AlgomaTrad - Ontario Canada

Algoma Trad – Dedicated to building community through music, dance, art and heritage craft traditions.

AlgomaTrad has secured substantial national and provincial funding in order to develop a year-round, environmentally sustainable centre for the sharing of traditional folk arts and skills. United Designers was brought in to create a master plan for the site that will allow them to expand their facilities, host large gatherings with a minimal footprint on the land, restore the soils and biodiversity of the site, and produce materials for their workshops in a regenerative fashion.

Maintaining and expanding the cluster of activity in the centre of the property allowed UD to regenerate marginal areas around the edges and stabilize degraded erosion gullies in the grazed fields. These areas will be protected and revegetated using low-impact water management and infiltration techniques such as check dams. Small livestock integration will yield materials for the fibre arts and can be used to improve soils when pulsed through the landscape. Perennial and annual food systems and dye plants for use during workshops will be grown in various areas – from more wild systems, to aesthetically landscaped spaces for weddings and events that can provide supplementary income thus making the centre financially sustainable.