May 15, 2020 – Anne Bertrand Bids Farewell to ARCA; Departure for Retirement of Bastien Gilbert, Director of RCAAQ; Taqralik Partridge named Nordic Lab Director; COVID-19 Impact Survey: Conclusions; Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS); Mutual Support Network in the Arts; Digital Reconfigurations, by Isabelle L’Heureux; Call For Proposals.
—à la UNE.—
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Anne Bertrand Bids Farewell to ARCA
Montreal, May 14, 2020 – ARCA director Anne Bertrand will step down on July 31, 2020, after having served the organization since 2012.
ARCA (the Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference) is dedicated to the consolidation of a pan-Canadian network of artist-run centres and collectives. Key among her many accomplishments in eight years as director, Bertrand successfully positioned ARCA’s members with government partners such as the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage. As a result of this work, ARCA members have seen an overall 60% increase in operational funding from the Canada Council.
Anne Bertrand has also been very active in artistic networks such as the annual meetings of the National Arts Service Organizations (NASO), the Canadian Arts Coalition and, especially, the Visual Arts Alliance, a national coalition of a dozen visual arts, media arts, and contemporary craft service organizations. She was elected Alliance co-chair on several occasions, a marker of her colleagues’ respect and an acknowledgment of her command of the unique challenges of working within the visual arts sector.
In her work toward network consolidation, Bertrand made investments in strategic support for the development of national conferences, building capacity in regions that would not otherwise host such events. Building on the success of the Flotilla conference, which took place in Charlottetown in September 2017, ARCA’s next conference, Lands to Travel Through, is to be hosted in Calgary in August 2021 (rescheduled from 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic). Bertrand’s support has contributed greatly to the increased visibility of artist-run centres in these regions.
Read the full press release here.
Photo : Andrew Harder
—News From The Membership.—
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Departure for Retirement of Bastien Gilbert, Director of RCAAQ
Upon his departure for retirement, le Regroupement des centres d’artistes autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ) highlights the exceptional contribution of their long time director and ARCA founding member, Bastien Gilbert, to the visual arts sector.
> Read the press release here.
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Taqralik Partridge named Nordic Lab Director
SAW is pleased to announce that Taqralik Partridge has been appointed SAW’s Nordic Lab Director. She succeeds Joi T. Arcand, who served as the Nordic Lab’s inaugural artist-in-residence and interim director.
Taqralik Partridge is an Inuk artist, writer and curator. Originally from Kuujjuaq in Nunavik, she now splits her time between Canada and Kautokeino, Norway, in Northern Sápmi. Partridge’s writing focuses on both life in the North and on the experiences of Inuit living in the South.
—What’s up in the Network.—
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COVID-19 Impact Survey: Conclusions
Earned revenue comprises roughly 10% of our operating budget. Considering the breadth and the volume of services we offer, this figure was already too small. We give away more and more because our communities are subject to debt deflation: they need more from us and are less and less favorably positioned economically in order to pay for those needs. Most immediately, it’s clear that we will be short of our already conservative earnings targets for the year…
– Survey respondant
A total of 74 organizations responded to the survey between March 26, 2020 and April 21, 2020. The average participation rate across ARCA’s regions was 43.05%. The vast majority of respondents (87%) are organizations with recurring multi-year or annual operating (core) support from one or multiple levels of government.
More than one third of respondents (39%) indicated anticipating financial impacts. The majority of respondents who noted financial impacts indicated anticipating losses in earned and fundraising revenue. Several respondents anticipated important losses in earned revenue as a result of a decline in rentals (including space, facilities, and equipment). A number of respondents also indicated having had to cancel or alter important fundraising events or campaigns as a result of the crisis. A few respondents also indicated having lost sponsorship revenue as a result of event cancellations, loss of sales revenue as a result of closures, and loss of Gaming revenue as a result of decreased use of gaming facilities (e.g. casinos).
The information provided by respondents indicates that 55 organizations (74.32% of respondents) had already implemented, or were considering implementing, alternative delivery formats for programming and services. Of note, 49 organizations (66.22% of respondents) indicated having used, or were considering using, online tools/formats to present programming, deliver services, and communicate with their membership and communities.
On a more positive note, some respondents indicated that the crisis had provided them with the time to undertake projects to which they had not been able to devote resources, or to devote their time to research, reflection, and planning.
> Read conclusions here.
> Read full report here.
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Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
As a Canadian employer with salaried staff, if you have incurred losses in revenue due to COVID-19, you may be eligible for a subsidy of 75% of employee wages for up to 12 weeks, retroactive from March 15, 2020, to June 6, 2020. > More
Artist-run centres who have applied for, and received this subsidy found the application process simpler than feared, and have already received funds by direct deposit via their CRA business accounts.
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Mutual Support Network in the Arts
For cultural organizations, REMA is an immediate and voluntary response to help Canadian non-profit organizations to offer support during the crisis. If you want the help of a consultant for strategic planning, crisis management, financial analysis, media relations, HR, change management or any other subject, REMA is there for you. To register your organization, click on ORGANIZATION.
Still from a Gif created by Myriam B. Wares (Le Scribe, 2020).
—Digital Literacy In Six Micro-bites.—
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Digital Reconfigurations, by Isabelle L’Heureux
Dissemination, mediation, and production
The closure of nearly all public spaces in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the enforcement of physical distancing measures have wreaked havoc on every aspect of society and, more specifically within our own context, on our modes of creating, disseminating, and experiencing art. Therefore, we’d like to map out some approaches that artist-run centres may explore for reconfiguring their activities in response to this exceptional situation…
> Read the brief here.
—Call For Proposals.—
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* Make sure to also pop in to our regularly updated Directory for the latest calls for submissions from artist-run centres.
Call for nominations: Governor’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts
New deadline: June 30, 2020
The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts are granted to artists in recognition of remarkable careers in either of those fields.
Up to 8 awards are given annually:
- up to 6 awards of $25,000
- 1 award of $25,000
- 1 award of $25,000
> Info
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Conceptual artist Joshua Schwebel is seeking a qualified candidate for a one-year non-renewable, part-time basis to assume responsibility for grant-writing and fundraising for Forest City Gallery artist-run centre in London, Ontario. The position is the initiative of the artist, made possible by a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. The position is both a paid job opportunity working with Forest City Gallery, and the delegated enactment of a conceptual artwork. The successful candidate will work with the gallery director, fund-raising and finance committees, potential funders and sponsors, and the artist’s community of London, Ontario to augment and secure funding for the Forest City Gallery artist-run centre.
Deadline for Applications: May 29, 5pm EDT.
More info on Forest Gallery Website.
Still from a Gif created by Obom (Le départ, 1919).
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