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Winnipeg Free Press
07-05-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Thirty-five years of dedication
Sinclair Park Tracy Ball says that if you do a job well enough, they won't let you go. The phrase just about describes her whole career so far: 35 years of dedicated service to the North End community, with 14 of them at her current position of president at Sinclair Park Community Centre — a career which is being recognized on a national level. Ball was one of the local recipients of the annual King Charles III medal, a national award program overseen by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Awards are given to 30,000 Canadians each year. Supplied photo Tracy Ball was one of the local recipients of the annual King Charles III medal, a national award program overseen by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. Awards are given to 30,000 Canadians each year. To qualify, eligible candidates must 'have made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community of Canada, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada,' according to the official government website. Ball said that the moment left her breathless: 'Wait — me?' 'That was a big moment,' she said. 'I never saw myself that way. You get stuck in the little everyday work, and you don't take a look at the bigger picture.' 'Every time I win an award, or someone says 'good job,' I feel humbled, but I'm still left with that imposter syndrome,' she said, adding that hearing what other recipients were accomplishing added to that. However, Ball said she was able to feel fulfilled in knowing that she had accomplished things on a similar level. After being told she would never have children, Ball decided to dedicate her life to youth anyway, in the form of working in childcare and teaching. 'I'd always work with kids,' Ball said, adding that if she weren't involved somehow, she'd find another way to do it. 'When they're challenged, kids are much more likely to reach those goals if there's someone with them and walking with them … if we don't help them learn there are people who care about them, they won't care about anyone, not even themselves.' To her surprise, Ball was able to have two kids — only 18 months apart — but stayed on the same route by volunteering throughout their childhoods, she said. She started putting in the hours at Tiny Tots, where her kids attended daycare. Then, after they moved on to elementary school, she inherited the Inkster School lunch program and the role of parent council president. Ball is proud of the work she was able to do at the school, and the lunch program is still active today, having served what's now hundreds of kids not only healthy food, but games and fun during the noon hour. She's been in the mix at Sinclair Park C.C. for 27 years. She's coached mini-soccer and baseball, she's organized events, held down the canteen, and served as secretary and treasurer before earning the role of president. In her role, which 'starts at 7 a.m. and ends at midnight,' Ball is often caught up in an endless cycle of meetings and paperwork. 'There is no aspect of a community centre that the president isn't ultimately responsible for,' she said, from applying to grants to tracking down volunteers. 'Nobody tells you how responsible you are in keeping the doors open at your community centre.' It can become frustrating, she explained, especially when it comes to working with the City of Winnipeg and keeping things moving on limited funds. 'Doing more for less,' Ball said. Over a decade into the position, though, her frustrations come from a place of care. 'My community needs this community centre,' Ball said, adding that she believes it should be exactly that — the centre of a community. A place where someone of any age and from any culture, especially in a city as multicultural as Winnipeg, 'feels welcome coming through the doors.' 'There are 60 kids in day camp this year, and I'm not thinking about how I did that, I'm thinking, 'look what we can do for the kids,' because these aren't families that necessarily have daycare,' she said. Although Ball isn't going to get teary-eyed at a full field during Canada Day or an especially heated mini-soccer game, she said, she understands that that's what a community centre is for. 'That's our impact,' she said. 'That's why we do it.' To learn more about Sinclair Park C.C. or how to volunteer, visit Emma Honeybun Emma Honeybun is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. She graduated RRC Polytech's creative communications program, with a specialization in journalism, in 2023. Email her at Read full biography
Otago Daily Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Fierce dancers to fight for fair pay
As International Dance Day celebrations return to Dunedin for the third year, offering free events across the city, a new dance organisation hopes to lift the art form's commercial standing. Fierce Entertainment has been founded by principal creator Willow de Jonge as a professional dance group. "Fierce has come into the community with the ethos of ensuring fair compensation for performers, artists, dancers." The group aimed to make sure dancers received professional payment for work at weddings, functions, theatrical performances or public events, she said. The artistic community in New Zealand had "quite a problem" when it came to being paid for its services. "Like all creative endeavours, this won't be accomplished overnight. "But with time, care and support from the wider Ōtepoti artistic community, we hope to get on board with dance schools and Dunedin theatre. "And, you know, just put a dent in artists getting fairly paid and compensated." The group will have a major presence during International Dance Day. "You can catch Fierce Entertainment on George St on Saturday, entertaining the public and pulling everyone up to the Lower Octagon for Dance Ōtepoti's International Dance Day events to kick off. "So they will be very spunky, they will be moving down George St, giving you a flyer, jamming out to music, handing out some jelly beans for kids, doing all that stuff to entice the community up here at the weekend." Dance Ōtepoti founder and general manager Anna Noonan said the Ōtepoti Festival of Dance for International Dance Day aimed to celebrate dance in all its forms and share its joy and benefits. There will be a wide range of activities to enjoy. Events include beginner classes, performances in the Lower Octagon, Te Whare o Rukutia and Toitū Otago Settlers Museum as well as taster sessions such as Tiny Tots (18 months to 3 years), salsa and line dancing. More than 200 dancers, dance artists and groups will be involved throughout the weekend. The Ōtepoti Festival of Dance is supported by the Dunedin City Council. INTERNATIONAL DANCE DAY 2025 Saturday Classes • 8.45am, Yoga for Dancers, Te Whare o Rukutia • 10am, Absolute Beginner Ballet, Te Whare o Rukutia • 10.45am, Absolute Beginner Jazz Cabaret, Te Whare o Rukutia • 11.30am, Absolute Beginner Swing, Te Whare o Rukutia • 12.15pm, Absolute Beginner Hip-Hop, Te Whare o Rukutia Performances • 1pm, IDD Performances, the Octagon • 3pm, IDD Performances, Te Whare o Rukutia Events • 4pm, IDD Talk: dance as resistance and resilience, Te Whare o Rukutia • 8pm, Dunedin Folk Club: Community Barn Dance and Ceilidh, Ravensbourne Community Hall, Wānaka St • Running throughout the day: Ad Parnassum Purapurawhetū — VR and Full Dome Experience by Good Company Arts, Tūhura Otago Museum —12.30pm-1.30pm, Assisted VR Experience, Beautiful Science Gallery —3.30pm-4.30pm (on loop), 10 minute Full Dome Planetarium Film, Perpetual Guardian Planetarium Sunday All events at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Taster sessions • 10am, Tiny Tots Taster • 10.45am, Dance with GASP! • 11.15am, Line Dance Taster • 11.45am, Contra Dance Taster • 12.30pm, Salsa with Vuelta Dance Performance • 1pm, IDD Performances Balfolk Mini Bal • 2.30pm, Balfolk Dunedin Mini Bal
Otago Daily Times
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Jackson Five? Try the Halton Hart eight
Meila Scully, 12, and her cousin Taegan Evans, 10, at the Dunedin Country Music awards, fresh from winning first and second for the junior section and ready to play more. Photo: Kayla Mahon It was a family affair as the next generation of Gore country music made a big show at the Dunedin Country music awards. Meila Scully, 12, and her cousin Taegan Evans, 10, were the junior overall winner and runner-up at the music competition respectively. Not to be outdone, their other cousins Hazel Evans, 7 and Erica Byers, 10, won the "Tiny Tots" and was the runner-up for the gospel section respectively. Meila with another cousin, Georgia Martin, 11, won the duo section. Altogether, the girls, alongside others in their family, perform as the Halton Hart band, named after the street their grandparents lived on in Gore and their love of hunting. Meila said the eight family members in Halton Hart were accomplished musicians on their own, but loved getting together for a jam. "We do a bit of country, bit of gospel, some of us do rock music, it's just a lot of fun, it makes me feel really happy. "It feels really good that you get to do it with your family. I just love singing with them," she said. Their aunt Kayla Mahon has mentored all of the family band from a young age, providing the expertise she has honed through her country music chops. Practice clearly makes perfect as the awards keep piling up and the opportunities getting bigger and bigger. Meila said Halton Hart would be hitting the charts, with a focus on family. "[The song] we're releasing in a few weeks is called Granddad Mait, it's about our great-granddad who started our music career. "He loved to sing and he taught aunty Kayla how, then she taught us like she was taught," she said. Meila will also be recording her own song, called To Heaven, written in dedication to people in her life who have died. Next up though, the country music dynasty in the making will be hitting the Golden Guitars, with plenty more individual and group accolades expected for the group. Meila said she spoke for not only herself but all of the group when thanking her long time teacher. "Big thank you to Aunty Kayla, for being the best music teacher ever, and helping me get this far."
