Should you get an MFA?
Umbrella Talks
The deadline for this opportunity has passed.
Umbrella Talks is a series of professional development sessions that will run through Fall 2019. These sessions will address questions about artists’ education, representation and how to survive professionally as an artist.
Elephant Artist Relief (EAR) hopes that Umbrella Talks will grow into a yearly endeavour, to address topics and concerns that will help develop the practices of artists of all disciplines, origins, and approaches to their art.
The first session of Umbrella Talks is Should you get an MFA? taught by Marianne Elder. Marianne will be providing some insight towards obtaining a graduate degree in the arts. This session will address what graduate art programs are available in Canada and abroad and tips on applying. Marianne will also be able to answer any questions at the end of the session.
Date: September 25, 2019, 6:00 – 9:00pm
Location: EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society (2005 10th Ave. SW)
Cost: Tickets are $10 per event for EAR members and $25 per event for non-members.
For more information or for tickets, visit elephantartistrelief.com. Tickets are available online and at the door.
EAR Membership
An EAR membership is an annual fee of $25 dollars, financially challenged memberships are $10 (EAR memberships grant the option to receive discounted entry to our professional sessions, discounts at local retailers and a regular EAR membership will receive a tax receipt). All proceeds of EAR memberships go towards our Relief and Rebound Funds.
History that led up to Umbrella Talks
EAR has been a resource for artists in the Calgary area since 2007. We started out exclusively helping out visual artists who were in crisis, usually with a health crisis of some sort, with our original Emergency Relief Fund. In 2014, we added the Rebound Fund, to assist artists of any discipline who are in dire straits, (again, usually a health crisis is involved). But alongside all of this, EAR has also been evolving towards becoming more of an advocate and information hub for artists in the Calgary region.
EAR had always engaged with the art community through artist tax and grant writing workshops, and also an initiative called The Year of EAR. Each year, we would partner with one of Calgary’s Artist-Run Centres (ARC’s). We would cross-promote each other’s initiatives, and the ARC partner of that year would help us out with small-scale fundraising through their own events.
In 2013, EAR began a Year of EAR with Untitled Art Society (UAS). UAS was already offering health and career workshops for artists, so it was a perfect fit with what we were trying to do. Our collaboration gave birth to the first Umbrella Conference, which we presented in the spring of 2014. Umbrella 2 was in 2015, and Umbrella 3 happened in 2017.
This year EAR has decided to re-work our potential conference structure into a series of four workshops the Umbrella Talks, spaced one month apart, to hopefully provide more focus on one specific issue each time, to better address and serve the artists of Calgary.
