Written By: Connor Smyth
A CO-OP student’s perspective
I am in grade 12 helping out at Shō as my Co-op placement. Before I walked into the building on my first day, I didn’t really know what to expect. Me and my teacher had been trying to get me an arts-related placement for three weeks by then. When Shō got back to us I think we must have been waiting for calls back from at least a few other places. It is entirely possible that if one of them had gotten back to us first, or if I had gotten a placement at one of the other twenty or so places we had called before then, I would not be at Shō now. I am glad that I didn’t get a placement anywhere else, though, because even within the mere 4 days I have been at Shō, my experience has been amazing. I told my dad coming home the first day that I must have gotten more advice that one day about art than I had throughout the entirety of my high school art classes. That wasn’t much of an exaggeration. As a student, it truly is an invaluable experience. I think the community at Shō is wonderful. There are visual artists, musicians, dancers, photographers, seamstresses – a variety of different creatives all working in one space. Everyone I’ve met at Shō so far have been some of the nicest, funniest and most interesting people I’ve ever met. Shō truly is a hub of the arts in Windsor, and I hope to see it continue to grow.
It could not be the place it is without the people who make it what it is. That is why I would like to give my impressions of them and what they are doing to contribute to the community at Shō and in Windsor as I interview them throughout the course of my Co-op placement.