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.

On October 19-20, ARCA will attend the 9th annual National Arts Service Organisations meeting taking place in Ottawa in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts. This year’s organizing committee – including ARCA again this year – has built on last year’s success by planning a two-day meeting which affords more opportunity for participants to share expertise and network with peers and funders. This year’s meeting’s focus is on research initiatives in the arts sector.

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 »»

In celebration of MAWA’s 30th anniversary, Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA) and Manitoba Artist-Run Centres Coalition (MARCC) have joined forces to present Who Counts: A Feminist Art Throwdown, three days of lectures, debates and events that will bring together feminists, artists and cultural workers from across Canada to discuss feminist art in Canada now. »»

ARCA and member Le Regroupement des centres d’artistes autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ) are partnering to promote and bring artist-run centres’ publishing to market at the Vancouver Art Book Fair to take place at the Vancouver Art Gallery from October 3-5. ARCA has commissioned Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte to produce a catalog of stellar publications selected from our »»

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.

On my way to Banff to attend the Canadian Arts Summit, I visited artist-run centres in Edmonton and Calgary to meet with colleagues, some for the first time. In Edmonton, ARCA president and director of Latitude 53 Todd Janes accompanied me on a tour of centres, including SNAP and Harcourt House; In Calgary, I was greeted by AAARC president Su Ying Strang of The New Gallery and taken on a quick tour of Untitled, Stride, and the New Gallery, all located in new spaces, before joining the gathered artist-run leaders for a meeting at Truck in their new industrial location a little on the edge of things.

The Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA) will publish its first Online Directory of Artist-Run Centres in the fall of 2014. This Directory replaces the one that, until 2010, was published every four years by the Regroupement des centres d’artistes autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ). The online directory will introduce every artist-run centre and collective in Canada, and provide basic information and a direct link to each organization’s website for more complete information. The electronic format will facilitate regular updates, provide searchable fields, and ensure easy and free access to everyone, in both official languages.

On December 5th, The Manitoba Artist-Run Centres’ (MARCC) members gathered at Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA) for a meeting to cover quite a few topics. I attended the meeting in part to clarify the role of ARCA in advocacy, representation, research, and networking for the artist-run network across Canada. It was helpful to revisit why ARCA was formed in 2005 and why it was organised by regional associations (including two cultural associations).

On Oct. 20-21, ARCA President Todd Janes, and Director Anne Bertrand, along with over 70 individuals representing National arts service organisations (NASO), attended the annual meeting with The Canada Council for the Arts. Extended by one day, the meeting’s agenda offered perspectives on the current situation at Council, a presentation of the new organisational development assistance program called Leadership for Change, a presentation on available web-based organisational development resources, a presentation of results of a survey polling NASOs on the services offered to their membership as well as their interest and motivation to meet yearly.