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How old do you have to be to be in business?
How many years do you have to try before you succeed at a business venture?
Why would anyone want to go into business in the first place?
These are all questions one usually asks oneself before going into business.
The usual answers tell stories of entrepreneurs who are old and near retirement
after a lifetime of struggling to make ends meet. The reason for going
into business in the first place is usually to meet a certain need for
certain people with those needs. For example, a restaurant owner who serves
food to those who don’t want to do dishes, to those people who don’t
have time to cook, or to those who are traveling and don’t have
access to their own comfy kitchen. Most of the time, people go into business
for many different reasons, like, I need a job, I want to be self reliant,
I don’t like my boss and I want to be my own boss. These are all
the usual reasons.
Most people who go into business often have to learn how to do it on their
own. The Whapmagoostui Art Factory is a rare example of a business that
doesn’t meet all the usual expectations of a business success story.
What defines success? Is it the amount of money you have at the end of
the day? In the case of the Whapmagoostui Art Factory, it is the learning
experience and the chance to learn how to do business within a school
environment that makes this enterprise unique among aboriginal businesses.
It all started in 1999 when a teacher at the Badabin Eeyou School in Whapmagoostui,
Robert Savioe, noticed that the students seemed to have a natural talent
for art. "They are inspired by their intimate knowledge of their
culture and it shows in their art," Savoie said.
In the classroom, which spawned the Whapmagoostui Art Factory, evidence
of this statement is everywhere, with the essential goose and wildlife
portrayals, the sunsets and campsites hanging up on the walls. As they
work on their own individual pieces, they add on their own knowledge of
their identity and at the same time, learn of another culture. Leonardo
da Vinci is one inspiration for the students, as they are amazed that
an old man who died hundreds of years ago had such knowledge of the human
body, of technology and of art. It was one particular work that showed
the human fetus in the womb that awed the students and got them going
to learn about the evolution of the human child in pre-infancy stages.
It was the integration of two programs that were eventually phased out
by the Quebec education ministry (Career Choice and Personal Social Development)
that made the program possible. Now Raymond Savoie, a teacher who has
many years of living in Whapmagoostui, likes to call it the Personal Social
Artistic Development program. Where does the business end up mixed in
with art at a school, one may ask? Another program that helps students
in secondary school learn and understand the basic elements of business,
entrepreneurship and management helped Raymond teach his class just what
it takes to make a buck. As a business, the Whapmagoostui has been awarded
many times and most recently gained recognition from the federal and provincial
governments for the "entrepreneur or the year," something normally
reserved for large companies run by people with extensive business experience
and education. There are many other awards that the Art Factory that are
proudly showcased in the foyer of the Badabin Eeyou School.
As a business, the Art Factory is a learning
experience, where business cards, invoices, sales, promotion, marketing
are all part of being an entrepreneur. There isn’t much more that
your ordinary enterprise does to promote their work. In fact, they have
their own website (www.geocities.com/badabin99/WAF.html), which inspired
another Cree School in Waskaganish to request the Whapmagoostui Art Factory
to come show students how they made their business a success, leading
them to create their own art factory.
Many of the students don’t have solid opportunities to earn a secure
future in the community and come from troubled homes, but the Art Factory
gives them a glimmer of hope of their real potential. For example, Savoie
says that one of his students "was amazed when I gave him $30. It
was a sale from one of the trips the class made to Montreal for one of
their exhibitions. ‘Why did they buy this?’ he asked me, and
I told him that it was good art and someone was willing to pay for that.
So I think that this made an impression on this student, who otherwise
didn’t have much going for him when he left the class…."
It is this show of support from buyers and interested collectors that
make the Art Factory worthwhile as an education process. At the moment,
students of the art class are diligently working on various pieces that
reflect the beliefs of the people and will be showcased in the new gathering
place or church building that the Whapmagoostui Band and municipality
of Kuujjuuarapik have built for their community. The Whapmagoostui Art
Factory is indeed, a success story.
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