scholarships for graduating high school students who are going into the arts, and a grant for professional development assistance through the Susan Benson Fund. Grant applications for local projects are also open until the end of April.

Visit https://saltspringarts.com/calls-for-artists/ for more details.

The thyroid is a small but important gland that sits at the front of your neck. The role of the thyroid is to secrete hormones that set the metabolic rate of your body. It determines your body temperature and plays a huge role in your energy levels. It also affects your digestion, your cellular metabolism, hair growth, how much you sweat, your weight, and your mental health.

This means that if your thyroid is under-functioning, you may feel fatigued and experience some combination of weight gain, constipation, depression, hair loss, or dry skin. You may also notice feeling cold all the time or being especially sensitive to cold weather. You could also have muscle weakness, heavy menses, memory problems, and painful joints. Of course, not every patient has all of these symptoms, but experience some unique combination of the above list.

As you can see from the symptoms listed above, having a properly functioning thyroid is REALLY important. And it is not only thyroid disease that is important to address, but also an under functioning thyroid. This is quite common, especially in women – one can have thyroid function that is not outright ABNORMAL on labs but suboptimal relative to what would support a person feeling their best.

Thyroid testing involves assessing TSH (or thyroid stimulating hormone), the hormone that comes from the pituitary in the brain and sends the signal to the thyroid to start working. If it is high, the signal is loud and it is trying really hard to tell the thyroid to start working. The thyroid may not be listening and responding well, and this is a sign you have a thyroid issue.

In the conventional medical world TSH is typically the only thyroid test that is run. However, this test does not provide a full picture. it is also helpful to test T3 and T4 (or triiodothyronine and thyroxine), which are the hormones that are produced by the thyroid. This is important because these can out of range even if your TSH is normal.

In addition I also like to test for autoimmune antibodies against the thyroid. This is a common cause of thyroid issues and known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I test these antibodies because with any health imbalance I always ask the question “WHY is this happening?”. If it is an autoimmune cause, we can begin to work on strategies to balance your immune system and reverse this process.

If there is no autoimmune condition I explore other causes. In many cases certain nutrient deficiencies can impair thyroid function. This is something I see often in my practice, and gentle treatment with nutrients and herbs can make an important difference in helping a person feel better.

If you have a thyroid condition your health can be affected in a variety of profound and diverse ways. If you would like to learn more about thyroid health, I invite you to get in touch!