Kim Cheel believes that arts and culture are the soul of a community and that is why she has worked tirelessly for years to advocate for them in Airdrie.
“When you don’t have a large support of arts, of culture, of heritage, we lose a sense of ourselves, and often lose a sense of where we’re going as a society,” she says.
“How can we know who we are when we don’t listen to our storytellers and the many ways story gets told?”
Cheel is the president of the Airdrie Film Festival Society and has been instrumental in major cultural movements such as the Airdrie Pride Society, ARTember, Indigenous Month, Black History Month and Alberta Culture Days.
Cheel’s nominator Sherry King says her friend deserves the Cultural Ambassador Award because of her work to bolster arts and culture and the inspiring opportunities she brings to the city.
“Her energy and community reach are unmeasurable,” King adds.
“She always knows what is going on, who is running what, who to contact and collaborates so well with many different groups.”