Not long ago, my colleague Ruth Kelly-Koebel oversaw the installation of an exhibit at Kindred Coffee Bar, a short walk from the Kawartha Art Gallery. This exhibit, which is titled Authenticity, is a collection of artworks prepared by the talented students enrolled in I.E. Weldon Secondary School’s International Baccalaureate (IB) visual arts programme.

“What can I give him?” is a question repeated in the final lines of Christina Rosetti’s famous Christmas carol, In the Bleak Midwinter. And it is a question asked – albeit in a very different kind of context – by those who care about the arts in their community. As we approach the festive season, the question “what can I give?” takes on special meaning and invites us to consider what giving has meant for the Kawartha Art Gallery over the past half century.