Northeast Mini Galleries Artwork: Info Session Video

Tiffany Wollman: The purpose of the session is to provide an overview of the Northeast Mini Galleries program and how to get involved. We will go over the application process and answer any questions you may have. We will not be going over every detail in the program application and there is a lot more information in the guidelines, so please make sure to read through them carefully before applying. 

If you do have questions, feel free to add them in the chat throughout the meeting. We will go over them at the end of the session. I would like to do our land acknowledgment. We acknowledge that the land we gather on, Mohkinsstsis, is the ancestral territory of the Siksikaitsitapi — the Blackfoot people — comprising the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani Nations, as well as Treaty 7 signatories,  

the Tsuut’ina Nation, and the Îyârhe Nakoda Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney First Nations. Today this land is home to the Metis Nations 5 and 6 as well as many First Nations and Inuit peoples from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that there has been art, music, dance, storytelling and ceremony on this land since time immemorial. And it is in the spirit of this land and its people that we do our work. 

Let’s get started. For your reference, here’s our contact information. This slide will be up at the end of, the slide is not at the end anymore. Sorry. You’ll have to screenshot it and write it down. And you can reach out to me at any time with questions about the Northeast Mini Galleries, the application process or for more information about Calgary Arts Development, as well as Toyin, she’s wonderful. So, Calgary Arts Development. Our vision. We’re going to start with some information about Calgary Arts Development and the public art program. 

Calgary Arts Development has created a strategic framework that supports and nurtures diverse art and artist-led city building to foster not only a resilient and sustainable art ecosystem, but to achieve a truly equitable, inclusive and accessible city where everyone belongs. Our overarching vision is a creative, connected Calgary through the arts, where everyone is empowered to live a creative life. 

Our mission is: the arts have the power to create vibrant communities and bring together diverse voices and perspectives. We support artists in the development of their skills and the expression of their creativity. Calgary Arts Development supports and strengthens the arts to benefit all Calgarians. As the City’s designated Arts Development Authority, we invest and allocate municipal funding for the arts provided by the City of Calgary and leverage these funds to provide additional resources to the arts sector. 

Our programs support hundreds of organizations, individual artists and artist collectives in Calgary. 

So, what is public art? We define it as art in the public realm that is initiated and led by an artist. But we also have to include the importance of context in creating art for the public realm. Public art responds to the place where it is situated, its history, the communities that surround it and interact with it, and its landscape and natural environment. 

The Public Art Program. As the Arts Development Authority, we are uniquely positioned to deliver and create a future public art program built with, upon our knowledge of and strong relationships with the arts community. As of 2021, Calgary Arts Development is engaged in a multi-year transition with the City of Calgary to take over as operator of the public art program. 

We are creating a public art program that is engaging, relevant and accountable. This program must reflect the rich diversity of the city, including connecting with Indigenous voices to tell the past, current and future stories of Calgary/Mohkinsstsis. Our intent is to foster meaningful connections and dialog between artists and communities, utilizing art in the public realm to reflect Calgary’s diverse stories and values, CADA’s public art role is commissioning new artworks through open competition 

program, for example youth programs, artists development and temporary exhibitions, building public awareness and activating the civic collection. While the city is responsible for civic collection, conservation and maintenance and activation of the civic collection. At CADA we are committed to equity. Calgary Arts Development is committed to working with communities that historically have been underserved. We are guided by equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. 

We are committed to the process of eliminating institutional racism, ablism and barriers in our programs, policies and practices by entering the creativity and leadership of those communities most impacted by structural in equities. Our commitment outlines a vision for the city where Calgarians of all backgrounds can access, create and participate in art as part of their everyday lives. This equity providing equitable access for Calgarians, who have had less opportunity for the financial support [INAUDIBLE]. 

Supporting artistic endeavours that reflect our diverse community and in supporting the work of artists of diverse backgrounds. Engaging a wide variety of voices and perspectives and shaping the furthering the work that we do. Explicitly eliminating systematic barriers that prevent people who encounter physical, mental or cultural barriers to spaces, programs and services from participating in the arts. In order to honour lived experience and the intersectional and unique experience of different people and communities we follow 

A Nothing About Us Without Us policy. So, if you are creating work for a specific community, that community needs to be actively engaged and consulted and there needs to be a clear, intentional and reciprocal relationship. Aligning with our commitment to EDIA, we will strive to work with activists in a one size fits one way. If you have any concerns about how your practice or concept fits into our application process, please [INAUDIBLE. 

There are things we will not tolerate, such as hate speech, cultural appropriation to exclusionary behaviour. So please be aware that the applications or concepts that contain this will not be accepted. 

Application assistance. Calgary Arts Development is committed to open, fair and transparent processes. There are two policies available for anyone who may need support to apply to this program, the Accommodation and Accessibility Policy and the Application Assistant Policy. We will work one on one with applicants who experience barriers to access to develop accommodations that suit their unique abilities and situations and continually seek to learn and address inequities in our programs and processes. 

We will provide funds to support application assistance. For example, we can cover the cost of translations of written materials into other languages, including ASL, transcription of verbal meetings or audio and video recordings into a written document, language interpretation for meetings and grant writing assistance. If you are looking for assistance or have questions about eligibility, please reach out to us before applying. 

You can email the public art team at publicart@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or you can reach out to me or Toyin directly. Please reach out as early as you can so we can provide appropriate support. Booking translators, for example, can take a week or more. Our application assistance program requires a one-time approval, so if you’re granted an accommodation for this application, you will be pre-approved for any future application with CADA. 

If you are facing any barriers to complete or submit an application, reach out to us and we can help. You do not need to tell us specific details about barriers you are experiencing, only that you are looking for accommodations. So just to give context to why we are all here. This is a picture of our Northeast Mini Galleries. 

This is what they look like. They are made of wood and have a clear window to view the gallery space. Every gallery will have a sign with the artist’s name, the name of the artwork, the year it was made and a description of the artwork by the artist. I think Toyin, is this you? 

Toyin Oladele: Yeah. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. My name is Toyin, as Tiffany said, and I’m very excited to tell you a little bit about this program and what we’ve done already. So, I am consulting for Calgary Arts Development on this project. This project has been on for I think about two or three years now in the making before it came through. 

So just to provide an overview, how did Calgary Arts Development receive the public art programing and projects for the City of Calgary? Well, the Northeast Notice of Motion passed October 13, as you can see on your screen, to specifically identify and support public art projects in the Northeast because it’s directly in the northeast part of Quadrant as a part of Calgary, has not received as much public art like other quadrants. 

So, this motion was moved to specifically fix that. And I’m very excited that we’ve been privileged to work with the community to create new projects and of course, engage multiple artists in the community. Thank you. Next slide, please. 

Well, as part of this initiative, as I was mentioning, the Northeast Mini Galleries began in 2023 actively, so curating it began in 2023. But we started planning this out in 2021, kind of designing, researching, reaching out to community members, talking with them. And eventually we got to where we got to with some communities that you would soon find out, 

and the curation started last year. In its first year, the program showcased 36 artists and three art curators. So, there were two curators that we hired with myself, and I was privileged to curate the three mini galleries in the municipal building, and we had ten other mini galleries across the Northeast. We welcomed artists who live, work or have a strong connection to Northeast Calgary to apply back then, and that’s what we’re still doing right now regarding this particular project. 

So, if you if you’ve lived there before or you currently live there or you work there or you play there or you have your community there, or that’s where you reach out to your community and connect with your own, you’re welcome to apply. We just need to have that context. Thank you. Next slide, please. Fantastic. So, the Mini Galleries Artwork program is comprised of 13 mini galleries currently. 

There could be other mini galleries in other parts of the city, but that wouldn’t be part of what CADA is working on. Some folks have mini galleries in their own community all by themselves. So, this particular project is for the ones the City of Calgary created that is currently being program to by Calgary Arts Development. Each of the ten participating communities, community associations hosts one mini gallery either in their space or in a space very close to them. 

And with three additional mini galleries located downtown in the municipal building at the atrium there. So, if you want to see it, feel free to just walk by, you would see it. Well, these are the communities I’m just going to list them out: the Thorncliffe Greenview Community Association, the Western Heights Mountain View Community Association, the Vista Milan Crossroads Community Association, 

the Livingston Homeowners Association. Beddington Heights. Falconridge/Castleridge Community Association, Marlborough Park, Temple, Rundle and Martindale Community Associations. All these are the ten participating associations in this project so far. Thank you. Next slide. Well, from the current call for artwork, 13 local artists will be selected. So, this information session that you’re watching right now, we’re going to be selecting 13 artists for each of the four-month periods of the exhibition. 

And we have July to October. So, the very first iteration is going to start in July. We’re in April now, so May, June, in about two months, you’re going to see two, you’re going to see new artworks all over the 10 mini galleries and the municipal building. So, from July to October, and then we’re going to switch. Right in November, new ones were coming again till February next year. 

Then in March we’re going to switch and it’s going to be March to June next year, again 2025. And by then before June, of course, just like what we’re doing now, because we’re going to start all over hopefully, and then we’ll be able to start a new series. Artists will also be expected to work with the Project Lead, which is Tiffany and curator to install and install the artwork from the mini gallery. 

So, whenever we’re going to install your work, you would be with us. It would be Tiffany or the curator or maybe myself. We can’t tell, and then we would do the installation together and you would see the process and everything. Everything is pretty clear and transparent. And in case you wouldn’t be around or anything like that, as long as you are able to provide your artwork and you’re a part of the Northeast community, we can always find ways around it. 

I’m sure Tiffany will be able to answer more questions for that. Next slide, please. Thank you. Wanted to quickly touch base on what are the goals of this program? I mean, the program has been on since 2021. And so, we’ve had some amazing feedback and goals that we’ve achieved. The Northeast Min Galleries Artwork Program will provide exhibition opportunities for artists who live or work and have a strong connection to Northeast Calgary. 

It’s going to showcase 36 artists annually. Why are we doing this? We want to be able to provide opportunities for self-identifying artists of all levels to share their artwork and stories, so you could be emerging, you could be established, whatever it is you’re welcome to apply to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of the Northeast Calgary communities. Of course, there’s a lot of vibrancy there and we want to put that out there to the world for them to see it. 

So yeah, create a sense of collective well-being and care for community associations and community members and we’ve seen that happen from when the work started. We would also, this work would also enhance the overall experience for people living and working in the Northeast communities of Calgary. And again, like the last point, we’ve seen this happen throughout the year that we’ve been curating this program. 

So, it’s a great program and we invite you all to be a part of it. Next slide, please. Thank you. Fantastic. I’ll take it back to Tiffany and she would be saying more about timeline and other details. Meanwhile, I’ll be here if you have any specific question that you want to clarify. Thank you. 

Tiffany Wollman: Thank you so much, Toyin. And lovely to hear more about the history of the project and to have your help on everything. Okay, this is our timeline. Here’s a quick overview of the Public Art Program timeline. Applications are accepted until May 8, 2024 at 4:30pm MST. We encourage submitting your application as early as possible, late submissions will not be accepted. 

All applications will be reviewed and evaluated in May. The successful applicant will be notified in mid-June, unsuccessful applicants will be notified by email. The artist will be expected to coordinate with the project lead and curator to install and de-stall your work. We talked about that already. And so yeah, right now the application is open. It closes May 8, 

so don’t forget that. We do reviewing, then we notify end of June and we start the first group of installations in June. We’re going to try and do the installations at the very end of the exhibition and then we’ll just be transferring things over. 

All right. So, I brought in a few examples of the current Northeast Mini Galleries and work that you would see there now. I just wanted to just show three examples of what some other artists are doing. I selected these artworks to help illustrate how to approach sharing your artwork in the space and have included some three-dimensional artwork to share. 

So, this is Hannah Frostad. Her artwork is called Community. It is in Falconridge/Castleridge Community Association. It demonstrates how two-dimensional work, like a graphic painting, will be displayed in the mini galleries. You also get a better idea of what the scale is of the gallery. Okay. And this is artist Mani Singh. His artwork is called A Cup of Mother Nature, which is quite stunning. 

And instead of having to illustrate his concept and idea better, he photographed his work. And I just wanted to share that because I think a photograph can like you could show your photography work, but also if you’re working in a three-dimensional work, maybe a photograph can be a great alternative for sharing your three-dimensional work. Although ideally, we do want to exhibit physical work. 

This is Priscilla Liu-Tcheng and her artwork is called Reclaim. It’s a bunch of hand embroidery and she’s taken over the entire inside of the mini gallery. This artist is showing her work at the Livingston Homeowners Association, her name is Zahra and her work is titled The Beauty of Moraine Lake. And this just shows how the work will be seen through the window. 

And then this, you’ll notice that this work is inside, so this is one that is at the municipal building downtown. So, this is Kevin Chow. He’s part of the Artist duo Rawry and Pohly there artwork is called Coogary and yeah, they created a diorama to fit the space of the mini gallery. So yeah, just another great example of different techniques and mediums to exhibit within the Northeast 

Mini Galleries. All right, you will be paid for this. I really encourage artists to do work, exhibitions where they’re going to get paid. Selected artists will be paid $973.75. Not including GST for participating in the Northeast Mini Gallery’s exhibition. My apologies. I didn’t run the numbers up a little bit more. I’m sorry. This rate follows the current CARFAC minimum fee schedule for solo single work and small site exhibitions. 

Are you eligible? Eligibility. The program is open to anyone who self-identifies as an artist and lives, works or has strong connection to Northeast Calgary. All artists experience levels are welcome. Artists working in two dimensional and three-dimensional mediums are encouraged to apply. Examples of these could be painting, drawing, printmaking, graphic design, illustration, fibre, photography, digital art, ceramics, small sculpture, etc. We encourage submissions from artists who are typically under-represented, including BIPOC, Black, Indigenous and people of colour, the LGBTQIA2S+ identifying individuals, Deaf persons and persons with disabilities. 

We will also accept applications from members of Treaty 7 Nations living within Treaty 7 territory, Southern Alberta if they can demonstrate a clear connection to Calgary Northeast communities. If you have any questions about eligibility or accessibility, accommodations, please reach out to me directly. Selection process. Applications to the program will be reviewed by curators selected from the Canada Public Art Curator roster. 

Our goal is to work with emerging curators with strong connections to Northeast Calgary communities. Our curators for this call are chosen to represent a broad diversity of Northeast Calgary and its artistic communities, including but not limited to artistic discipline, gender, sexuality, age, religion, physical and neurological identities. The curators will review all submissions and select the artist. CADA leadership will review the artworks selected before confirming, artists will be notified the following week. 

Application Requirements. The curators will read your letter of interest and evaluate based on how the submission responded to the application questions. So, in the letter, interest groups. Yeah, sorry about that. In 500 words or less, we would like to know why does this application, why does this program appeal to you? 

What is the connection to one or more communities in Northeast Calgary? and please specify your community, How does your artwork reflect what it means to be part of a community, or what stories would you like to share that reflect your community? Describe your art practice and how it connects to the program. So, I know you could write a lot about your work, 

try to keep it under 500 words. Our online platform requires a curriculum vitae, also known as CV, when complete in your profile. So, we are asking artists to start thinking about their experiences as an artist and the story of their practice. It is okay if this is your first exhibition experience, it is good practice to start creating a CV. Information to include in your CV demonstrated experience with art exhibitions or commissions and demonstrated involvement or engagement with the community. 

Okay, images are really important as well. Consider artwork that meets the program goals. Artists may submit 1 to 5 original artworks for consideration. Only one artwork per artist will be selected. Artwork submitted must be finished artwork. Artwork must fit within the dimensions of the mini gallery and the gallery’s window/door, and images like the files, will need to be in a JPEG or JPG format, and the files altogether may not exceed 2GB. In the online platform 

it is also required that we fill in all the information required on the online platform. All right, the Mini Gallery, the dimensions. So, if the artwork should only be a minimum, a maximum size of 11 by 16 by 6 and the window is 9 and a quarter height and 14 inches wide. All right. How to apply? 

Let’s get into the process how to apply online and the online application in greater detail. Applications are accepted through our online platform. You’ll be able to access the platform through the grant log in button in the top right corner of the CADA homepage or at calgaryartsdevelopment.smartsimple.ca. All right, see go there. 

Helen Hu: I’m going to go over how to apply for a program. We use an online platform called Smart Simple. If you already have an account with us, you can log in right away to start or continue your application by clicking on the log in button here. If you do not already have an account with us, you will need to create one and set up your profile prior to opening an application. 

You can do so by clicking create an account here. If you’re an individual artist, please select individual artist, and likewise for artist collectives. You will need to fill out all the mandatory fields within the form here. Once you are finished, please click I am not a robot and submit. You should receive an email from Smart Simple to finish setting up your password. Once you have completed registering for an account on our online platform or if you’re logging back in again, you will need to complete your artist profile or keep it up to date 

if you have already completed this before. You can do so by selecting the button on the top right-hand corner here and selecting My Profile. If you need to update your profile, click on Update Profile and complete all of the mandatory fields within this form. You’ll want to keep your years of practice up to date as well as your artist resume or CV. 

If you are interested in being considered as an assessor, you may select Yes here. Once you have completed your profile or you’ve completed making any changes that you need to, click on Save My Work and Submit Profile. You can now proceed to open an application. If we go back to Home, you’ll notice that Open Opportunities is in the Home page here. Open Opportunities Page will display all of the open opportunities that are available for applying to. 

You can click on the program that you would like to apply for. In this case, the Northeast Mini Gallery’s artwork. If you click on View, you can download a copy of the artist guidelines for this program, and when you’re ready to apply, click on Apply and begin application. 

You’ll notice in the first tab Contact Information. The information from your artist profile are ported over here automatically. This is why it’s important to keep your artist profile up to date and updated as much as possible before opening an application. This will include your artist resumé, your artistic discipline, your years of practice and your artistic practice statement. The second tab is Submission Requirements. 

We often ask applicants how they heard about the call. There’s also a letter of interest you will need to complete and artwork for consideration. For artworks for consideration, you’ll need to upload 1 to 5 images. Once you have uploaded the images you’d like to submit, you’ll need to access the Properties button here. This will enable you to change the title of your artwork, 

the year it was completed, the size, the medium and a brief description. Once you have completed entering in all the details for your artwork, click on Save. Now that will be updated in the details just below your photograph there. And you’ll want to do this for each photograph that you’ve uploaded. Once you have completed your application, or if you’d like to return to it to work on it later, you can click on Save Draft. 

Save and Validate is another useful button as it will let you know which fields have not been completed and need to be. Once you are ready to submit your form or your application, you can click on Submit here. 

Once you have begun an application and you need to access your draft, you can do so by scrolling to the bottom of the page from your Home page. Here the first tab that says Draft will display all of your applications in draft status. You can click on Open for the application that you’d like to return to, and this way you can continue to work on your application before you Save and Validate or click on Submit or Save Draft once more. 

Tiffany Wollman: All right. So again, these are the locations. There are also the three downtown in the municipal building. I would just if you wanted to go out and have a look at them, you can easily look up the address in Google for that, the address. But I would also refer to this list because a few of them are actually not in front of the community association, they’re in a nearby park. 

I noticed that with Vista Mayland Crossroads and the Beddington Heights Mini Galleries. All right. Everyone’s got a lot of questions. I hope that some of these frequently asked questions will help. Okay. Can I apply if my Northeast community is not listed with the participating community association? Artists who live, work or have strong connections to any Northeast communities are eligible to apply, 

the call isn’t exclusive to location of each mini gallery. May I apply if I have already shown in Northeast Mini Galleries exhibition? I would say you may apply for with new artwork, but it’s going to be up to the discretion of the curators if they will consider artists who have already participated. 

If selected, will I need to write about my work? Yes, we will have those signs I mentioned before. So, signs will be created specifically for your artwork and displayed with your artwork. It would be nice to have a short description of your artwork and the ideas that it represents you may also include on your website or social media links. 

Insurance. Okay. And if this is you and your question is, I’m concerned my art might be stolen, will my artwork be insured? The answer is due to the nature of these exhibition sites the Northeast many galleries are not insured by Calgary Arts Development or the City of Calgary. Artist should not submit artworks of high value, or that the artist is not prepared to be damaged or stolen. 

And like we’ve mentioned before, please, please, please, if you have questions, contact us. So, If I have questions or would like to someone to review my application before submitting, who do I email and what is the timeframe? You could email myself, tiffanywollman@calgaryartsdevelopment.com. I have a phone number, call me or email me as soon as possible, 

I can give you feedback on your application up to ten days before the application deadline and if you need it. And like, you saw how great I was at Smart Simple. So, if you need support or have questions regarding creating your profile on the online platform, contact publicart@calgaryartsdevelopment.com. If you have more questions, we’re going to be asking for them at the end of this, but also next Friday and the Friday after we have an open hours office, 

so we’re going to be on our website sharing the links. But for the zoom, you can drop in and you’ll be available to chat with Toyin or myself and then like ask any questions about the program or if you’re having trouble with your application or anything at all, please come and drop in and visit us. I included just a few references. 

So again, this is where you will find the artwork call on our website. Another way to get to Smart Simple, just go to calgaryartsdevelopment.smartsimple.ca if you want to read it. And I encourage you to see more information about the Northeast Public Art Initiative and how the mini galleries is part of that, I would go to this website here and I mentioned CARFAC earlier and when I was talking about you getting paid for your artwork. 

So CARFAC here is a great resource for a lot of artists used when either when applying for programs, knowing how much to budget for an artist view or say someone comes to you and they want to and you want to be paid as an artist, there’s good it’s a good reference to see if what if the rate is fair and kind of gives you a little bit of a minimum to follow.