Not that long ago, cultural clubs were an integral part of life in Waterloo Region.
While Oktoberfest remains a big bonanza for the region’s German clubs, those who don’t participate in that festival – and even some of those who do – find themselves grappling with increasingly uncertain futures.
“We’re … just trying to keep our head above water,” says Fabio Cipolletti, who manages the Italian Cortina Club in Kitchener.
“We have an incredibly difficult time getting new members, or getting the younger generations to come out.”
It’s the same story at the Sava Club in Breslau, which is run by the Slovenian Cultural Association and has lost about a third of its membership over the past four years.
There, too, the people who keep the club running say each generation seems a little less interested in being involved than the generation before it.
“I think it’s just a way of life, and how busy everyone is,” says club vice-president Maria Prilesnik.
At the Cortina Club, Cipolletti thinks a lot of the decline in membership base can be traced to March 2015, when the club stopped serving weekly lunches to the public due to financial issues.
A lot of members, he says, weren’t happy with the change or what it suggested about the future of the club.
“They thought it would sustain into the future … and they’re very disillusioned and upset that that’s not the case,” he says.
Both Cipolletti and Prilesnik acknowledge that lack of interest in cultural clubs from younger generations isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it means they may feel more at home in Canada than their parents did.
But for Prilesnik, the benefits of places like the Sava Club are still obvious – even for people who are assimilating into Canadian society.
“You keep your culture and you keep your language, and the sense of belonging (follows),” she says.
Despite its membership dipping below 100 people for the first time in decades, the Sava Club isn’t planning to start winding down its operations anytime soon.
Mother’s Day and Oktoberfest events still draw huge crowds, and the Slovenian language school run sporadically over the years may return soon, when the current group of children is a little bit older.
Prilesnik is also holding out hope that some of the children and younger members who have left the club will return to lend a hand – nothing that it’s not unusual for people to stop showing up in their 20s and 30s, then return once they’re a little bit older.
“We’re hoping to carry on,” she says.
At the Cortina Club, events are now limited to the occasional potluck dinner, knitting class, bingo night or group gathering to watch a big sporting event.
“People are staying at home now,” Cipolletti says.
“There’s nothing wrong with that – it’s just that you don’t have that outside community camaraderie.”
With reporting by Abigail Bimman
