Postcards support local north end artists

Residents will have to act fast to grab all four

CITYnews halifax \ Stephen Wentzell

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Gotta collect ‘em all!

That’s what the North End Business Association (NEBA) is counting on when it comes to this year’s set of local postcards.

Jena Legere, social media and projects coordinator at NEBA, tells CityNews Halifax that with only 30 copies of each postcard at each local business around Halifax’s north end, residents will have to act fast to grab all four.

“We had 2,000 copies printed total, so 500 of each artist,” Legere said. “We keep it to limited quantities to get the people out searching for all four of them.”

The postcard campaign is entering its fourth year and is something that gets people out of the house during the coldest time of the season.

“It’s just a way to spread some love within the neighborhood from us to our local businesses and then, in turn, to the customers that could come in and grab some art to share with anyone that they love,” Legere explained.

“It’s always been kind of a Valentine’s Day promotion,” she said.

Four artists are chosen each year to feature their art on postcards, and 2022 marks the first time the postcard series comes exclusively from artists in the north end, including Boma, Dramfon Morgan, and Sadie Jacob-Peters.

In the project’s early years, NEBA partnered with Wonder’neath Art Society, a non-profit organization that provides studio spaces and public programming to local art enthusiasts, to create the postcards.

This year, the association took a different route. After putting out a call for artist submissions to be used in an upcoming park banner project, Legere says they received “an abundance of artists with incredible talent come in.” Unfortunately, due to technical issues like the dimensions of the art, some of the association’s favourite pieces of art couldn’t be used.

That’s where the postcard campaign came in. NEBA reached out to select artists, offering them an opportunity to have their art featured on one of this year’s postcards.

Legere says the campaign is a good way to spread the word about local talent, while giving people the opportunity to connect—particularly during our biggest wave of COVID-19.

“Since the north end is growing, ultimately, this year I’ve given them out already,” Legere said. “I think next year we’re going to have to up the amount that we print because they go fast.”

The business association also has another project underway, commemorating Viola Desmond’s activism through art. That’s in addition to the 40 art banners that will appear on light poles in the spring.

“They’re going to be printed locally at Eye Candy Signs and mounted on North Street,” Legere said, with plans to extend the project to Agricola Street in years to come.

This story was made possible by our Community Leaders Program partner.

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