Arts and culture programs, services and facilities. Festivals. Special events. Volunteer outreach. Marketing. Grants. Heritage. And the library.
Carrie Nimmo’s portfolio certainly is stuffed but Port Coquitlam’s new manager of cultural development and community services is ready for her new municipal role.
Hired Aug. 15 to replace Yvonne Chui — who left the city three years ago — Nimmo comes from a solid arts and culture background, having spent the past nine years as co-ordinator of cultural programming and events for CMHC on Granville Island.
There, the Port Moody resident was in charge of planning and managing the Vancouver destination’s public spaces, festivals, filming, public art, seasonal lighting and decor, among other things.
Prior to that, Nimmo was the artistic and managing director of Mortal Coil, a stilt theatre company that worked in schools, theatres, parks and festival sites across Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
She likes that her new job is a little closer to home.
And she likes that PoCo reminds her of her hometown of Lake Cowichan, a small Vancouver Island community that’s known for its outdoor recreation.
“Port Coquitlam is unique because it has that small-town charm, lots of natural beauty and history,” she said during an interview last Friday in the Michael Wright Art Gallery. “I really feel lucky to be here and very much at home.”
Trained as a teen at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Nimmo said she’s also anxious to sink her teeth into the newly adopted Imagine Port Coquitlam Cultural Plan, a master plan for the arts scene over the next 10 years.
That document, which city council unanimously passed in July after being developed by a consultant, calls for a new direction with PoCo arts and culture — one that involves setting up an external festivals committee as well as a cultural roundtable, in which PoCo artists can network and share ideas with the municipality.
Her goal “is to develop authentic festivals and make events accessible to the community,” she said, citing the free Culture Days activities in PoCo on Oct. 1. “I’m really excited to be a part of the culture in this city.”
jwarren@tricitynews.com
@jwarrenTC
