Spill PROpagation in collaboration with Anne Bertrand, Executive Director of the Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference, Étienne Lepage, playwright, and Julie Tremble, artist and Director of Vidéographe, launch their microsite and visibility campaign titled Je Signe!

On October 16 and 17, some bibliophiles from the visual arts community met in Vancouver to explore ways we can better connect our publications to audiences. Among the participants were organizations with resources and knowledge that could be mobilized in service of a collaborative, networked dissemination project. No one’s saying we are opposed to making »»

Montréal, 9 July, 2015 – On June 25, Anne Bertrand was invited to introduce artist-run centres as part of a series of information videos intended for artists from the Deaf community, on accessing mainstream dissemination networks in all arts disciplines.

“This is a huge work in progress that began in Oct 2014 when Board gave the “go” to develop the new model. It entails the complete repositioning of Council, with goal of scaling up. We recognize that the arts community relies on Council & needs more financial capacity and impact.”

Art publishing advocacy work begun years ago has recently culminated in the production of a letter to Simon Brault, Canada Council’s new CEO, signed by over 70 individuals from the art publishing community. The letter is the outcome of a networking meeting held in Montreal November 7-8, 2014, where a loose knit group of independent cultural producers, directors of artist-run centres and university art galleries among others proposed to work under the umbrella of TXT – The Canadian Art Publishing Network / Le réseau canadien de l’édition en art.

Montréal, January 29, 2015 – On January 20th, the Canada Council for the Arts held its Annual Public Meeting, and announced sweeping changes to the existing granting program to be implemented by 2017. Notably, the announcement proposes a reduction of the number of grant programs administered by Council from 142 to fewer than 10. To »»

The Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA) is once again proud to be joining the Arts Day on the Hill campaign organised by the Canadian Arts Coalition. This advocacy action brings together arts leaders in all disciplines from across Canada. Participants, organised into smaller, mixed groups, meet with Senators, MPs and senior officials. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the important role that federal policies and programs play in solidarity with our organisations. This year’s ARCA delegation includes Todd Janes, ARCA president and director of Latitude 53, Edmonton and Anne Bertrand, ARCA director.

The Biennale d’art performatif de Rouyn-Noranda, operated by L’écart, is hosting the 2nd edition of the Performance art networking meeting bringing together some twenty organisations from across Canada. Expanding on the first edition organised and hosted in October 2012 by LIVE, Vancouver, BC, the second meeting has invited a few more artist-run centres and collectives »»

The members of the Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference met recently to debrief the results of the latest Artist-Run Centres multi-year operating program peer evaluation for 2014-2017. The following is an overview of their observations and the basis for further discussions and actions.

Representing ARCA for the first time at the Canadian Arts Summit, I was invited, along with six other “fellows,” after responding to an open call with a letter listing my participation in various arts advocacy committees in the previous year. I had done the work. My preconception of the Summit was grounded in a vague impression of exclusivity, restricted to a circle of mostly Toronto-based arts establishments with budgets over 5M$. Face-to-face meetings are humanizing: the programming was solid and informative and the less formal conversations demystifying.