Community News & Events

Canadian Asian Artist Community Conversations: August 30th to September 3rd

To improve the representation of Canadian artists of Asian origin while facilitating exchanges between artists as well as with the cultural industry, a national digital platform is being created. This project is evolving under the supervision of a multicultural, multidisciplinary and pan-Canadian council. Funded with a major grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, this tool is the result of objectives set during the second edition of the Symposium in 2020.

These community conversations, led by Shawn Tse, help shape the project itself to better serve the asian canadian community.

Event focus: The Artists’ Portfolio (visibility and promotion)
Tickets

  • What key information would you want to share and also see on other artists’ portfolios?
  • How is the artist content communicated and what can we do to reduce harm on the platform? For example, if the artist doesn’t identify with any of our categories for ‘field of practice’ how does the platform recognize new practices?
  • Do you have any preferences on the searchability/privacy of your portfolio?
  • Will there by automatically a random generated weekly featured members?
  • Randomly generated weekly featured new members?
  • Randomly generated calendar of upcoming events or will there be a constant calendar or what’s coming in the next week?
  • Do members voluntarily sign up to host sessions of conversations?
  • Who should be contributing to a blog, newsletter, etc. if we have one?
  • How would they like to use this site to build community? For example, those who do not like to promote themselves- will there be a place where people can showcase other talent they discover?

Event focus: Community Values (Social justice, decolonization, intersectionality, community care, sustainability)
Tickets

  • What arts community issues need to be addressed now?
  • What would we like to see featured so the content can be created? For example, norms of practice/equity rates, blogs on stress management, etc.
  • How to combat systemic racism, model minority myth, and reduce discrimination on a new platform?
  • Every province and city has a different approach, resources, experience, and capacity to address social issues. What are some ways that this platform can help encourage our diverse communities to support each others’ needs?
  • How do we engage with the theme of decolonization? For example, communication, land acknowledgement, intercultural learning, collaborating with Indigenous, Black, and marginalized communities
  • What are funding strategies that the community is comfortable with? Operational grants, corporate sponsorship, academic collaboration, fundraising, etc.

Event focus: Accessing the Digital Platform
Tickets

  • What are some concerns you may have to access this platform?
  • What are some barriers you currently have in your arts practice that you think this platform can help improve?
  • In surveys artists preferred a clean, minimalist aesthetic. Should content be nested or do people prefer longer form webpages?
  • What does the community want to see aesthetically to reflect their reality? Are their colours, images, or feelings the branding of the website should evoke?

Event focus: Artist Resources
Tickets

  • What type of resources are most needed? (tips for grant writing, arts opportunities, mentorships, residencies, arts research, etc)
  • How does the community want to be involved in inputting opportunities, calendars, residencies they find, job posting, etc.?
  • What is an effective way to present all this information?
  • If we were to create interactive content for this resource section, how often should we have this content?

Event focus: Artist Resources
Tickets

  • What type of resources are most needed? (tips for grant writing, arts opportunities, mentorships, residencies, arts research, etc)
  • How does the community want to be involved in inputting opportunities, calendars, residencies they find, job posting, etc.?
  • What is an effective way to present all this information?
  • If we were to create interactive content for this resource section, how often should we have this content?