ARCA

Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference
Conférence des collectifs et des centres d’artistes autogérés

Services

Main issues in 2010-2011

Employment standards within our network

Work conditions within the Canadian network of artist-run centres and the lack of data available on the subject have been pressing concerns for a number of years. In the fall of 2009, with our colleagues of the Independent Media Arts alliance (IMAA), we collected a large quantity of data on working conditions from the artist-run centres of our respective networks. The results of this study are now available, and you can download the complete document at the end of this page.

This study, the first of its kind on the national level, will strengthen our advocacy efforts to raise awareness as to the needs of workers in artist-run centres, within centres themselves and with funders. It will also offer an additional tool to advocate for an increase of credits to artist-run centres, so that they will have the concrete means to better remunerate their staff.

Over the years, difficult work conditions have deprived artist-run centres of experienced staff, who often choose to pursue their careers in institutions that offer better wages and advantages. Artist-run centres must continuously train new people who leave as soon as they have acquired sufficient experience, as our milieu cannot offer them the conditions they deserve. We are therefore deprived of experienced employees, and this staff turnover unnecessarily weakens artist-run centres.

Visual Arts Alliance

Formed three years ago following the Visual Arts Summit of November 2007, the Visual Arts Alliance unites twelve national arts service organizations in visual arts, media arts and crafts. Our Conference is very active in this assembly. The Alliance holds regular meetings where much information is exchanged. A Research Agenda for the Visual Arts has been devised that aims to present a comprehensive portrait of the visual arts’ ecosystem in Canada in order to better understand the dynamics and encourage the flourishing of the visual arts sector. In fall 2009, Dr Guy Bellavance was mandated to undertake a critical review of existing literature on the visual arts in Canada. The results of this exhaustive study will be published in winter 2011. Dr. Bellavance’s work should enable us to identify gaps in existing research on the visual arts, and, eventually, to fill them.

The members of the Visual Arts Alliance are also preparing a colloquium on the future of the visual arts in Canada for September 2011. This colloquium will be held in Kingston, Ontario to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1941 Kingston Conference, leading to the creation of the Massey-Lévesque Commission on the Arts in Canada, and to the eventual founding of the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Canada Council for the Arts Assistance to Artist-Run Centres program

On October 15, 2010, most of Canada’s artist-run centres submitted a multiannual grant application to the Canada Council for the Arts. This program was revised in 2009-2010, and our organization contributed actively to the consultations leading to its restructuring. The results of this new competition will be known in spring 2011, and we will attentively examine its implications.

Canadian Arts Coalition

Formed during the 2006 federal election, the Canadian Arts Coalition definitively contributed to the permanent increase of the Canada Council’s budget. However, the Coalition has since almost entirely disappeared due to a lack of means to pursue its objectives. During a meeting of the National Arts Services Organizations held in Ottawa in October 2009, organizations attending expressed a strong desire to revive this Coalition. One year later, the Coalition is preparing a Day on the Hill, a series of meetings between art leaders and politicians, to convince them to support investments in Canadian arts. The Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference supports the objectives of the Canadian Arts Coalition, which is asking the government to increase the base budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $300 million by 2015, and to invest $25 million in strategic international market access and development initiatives.

Study on real estate within the artist-run centres’ network

With the objective of better understanding our milieu, we are still hoping to launch a study on the real estate situation of centres within our network. Some centres already own their premises; others would like to access property in order to stabilize their operations. Several centres benefit from “controlled rents” in buildings provided by their city or province. Many are constantly moving from place to place at the will of their city’s real estate market. For the well-being of our network, we believe it is important to better document this situation.

Members’ projects

Arca supports its members’ projects

Institutions by Artists Convention

In October 2012, the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres (PAARC), jointly with FILLIP Magazine, will host the Institutions by Artists Convention in Vancouver. This conference will survey institutional and para-institutional projects and practices by artists to measure the distance between the promise and the actual performance of contemporary artist-run centres and initiatives. It will convene an international congress of artists, curators, critics and academics around the question: Is there a space for art outside of the market and the state?

Topics, inquiries, position papers, and information about artist-run institutions may be sent to lorna@arcpost.ca or www.arcpost.org.

This conference follows other conferences organized by arca members:
Res Artis, 2010, by RCAAQ
Hot Buttons / Points chauds, 2008, by ARCCO
InFest, 2004, by PAARC
Tiré à part / Off Printing, 2003, by RCAAQ
Convergence, 2002, by ARCCO.

Directory of Artist-Run Centres in Quebec and Canada

The Regroupement des centres d’artistes autogérés du Québec launched the 7th edition of the Directory of Artist-Run Centres in Quebec and Canada in October 2010, presenting more than 160 members of our network. This Directory is available at www.rcaaq.org

External links

Standard Agreements (some fees may apply):

Regroupement des centres d’artistes autogérés du Québec

Carfac Ontario

Fee Schedules:

CARCC