AAARC (Alberta Association of Artist-Run Centres)
In early March the Alberta Provincial government released its proposed budget for 2013 and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) budget was flat lined – which means no cuts, however that also means no new increases. There was some new money for the Alberta Multimedia fund. But basically with two straight years of no new money and the year before with a 16% cut (2009) it is dire for artistic practices in Alberta.
Placed upon this is the end of the STEP program and the elimination of the Community Spirit Donation program it seems like cut after cut after cut. The STEP program was a temporary summer employment program for students from 16 – 30 in the province of Alberta that provided up to $7.00 per hour worked for successful candidates. The STEP program was widely utilized by Arts and not-for-profit organizations in Alberta and it is expected this will negatively affect voluntary organizations deeply. The Community Spirit Program was brought into place by former Premier Ed Stelmack to raise philanthropy activity and saw charitable organizations being able to quality for funds to utilize for their charitable activities through a grant application progress that matched rolling percentages of funds to organizations up to $50,000 over three years. With these two valuable programs being axed and no new funds in operating levels means that ARCs in Alberta are operating at basically 2008 funding levels.
TRUCK Gallery will be relocating to a new venue this year, after 17 years in the basement of the Grain Exchange Building. This ARC will be relocating to the SunAlta neighborhood on the edge of the Calgary downtown along the new SW LRT line (light-rail transit). Look for further updates to come!
Latitude 53 is moving in May to a new 5500 sq.ft space which will be ground level and barrier-free to all visitors. This street front facility will include open concept spaces with clear personalities in all three of its new exhibition spaces. For more information, please visit our website.
Latitude 53 has launched a new innovative program by appointing their first Resident Designer. Going into Latitude 53’s 40th-anniversary year, Skye Olsen-Cormack, will inject a sense of play into Latitude 53’s visual presentation. Connecting the identities of our programming, special events, and day-to-day materials, the Resident Designer’s vision will provide a foundation for experimentation—visibly recognizing our values of risk-taking and experimentation in every part of Latitude 53’s operations. Read press release here (PDF).
The Calgary Arts Development Authority has been working on Calgary’s first comprehensive “Arts Plan” to present to City Council on 05 June 2013. Currently, the plan is in Phase III, where discussions have focused upon gaps/dreams/etc. with art institutions. Calgary’s Arts Plan is the long-term strategy for arts development and investment in Calgary and a legacy of Calgary’s year as a Cultural Capital of Canada. The arts inspire our children’s futures, connect our communities, drive our city’s economic growth and energize our lives. Our goal is to work with citizens and artists to craft a bold and integrated plan that sets clear, long-term targets for the resources and partnerships necessary to support a thriving arts sector in Calgary.
Finally, AAARC is in the final stages of developing their new website! This will be a strong portal to the artistic milieu in Alberta. Check back here in the next few months for hyperlinks and more details.
Todd Janes, representative of AAARC, Director, Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture
AARCA (Association of Artist-Run Centres from the Atlantic)
– New Halifax Regional Municipality Councillor Way Mason has expressed enthusiasm for establishing a $2M fund for an HRM Arts Council. Currently, HRM’s funding for Arts is the lowest in the country at .35 cents per taxpayer, with the national average at just over $3.00 per person. HRM is home to three AARCA members including the Centre For Art Tapes, Eyelevel Gallery, and the Khyber. New HRM Mayor Mike Savage also has promised more HRM support for the arts.
– AARCA representative and VP Michael McCormack has began initiating an Arts Day in Parade Square, in Halifax to encourage more dialogue and understanding between municipal councillors and arts professionals. He has met with councillor Jennifer Watts, and informally with members of NS CAN, and the Halifax Arts Coalition. More progression is expected on this in the near future with hopes to establish an annual meeting of this nature beginning this coming fall of 2013. This is of course modelled after the Canadian Arts Coalition’s successful Arts Day on the Hill.
– The Provincial Government of Nova Scotia has now established Arts Nova Scotia, and following the April 2013 budget announcements, the NS Minister of Culture announced the Support4Culture program, modelled on the Support4Sport lottery program, it is expected to generate $2 million in new funding supporting programs that benefit the arts, heritage preservation and interpretation. More information on this new initiative is expected soon.
– AARCA will be hosting the upcoming face to face ARCA meeting and Expanded Visual Arts Meeting with a focus on publishing within artist-run centres and independent publishers. This will be in Saint John, New Brunswick from June 20-23, as part of the annual APAGA conference featuring presentations by Third Space, Saint John, NB’s young and dynamic ARC.
– AARCA sends a huge congrats to John Murchie for ten years at Struts & Faucets and an outstanding contribution to Artist-Run Culture in Atlantic Canada. John will be officially retiring this spring
– The Atlantic Symposium for writing for the arts will be hosted by Visual Arts NS and C Magazine this coming April 19-21, 2013 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
– Members of the arts and culture community met at Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John’s on Tuesday, April 9th to discuss cuts to the sector in this year’s provincial budget, and to plan how to lobby the government to reverse cuts that have been made to NL arts and culture. These cuts included a $1 million decrease for The Rooms provincial art gallery, leading to the elimination of 13 staff members. The cuts also include a 10 percent cut to the Provincial economic Development Program, which assisted individual artists, and a market access and export program was eliminated entirely.
Michael McCormack, AARCA representative, Director, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax
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ABO (The Aboriginal Region)
The Aboriginal region would like to congratulate Rebecca Belmore on her being the latest aboriginal artist to become a laureate of the Governor General award in Visual and media arts. We’d also like to thank her for graciously acknowledging the importance of Artist Run Centres to the development and careers of artists in Canada.
All six members of the Aboriginal Region continue to develop and present innovative and thought provoking programming engaging the aboriginal communities they represent as well as the larger Canadian and international diaspora. We’d like to commend our newest member The Arbor Collective on their recent successes with funding initiatives allowing them to further develop and produce diverse programming for the community of Kamloops, B.C.
Last October Indigeneity Artist Collective Society, Calgary, Ab. co-presented and collaborated with La Nostalgia: Solid Gold featuring international performance artists James Luna and Guillermo Gomez-Pena. The co-presenters were TRUCK Gallery, ECPORE Centre for The Performing Arts and Mountain Standard Time Performative Arts Festival. Indigeneity looks forward to presenting other major aboriginal arts events in the future.
IPAC, The Indigenous Peoples Artist Collective, Prince Albert, Sask. will soon be presenting “PITOS WASKOCHEPAYIS II” (Alternate Electricity): a video and performance festival celebrating Two Spirit and Queer culture. This event is presented in partnership with the Q-Network, Prince Albert, Sask. Queer City Cinema, Regina, Sask. and the Mann Art Gallery, Prince Albert, Sask. Later this year IPAC will be presenting their 7th Annual Two Story Café, a multi-disciplinary event featuring regional, national and international aboriginal artists from all disciplines.
Tribe Inc. Saskatoon, Sask. recently co-produced a publication with the Mendel Art Gallery of artist Ruth Cuthand’s retrospective exhibition “Back Talk”. They have also been busy co sponsoring a recent work by Duane Linklater & Tanya Lukin Linklater entitled “grain(s)”, organized by the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Arts and the 26th Images Festival. They continue to be active partners with the University of Saskatchewan recently presenting an artist talk by Rebecca Belmore.
Sâkêwêwak Artists’ Collective recently presented their Annual Storytellers Festival, a four-day multi-disciplinary event. Festival highlights included a storytellers luncheon hosted by Robert Houle, a Regina Bus Tour hosted by Cheryl L’Hirondelle as well as musicians from around the world. Sâkêwêwak has a new executive director, Leena Minifie. Leena is a recent graduate from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Sante Fe, New Mexico. She is familiar to the Regina community having completed a short residency sponsored by Sâkêwêwak in November 2012.
Last summer Urban Shaman co-hosted “Buffalo Dudes Go to Market”, An international creative collaborative exchange between performance artists Terrance Houle (Blood), Adrian Stimson (Siksika) and Jamison Chas Banks (Seneca-Cayuga/Cherokee). The performance was presented in Sante Fe, New Mexico and is part of an ongoing partnership between Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art and The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Sante Fe, New Mexico. In April, Urban Shaman will be co-hosting “DANCING COPS AND RED GIRLS:
NEW DRAMATIC WORKS FROM ABORIGINAL FILMMAKERS”,
curated by Michelle Latimer. This is a collaboration between Winnipeg Film Group’s Cinematheque, Urban Shaman and imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Toronto, Ont. The exhibition “Abo Retro” by Cree/Metis artist Kevin Mckenzie is currently on display in their main space.
Collaboration and cooperative partnerships are distinguishing features essential to the success of all the members of the Aboriginal Region.
Michel Boutin, representative of the Aboriginal Region, artistic director for IPAC, (the indigenous Peoples Artist Collective)
AGAVF (L’association des groupes en arts visuels francophones)
Advocacy
On the national front, the francophone arts community outside Québec has developed an agreement, first signed in 1998 and currently being renewed, between the Canada Council, Canadian Heritage, The National Art Centre (NAC), the National Film Board, Telefilm, Radio-Canada and FCCF (Fédération culturelle canadienne française). Its goal is to establish a framework to foster cooperation between the partners for the development of Canada’s Francophone and Acadian minorities and for the promotion of their contribution to Canada’s cultural and artistic wealth.
Roadmap for Canada’s linguistic duality renewal 2013-2018
In 2008, The arts and cultural industries obtained a 5-year investment of $23,5m for three new programs as part of the Action plan for Canada’s linguistic duality. This investment was renewed in 2013 for $22,5m, for four programs dedicated to francophones outside of Québec and anglophones in Québec. More specific to the visual arts is the agreement between FCCF (with Quebec’s English Language Arts Network – Elan) and Canada Council about public and market development, for which a new investment of $2,75m for 5 years has been allocated. http://www.pch.gc.ca/fra/1358263602229/
In Ontario
AGAVF is still engaged in discussions with new head of Ontario Arts Council, Peter Caldwell, to maintain two new visual arts programs for artists and organizations in the Franco-Ontarian arts section. These programs were launched in 2010 with matching funds from the Cultural Development Fund of Canadian Heritage. http://www.arts.on.ca/Page2862.aspx
Project: Comment parler d’art contemporain en milieu scolaire
A workshop and educational tool guide designed in 2012 for art teachers and educators is making its way through the educational network. A workshop recently took place at Glendon College. http://www.agavf.ca/dossiers/parlons.html
Project: L’Art visuel s’écrit
A new project (in collaboration with RCAAQ and ARTEXTE) challenging the lack of written material on francophone visual artists.
Professional development in Action art practices – partnership VIVA Art Action +AGAVF. Two-day workshops with Quebecois artists in three cities: Toronto, Sudbury and Moncton. Lise Leblanc, Director, AGAVF
ARCCO (Artist Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario)
ARCCO’s 3rd Party Organizational Review and Member Survey Results
ARCCO has been working with Jerry Smith, General Manager of FIRST STAGE Consulting and Heather Young, Principal, Young Associates and consultant for FIRST STAGE on its 3rd Party Organizational Review project since January 2011.
During ARCCO’s November 2012 Annual General Meeting, ARCCO was pleased to have Jerry Smith’s presentation during Show Me the Money V.2, where Jerry presented FIRST STAGE’s analysis of the two surveys which ARCCO carried out within the past year, as part of the Organizational Review. ARCCO received responses from over 60 individuals reflecting some 26 different artist-run centres across the province in order to seek feedback and guidance that would assist the Programming Committee to identify topics, themes and issues that could be relevant to the membership of ARCCO. Between May and June 2012, ARCCO staff carried out interviews with 30 ARCCO membership organizations, gathering input on the centres themselves, their operations and their programming, as well as a profile of the respondents.
ARCCO has since posted the presentation slides featuring a summary of the results on its website. Show Me the Money V.2 (pdf)
Both of these surveys will be vital tools as ARCCO determines future programming and service goals. The information collected during the Administrator’s Survey will be essential to strengthening ARCCO’s existing advocacy platform. ARCCO’s 3rd Party Organizational Review is generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
ARCCO Board of Directors 2013
ARCCO welcomes new board member Fynn Leitch, Director of Artspace to its Board of Directors. Our current team will be instrumental in developing ARCCO’s strategic plan.
ARCCO Board, 2013:
Clayton Windatt, President – White Water Gallery, North Bay
Paul Walty, Past President – La Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Sudbury
Josefa Radman, Vice-President – Factory Media Centre, Hamilton
Laura Margita, Treasurer and Secretary – Gallery 101, Ottawa
Christine Burchnall, Trustee – Artcite Inc., Windsor
Fynn Leitch, Trustee – Artspace, Peterborough
Staff:
Jewell Goodwyn, Executive Director
Axl T. Ernst, Executive Assistant
New Affiliate Members
ARCCO has recently grown by adding 43 new Affiliate Members, organizations participating in the ARCCO/Halpenny Insurance Program. This particular commercial property and liability insurance program was specifically created for non-profit arts organization by Halpenny Insurance Brokers Ltd., and ARCCO began offering this important service to the community in November 2012.
To learn more about the ARCCO/Halpenny Insurance Program for Ontario non-profit arts organizations please visit our website.
Ontario Arts Day – Protecting the Public’s Investment in Ontario Arts
Throughout the months of December 2012 and January 2013, ARCCO, alongside members of the PASO Coalition, national art service organizations and representatives and stakeholders in the Ontario art community spoke with local MPPs to address the importance of sustaining the current funding to the Ontario Arts Council. This highly successful campaign allowed MPPs the opportunity to meet with some of their constituents and, in many cases, connect with artists and arts organizations they had never met before.
Over 80 regional representatives participated, engaging in meetings with MPPs across the province to ensure that as many MPPs as possible were aware of the benefits that the arts bring to their communities. ARCCO invited representatives to speak on behalf of Ontario’s Artist-Run Centre community.
MPPs uniformly expressed their interest and support of the social and economic benefits of the arts, and some meetings yielded very important results to the benefit of Ontario arts organizations.
The Ontario Arts Council was delighted that so many arts representatives volunteered to participate in the endeavour. OAC acknowledged the community representatives who took the time to speak on behalf of the entire arts community and the importance of support from public funders and, in particular, the Ontario Arts Council.
Advocate Year Round
By Clayton Windatt, President, ARCCO and Director, White Water Gallery
It’s important for those of us who advocate in the arts to keep up our presence in our home regions. The Coalition for the Arts’ “Day on the Hill” advocacy event last October triggered a huge response from Canadian arts service organizations and other interested individuals who show extra dedication to supporting the arts industry. Over 120 arts leaders from across the country representing all artistic disciplines participated in the one day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where mixed groups of arts advocates met with several Members of Parliament to communicate the need for sustained funding for the arts as it provides one of the highest ratios of economic growth for investment in our country. This event was a concentrated effort and it made a big impact on many MPs that represent communities from across the country. Now it’s time for everyone to do more at home to keep that enthusiasm going.
I live in the federal electoral district of Nickel Belt, but work in the district of Nipissing –Timiskaming at the White Water Gallery Artist-Run Centre. After the “Day on the Hill” event I scheduled meetings with both my Federal MPs to continue advocating for the arts. At first, each of them expressed interest in why I was attempting to meet with them; MPs have busy schedules and need to negotiate their time efficiently. But once I explained my role in advocacy and community building locally and regionally, there was no problem in scheduling a meeting time and having a face-to-face.
I first met with Claude Gravelle at his office in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. Claude is a member of the New Democratic Party and is the MP for the Nickel Belt which covers a huge sprawl of municipalities including Greater Sudbury, Sudbury District, Biscotasing, Cartier, French River, Gogama, Killarney, Markstay-Warren, St. Charles, West Nipissing & Whitefish Lake plus small portions of Timiskaming, Manitoulin, Nipissing and Parry Sound. Claude participated in the “Day on the Hill” event in Ottawa and is a strong supporter of arts and culture. My meeting with him went very well and we established some common needs within our region and agreed to keep in touch about several things over the next few months.
I then met with Conservative MP Jay Aspin at his office in North Bay, Ontario. Jay represents the Nipissing –Timiskaming region which covers another huge area of Ontario that includes North Bay, Temiskaming Shores, East Ferris, Powassan, Callander, Bonfield, Mattawa and areas of the Nipissing & Parry Sound Districts. Although Jay was unable to attend the “Day on the Hill” event, he is interested in the value of the arts industry and the benefits of the arts as an economic factor for Canada’s future stating “We need the arts to fill roles in Canadian Society and to build cultural capital that can be of value internationally”. During my meeting with Jay we discussed the downtown region of North Bay and ways that economic growth through the arts can help the community, as well as communicating future plans for the White Water Gallery which resides there. He also invited me to come see his offices in Ottawa the next time I visit our nation’s capital.
Both meetings went great, and I plan to keep in touch with both MPs. I want them to understand my position on things because they are my representatives in Parliament. By having an open and friendly conversation with them about myself and the things happening in my community I become humanized to them and keep the context of “community” in play. It is easy for anyone to get caught up in big issues and be driven by opposition. I did not discuss political parties or agendas because getting into partisan politics can ruin a good conversation. I also did not try to force them to agree to anything, but instead talked and listened and asked questions about what they feel was important to them and how we can better work together. These interactions are not on a grand stage in front of our peers where expectations of guarantees on huge changes occur. The goal with these meetings is to better understand each other. With a better understanding and a friendly environment we can achieve more together. I recommend that everyone stays in touch with their local members of Parliament and put your people skills to work. For more information please visit the websites of the Canadian arts Coalition, of MP Claude Gravelle and of MP Jay Aspin.
New Ontario Cabinet
On February 11, 2013, Kathleen Wynne was officially sworn in as Ontario’s new Premier and announced her new cabinet lineup of 27 ministers, 20 of whom have new portfolios, and an additional 10 new members. ARCCO is pleased to see that the Honourable Michael Chan has been re-appointed to his position as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
Jewell Goodwyn, Director, ARCCO
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MARCC (The Manitoba Artist-run Centres Coalition)
MARCC and its members have been very busy this winter, since Winnipeg knows winter. As this was fundraising season many of the members successfully raised funds to help offset another year of frozen arts funding. A successful partnership project found RAW:Gallery and a local artisnal restaurant deer + almond teamed up to create RAW:Almond, an outdoor restaurant on the ice. This project proved very successful, garnering national attention. More importantly it began to raise the awareness of both organizations and the work they do on a broader city – wide basis. This form of programming and partnerships has become more frequent and is proving to be an effective way of public engagement. Aceart recently partnered with Into The Music and the Annex became the satellite shop for records and CD’s. Lastly, MARC has finalized it’s new graphics and will be launching its updated website. Spring is nearly upon us and MARC has several projects that it will unveil to the city in the next few months. I look forward to reporting on those.
aceartinc ran a 6 week advertising campaign utilizing the interior cards on Winnipeg Transit’s buses. Seven quotes from different issues of aceartinc’s journal, PaperWait, were selected each containing essays written about different exhibitions and events in ace’s regular program.
Joe Kalturnyk, MARC representative, Director, RAW: Gallery of Architecture & Design
PAARC (Pacific Association of Artist run Centres)
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS ON ARCPOST
Two special Institutions by Artists commissions were initiated and produced during the conference: Call to Order by Kathleen Ritter and James S. Maxwell and Study 1 by Artifact Institute. The complete Call to Order recordings and scores are available for listening and download. Artifact Institute has released the “Study 1: Participants in the Institutions by Artists Conference” report which can be downloaded.
A reminder: the complete video documentation of the Institutions by Artists conference is available for viewing. Produced by Ian Barbour, Darren Heroux, Josh Olson and Ron Tran, the set offers over 33 hours of video of all sessions and debates.
The Institutions by Artists conference has received a great response in the press and media, including coverage by Bryne McLaughlin in Canadian Art, Johanna Plant at Portage Press, A two part review by Ian Harbour at Decoy Magazine, A report from Georgie Meagher for an, Liz Park’s review for Afterall, plus “Institutions by Artists: Resistance or Retreat?” by Diana Sherlock for C Magazine and “All for One” by Alexander Provan for Frieze Magazine.
Big Thanks! to all our conference partners and volunteers!
The ARCPOST team
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PARCA (Plains Artist-Run Centres Association)
PARCA has nothing new to report at this time.
The Saskatchewan Arts Board is reporting good news for us; a 5% increase in its budget from the Sask government, announced last week. PARCA members are expecting good news about their multi-year funding grants in May but still bemused by the fact that this is a very, very small amount of new money. Arts Vest came to Saskatchewan last year, a program of Business for the Arts in Canada, and a few centres were able to manage the detailed eligibility guidelines to earn matching funds for donations of cash or in-kind contributions. Other centres, in general, not associated with the Arts Vest project, are reporting problems with reporting the amount of gift-in-kind contributions they receive, like on CADAC, since the requirement for a tax receipt requires a cheque exchange (CRA guidelines) which requires the donor to report as income the amount used to create the paper trail, which greatly increases their taxable income! Several donors are making contributions and preferring that we do not issue them a receipt, its a freebie and they are happy to be able to support the Arts without the benefit of tax reduction. Naturally, this is problematic since it is difficult to disclose the thousands and thousands of dollars coming in to support the small, esoteric* non-profits from the private sector and is skewing the statistics. Similarly, the cash value of our volunteer base is greatly misunderstood. The metrics used to gauge the success of the Entertainment Industry and other Populist forms of cultural expression, on the other hand, are based on cash and numbers and can easily dominate the sector, making it seem as though Canadians prefer them. Needs work! since nobody wants to create a situation where all the Arts are made to be all the same just to make them easily quantifiable, right. Sakewewak welcomes a new Director and I will defer to our Aboriginal rep. for their update. Big Thanks! to all our conference partners and volunteers!
Brenda Cleniuk, PAARCA representative, Director, Neutral Ground, Regina
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RCAAQ (Le Regroupement des centres d’artistes autogérés du Québec)
The Québec Pavillion project is progressing. Members of the International Development committee have met with personnel from CALQ on March 18th in order to present the project. The project was met with enthusiasm but the RCAAQ still needs to demonstrate that the project can obtain complementary funding in addition to support from CALQ. The Québec Pavillion is intended to replace the international missions that RCAAQ had initiated in 2007. The purpose of the pavillion is to ensure that artists from artist-run centres located in Québec be present at certain biennials; The pavillion will consist of a booth of variable size, that will make visible representatives from Québec in and off biennials, including Venice, Istanbul, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Gwangju, South Korea.
RCAAQ received funding from a program to support digital network platforms through CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) to do a feasibility study for a new webtv platform and pilot dedicated to contemporary art. The RCAAQ will work with consultant Gilles Prince, a long time close collaborator and former board member. His experience and leadership will be invaluable in undertaking this ambitious project. The RCAAQ will also collaborate with Cartel 02, the new artist-run centre consortium in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, filmmaker Jean-Marc E. Roy and the MaTV network to produce the pilot episodes.
The next RCAAQ AGM will take place on June 6-7 at La Filature in Gatineau and will be hosted by AxeNéo-7. The assembly will include a colloquium on the topic of Social economies and other types of funding. Confirmed key note speakers include Nancy Neamtan, President of the « Chantier de l’économie sociale du Québec » and Louise Hodder, consultant and former director of « La Corporation de développement économique et communautaire du Plateau Mont-Royal », a member from the National Gallery of Canada’s Foundation and representatives of Saw Gallery and Axe Néo-7 who is planning some festivities for the occasion. Heads from both theVisual Arts and Media Arts sections of Canada Council will attend and present past and upcoming changes, and will hopefully be able to inform the assembly on the status of the Flying Squad Program.
An improved survey on employment standards and payment of artist fees in artist-run centres is presently in production and will soon be distributed to our membership. It will enable the RCAAQ to better quantify the reality of cultural workers in artist-run centres in order to submit specific requests to the ministère de la Culture et des communications et de la condition féminine. This survey is part of the ongoing process of the L’allier commission created to look into the associations as per the law on the status of professional artists. The survey will also contribute to fulfilling the RCAAQ’s commitment to improve the financing of artist-run centres as per its stategic plan by 2015.
Bastien Gilbert, Director, RCAAQ
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