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Editorial — Montreal, May 24, 2018
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Artist-Run Centres: Sites of Political Tensions
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by Anne Bertrand, Director / ARCA
In the previous edition of "l’arca in the loop,” I mentioned the fact that tension in board/staff relations sometimes seems is inherent to the political life of artist-run centres (ARC). At the risk of sounding moralistic, this tension, without being Manichean, begets risk and opportunity. In other words, governance is not a science. It’s a dance among the kinds of persons who gravitate to ARCs for a variety of personal and professional interests, but who must ultimately act in the organization’s best interests and within the framework of bylaws and internal governance practices, as well as federal and provincial not-for-profit legislation.
The relationship between board and staff is often cited as a place where roles and responsibilities may be ambiguous. Or maybe these roles are simply not communicated clearly to new, sometimes inexperienced board members, leaders in their own right who join with their own visions and questions (and frustrations): questions that emerge with each new generation that moves through the organization. Art professionals will usually identify with artist-run centres on the basis of their programming and location. Situations may arise in cities where there is only one artist-run centre.
> Read full editorial here.
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Reminder: 2018 National Indigenous Media Arts Gathering
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Visit the 2018 National Indigenous Media Arts Gathering website regularly to stay up-to-date on the latest conference information on the schedule, discounts for travel and accommodations, sponsor and advertising opportunities, and learn more about guests that you will meet.
Tickets here.
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News from the membership
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Two News Appointments to ARCA’s Board of Directors
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Julia Aoki (left) has long been involved in the Vancouver art community as a cultural manager, writer, researcher, and organizer. She served as Interim General Manager and Programming Director of the Powell Street Festival, Board Director at Access Gallery and Or Gallery, and supported PAARC in executing an analysis of the relationships between ARCs and provincial funding. Her writing on marginal histories can be found in TOPIA, Space and Culture and a collection published by Lexington Books. In the cultural studies tradition, her work makes space for those cultural expressions and community formations that go under-investigated and underserved by commercial and political mechanisms and practices.
Ginger Carlson (right) is a curator and writer based in Calgary. She holds a BA Honours in Art History from the University of Alberta and an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Manchester. She is the Board President of M:ST Performative Art Festival and Vice-President of the Alberta Association of Artist-run Centres. She has written essays and reviews published in BlackFlash Magazine, Canadian Art, Luma Film and Media Art Quarterly, and SNAPline. In 2016, she received the Canadian Art Foundation Writing Prize.
ARCA will miss working with outgoing directors Jonathan Middleton and Todd Janes. Todd, who joined ARCA in 2006, has been a rallying force over the years, especially during his tenure as Board Chair since November 2009, exercising impartiality, and bringing levity to ARCA’s epic conference calls. As one of ARCA’s founding members, Jonathan was instrumental in bringing historical perspective to ARCA’s advocacy work, ensuring it always supported PAARC’s and other members’ provincial and regional advocacy initiatives, as per ARCA’s federated structure. ARCA wishes them the best in their future endeavours, while I look forward to staying in touch with them for many years to come.
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What’s up in the network
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Entering the “Mystical Age of Ageism” and Addressing the Challenges that Senior Artists Face
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The Canadian Senior Artists’ Resource Network (CSARN), a non-profit organization established to help professional artists “keep active and creative as they age,” held its 2018 annual conference, titled “Maintaining Creativity 3: Relevance,” on April 19 at Toronto’s Metro Reference Library. The 2018 conference was divided into three sections: a panel on “Relevance,” a talk by neurologist Luis Fornazzari on the effects of art on memory, and a panel on “housing options.” The first and third panels were of direct interest to senior artists, as they centred on the precarity and challenges they face (as to the second panel, memory is certainly topical, but outside of art being linked to memory retention, Fornazzari’s lecture was not particularly relevant either for professional or day-to-day concerns).
Relevance proved an inspirational theme, germane to senior artists’ career retention. More importantly, however, it highlighted community as central to developing policies affecting senior artists, a theme that the housing panel reiterated strongly. While short on immediate solutions, it underscored the urgency of addressing senior artists’ housing, which is at a crisis point in Toronto, as in other Canadian centres. That urgency, added to the call for prioritizing community, made Maintaining Creativity 3 worthwhile as a springboard for discussion and implementation of policy that impacts seniors in the visual arts, media arts, and crafts.
Read full report here.
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Inspiring practices
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2017 National Compensation Study for Managerial and Administrative Positions in Not-for-Profit Arts Organizations
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The Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) has recently published its 2017 National Compensation Study for Managerial and Administrative Positions in Not-for-Profit Arts Organizations. The study identifies employee burnout due to resources being stretched thin in small-scale arts organizations as an important issue. The CHRC’s National Compensation Study states, “smaller arts organizations consistently have fewer employees, but they perform a much wider variety of functions in order to accomplish their organization’s goals. These organizations feel especially stretched due to their budget constraints.” The study also mentions the difficulty of attracting and retaining qualified personnel in small and mid-sized arts organizations due to the “the overall inadequacy of employer-paid benefits, combined with a limited ability to pay competitive salaries (on average, salaries are three-to-five times lower than in larger organizations).”
Find revised report here.
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—/ Following a two-weeks-run, ARCA wishes to thank all of those who took the time to respond to Assessing Professional Conditions for Performance Artists in Canada survey. Results will be analysed and shared with CARFAC as part of their regular royalties’ schedule review.
—/ About taxation and artists, CARFAC and the Canadian Arts Coalition are in contact with the Canadian Revenue Agency and a briefing paper is in the works. At a recent Canadian Public Arts Funders meeting, the issue of how T4A are filed was raised. Different councils use different boxes for reporting grants, and this needs to be reviewed as a whole. In the meantime, the Canada Council for the Arts has issued this memo.
—/ Make sure to pop in to our recently updated Directory for the latest calls for submissions, residencies and more!
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