Schools in the Foothills will continue to receive arts and culture programming from the Town of Okotoks thanks to a new partnership with the Okotoks Elks Club.

The Elks Club has committed to contributing $7,000 a year for three years towards the Education Access Fund.

The Education Access Fund started a few years ago with First Calgary Financial where they contributed $5,000 a year.

Allan Boss, culture and heritage manager, says when that came to an end, him and Jamie Brett-Sine, education specialist with the Town, wanted to keep the success going.

"JB and I started talking about the possibility of getting another sponsor so we put together a sponsorship package and got some interest from a couple of groups, one of them being the Okotoks Elks Club."

Brett-Sine says the subsidy will bring down the cost of programs, subsidize the cost of bussing, and allow for the programming to grow.

"There's in-musuem programming, so that's our education programs for kindergarten through Grade 6 in the musuem, then there's K through 12 programming inside the Art Gallery, and in addition to that we now have in-school programs so that's part of how we're expanding the programming."

She adds the partnership allows the town to keep up with demand.

"It allows us to keep up with that growth and it allows me to really expand that programming," she says. "All of our programs directly relate to the curriculum and because of that there is a lot of interest from schools and being able to say yes to these schools when they're asking for these bookings and subsidies is really important. The last few years we've had so much demand I've had to turn away schools by the end of the year."

To learn more about the education programs click here.

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