Creative Economy
Norfolk County’s creative minds inhabit every corner of our great community. From engineers to artists, web developers to musicians, Norfolk County is blessed with many uniquely talented people.
- Read Adam Veri's essay on Norfolk County's Creative Rural Economy
Creative Enterprise
Annex Business Media in Simcoe houses some of the most creative writers and publishers in Canada, printing dozens of unique specialty magazines for many economic sectors.
Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover is a centre of excellence in theatrical production, offering professional shows and programming throughout the year. Performance is a theme in Norfolk. Community groups exhibit lots of theatrical and musical talent, also at Theatre Norfolk, Simcoe Little Theatre, Young Theatre Players, the Old Town Hall in Waterford and the Capitol Theatre in Delhi.
Architectural firms include G. Douglas Vallee. Agencies such as Barber Veri, Guardian Computing, iFuel Network, Lifeline Design and Picasso Fish provide creative services to our businesses. There are many management consulting firms and software developers in Norfolk, as well. KWIC Internet is one of the area’s largest internet service providers. David Eaton Computer Services, Hal Nor Computers, Simcoe Computers and NCS Technologies offer computer systems support.
Artists and Performers
Many of our artists’ studios are open year round. Check out ceramic artists and potters such as Anne Armstrong, Marguerite Larmand, Joanne Munzar, Joseph Panacci, Melissa Schooley, Lesley Starnes. Norfolk County is home to excellent glass artists, like Merianne Fess, Carolyn Muir and Miia Virtasalmi. Sculptors such as Robert Tannahill and Garry Walker are well known. Those who work in wood, like Ron Bezzo, Trevor Darbishire, Bruce “House” Milner and Harley Snively, and Florence Watkinson who works with fabric, are highly respected. Michael Keller is a book binder and restorer.
Visual artists include Michael Barber, Sierra Barber, Liz Barrett-Milner, Susan Bennett, Vera Cline-Hayes, Carol Gerrett, Kit Julian, Jen Lados, Sherry Lloyd, Ellen McIntosh-Green and Michelle Snively-Jefferies. Photographers such as Dixie Greenwood, Earl Hartlen and Larry Monczka are well known.
Norfolk County is also home to privately operated dance companies: Jo-Ann Adams School of Dance, Suzanne Burt School of Ballet, Lisa Naves Dance Company and Port Dover Dance Academy.
Centres for Creativity
There are many art galleries, museums, an arts centre and other centres of creativity in Norfolk County. These include the Delhi Tobacco Museum, Eva Brook Donly Museum, Norfolk Arts Centre, Port Dover Harbor Museum, Teeterville Pioneer Museum, and the Waterford Heritage & Agricultural Museum. Other facilities include the Norfolk Potters Guild.