News Archives: GPRC Study Shows Real Potential for Jasper Culinary Arts Program
Thursday, July 20th, 2017
JASPER – Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) completed its two-year-long project to explore new post-secondary opportunities in Jasper, and has identified a real need and interest in the creation of a new world-class culinary arts program for the community.
GPRC funded the initial $150,000 study to assess the level of commitment in the community, the programming needs, and the current reality of the local Jasper culinary industry to determine the viability of the project.
The final report concluded that a need exists for a culinary program to play a part in a refresh of the culinary experience for Jasper visitors and to fill an urgent need for skilled culinary staff. The College also found the community support is significant as business owners have long-standing challenges attracting and retaining qualified staff. The report concluded the program would need to be a long-term initiative built on strong ties to the local culinary community and the preferred location is the Jasper Legion facility option.
“We are really pleased with the enthusiasm in the community to develop new programming in Jasper,” says Don Gnatiuk, President and CEO of GPRC. “The work we did over the past two years provided a strong foundation for the key stakeholders and the College to potentially move forward together on this project.”
The next steps for the project include determining if the Legion facility can be used and then completing detailed design work, establishing a community-based management structure and identifying partners to support the delivery of the program. The College now needs long-term and sustainable commitments and investments from the community and provincial government to pursue these next steps and make the program a reality.
“The report showed us there is real potential for a successful culinary program in Jasper. That’s exciting for GPRC and the community,” says Gnatiuk.
GPRC submitted the final report to the Government of Alberta to gather additional input on the College’s and community’s next steps. More information and background about the project is available on the College’s website at gprc.me/jasperproject.
GPRC is a comprehensive community institution, publicly supported to provide opportunities in postsecondary education in northwestern Alberta. Established in 1966 in Grande Prairie, GPRC now includes campuses in Fairview and Grande Prairie, and learning centres in Edson, Grande Cache, Hinton and Jasper. GPRC offers a wide variety of career certificates and diplomas, pre-employment and apprenticeship trades, university transfer studies, and several opportunities for on-campus degree completion at baccalaureate and master levels through collaborations with four-year universities. For more information, visit gprc.ab.ca.
-30-
For more information, please contact:
Mark Evans, MA
Corporate Communications Officer
Community Relations