Kaitlyn Neath has lived in this area for most of her life. She performed musically and enjoyed writing songs and short stories. But until she moved back from a few years in Toronto, she didn't have a perspective on the local creative community from a seat in the thick of it.

Kaitlyn was encouraged by some friends and family to attend some open mics and started to become involved with Owen Sound's artistic community, as well as the somewhat obscure medium of performance poetry.

"Our community is full of poets and performance artists of all kinds, which is pretty amazing, considering the size of our town," Kaitlyn observes.

She noticed a trend among our local artists. "They regularly perform for free at fundraising events and benefit concerts; they donate artwork for raffles and silent auctions; they organize charitable events. And, they strive to raise awareness about important issues - they are the catalysts of social change and are a driving force in making our community a better place."

Despite all this, Kaitlyn feels small town artists are often overlooked when it comes to their societal and economic contributions, so she started an "Artists in Activism" column on her blog to shine some light on the ways in which our creative community gives back.

"It's also kind of my way of giving back to them, (in a very small way,) by promoting their art and events as well," she says. She invites artists to contact her to promote events, concerts, projects or launches.

The series was launched last Friday, and we won't give anything away - enjoy it right here.

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