EAC Annual Report 2018
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q01 q02 q03 q05 q04 ABOUT THE EAC The Edmonton Arts Council (EAC) is a not-for- profit society and charitable organization that supports and promotes the arts community in Edmonton. The EAC works to increase the profile and involvement of arts and culture in all aspects of our community life. q06 BOARD OF Vivianne Favreau-Sparrow, Debbie Houle Treasurer Aasttha Khajuria DIRECTORS Noel Xavier, Secretary Morgan McClelland as of December 31, 2018 Mark Power Members at Large Mireille Rijavec Executive Committee Patricia Darbasie Don Robinson Jeff Haslam, Chair Christopher Filipowicz Kent Sutherland Glen Erickson, Vice Chair Michael Hamm Will Truchon Ex-Officio Marian Bruin, CoE* (December 2017 - March 2018) The Edmonton Arts Council thanks Heather Inglis, Jackie Foord, CoE* (April 2018 - September 2018) Scott Portingale, Murray Utas, and Christopher White Niki Anderson, CoE* (September 2018 - Present) for their contributions to the EAC board in 2018. Cheryll Watson, EEDC** (January - March 2018) * City of Edmonton Maggie Davison, EEDC** (April 2018 - Present) ** Edmonton Economic Development Corporation STAFF Grace Law Amber Combden (January - April 2018) as of December 31, 2018 Kathryn Morin Olivia Latta Breanna Mroczek Kaelyn Saunders (January 2018) Annette Aslund Chris Roberts Amanda Skopik (on maternity leave) Sanjay Shahani Betty Thomson Jenika Sobolewska Chelsea Boida Churchill Square Programs Bobbie Todd Andrea Bowes Adam Blocka David Turnbull Jamie Chapelsky Liam Brown Eva Marie Clarke Jenna Turner (on maternity leave) Lee-Ann Grenier Shirley Combden Alexandra Perala Justina Verboom Kristina de Guzman Bob Rasko Stephen Williams Penélope Haro Aranda Marwa Salman Robert Harpin TIX on the Square Aleysha Sarinn Melanie Haynes Nicole Boychuk Ben Sures Sally Kim Liza Chatterjee Melissa Wolfinger EAC continued to support operational development of the new Edmonton Screen Industries Office by providing office space and resources to CEO Josh Miller. 01 it struck me that we have begun to function as a truly strategic board, and a rather collegial one at that. Our committees are robust and fluid, with strong terms of reference allowing for waxing and waning as need be. Most importantly we are all delighted to embrace and champion our new ten-year plan Connections & Exchanges. I leave a board poised to guide, nurture, and facilitate as the EAC team, lead by the indefatigable Sanjay q07 Shahani, embarks upon the implementation of the plan’s momentous and far-reaching strategies. As I prepare to leave the Edmonton Arts Council I am honoured to have been a small part of this after six remarkable years (the past three as Chair) beginning of the beginning, and I will miss sitting a recent moment stands out from my final board around the table with the friends I have made at the meeting just a few weeks ago. Edmonton Arts Council. I wish them all the best of good fortune as they move ahead. I am grateful for After arriving at a final rather complicated motion each and every one of them, and grateful for the new which everyone had weighed in on in a particularly artists and community leaders who will join them. satisfying manner, there was a quick zinger and a big round of laughter. As I looked around the table My sincere thanks to all our committees for their I thought, “mission accomplished!” ongoing collaboration, to Sanjay, Sally Kim, Stephen Williams, Jenna Turner, David Turnbull, Shirley I make comedy for a living you see, and laughter Combden and their respective teams for their untiring is, to me, a sign of great success. Perhaps a more and creative work, and to the Mayor and City Council apropos thought might have been “it’s the for their continued confidence. I have learned so much beginning of the beginning!” to rustically from you all. paraphrase Churchill. At any rate, after six years 02 Renewal and engagement defined 2018 for the Edmonton Arts Council (EAC). Our leadership of the cultural planning process received unanimous endorsement when Edmonton City Council approved Connections & Exchanges: A 10-Year Plan To Transform Arts and Heritage In Edmonton. That endorsement was reiterated in December when Council renewed our 4- Year Operating Budget, with an increase of funds to implement the plan and deepen the impact of the arts. In 2019, the EAC will consult with the arts community q08 to build an implementation framework for Connections & Exchanges. We are excited to explore new ways of strengthening support for all arts sectors and further Indigenous communities. The park is an important engaging Edmontonians. milestone in our journey of reconciliation and has permanently changed the way this organization This annual report eloquently lays out the EAC’s many approaches its work with Edmonton’s citizens. accomplishments over the past year. Just the numbers are impressive: nearly $10 million dollars in I want to thank the Mayor and City Council for investments; 85 conservation projects; 12 public art their continued trust and commitment in the EAC’s installations, and 25 ongoing public art projects. In leadership. By unanimously approving Connections addition, TIX continued offering box office services & Exchanges and increasing investment in the EAC, and increased its inventory of artistic products by they have affirmed the vital role played by the arts Edmonton artists and artisans. Our community in building a healthy, vibrant and connected programming expanded from Churchill Square into Edmonton. three new communities. Finally, I would like to thank the EAC Board and The September opening of (ÎNÎW ) River Lot Staff for the care, passion and professionalism ᐄᓃᐤ 11∞ – Edmonton’s Indigenous Art Park – marked the they bring to the work of nurturing every completion of a transformative six years that relationship in Edmonton’s arts and cultural deepened our connection with Edmonton’s community. Thank You! 03 EDMONTON’S POET L AUREATE In 2018 Poet Laureate Ahmed Ali spoke and performed at over 20 events including the Association of Performing Arts Professionals in New York City, Change for Climate Talks, and Creative Mornings Edmonton. Ahmed was recognized by the John Humphrey Centre with a Human Rights Award. Ahmed co-founded and launched the OtherWise podcast, which gives a platform q10 to marginalized voices and highlights the ethno-cultural-linguistic diversity of Edmontonians. Partnered with the City of Edmonton to declare April as Poetry Month in the city. q09 04 ART LIVES HERE By Ahmed Ali Its curators named it Edmonton is a theatre The Gathering Place named transient Still unfinished, we now Where the curtain never drops Call this gallery Edmonton and the audience never leaves Eventually becoming cast or crew Known to exhibit resilience The art lives here and Any appraisal would be incorrect breathes culture into this city The real value is how the Pieces compliment the collection It is home to ensembles of They provide each other meaning imaginations connected by the desires to create You might as well call it poetry Its sympathies of colourful rhythms Its roots extend in every direction drew the world here A collection of unique poems looking to fill the pages of destiny 05 q11 06 CONNECTIONS & EXCHANGES Shared visions and engagement drive Connections More than 8,000 Edmontonians were engaged & Exchanges: A 10-Year Plan To Transform Arts and through diverse consultation methods: Heritage In Edmonton. Unanimously endorsed by Edmonton City Council, this plan outlines a deliberate, • 40+ sessions, including interviews, pop-ups, collaborative, and adaptable strategy to advance and facilitated engagements reached out to city-building goals through a community-driven Edmontonians, arts and heritage organizations vision for cultural development, linking directly to and festivals. the City’s own strategic vision. • Five dedicated sessions with urban Indigenous Connections & Exchanges lays out the vision for Elders, artists, and youth. Edmonton’s cultural development through its three Ambitions, the eight Aims which articulate the desired • YEGCulture Map, an online forum for outcomes and fifty-five strategic Actions that sharing cherished arts and heritage memories complete the roadmap which will guide transformation and visions for the future; a City of Edmonton over the next decade. The measurement framework is Insight Community Survey, and the “One integral to Connections & Exchanges and will validate Idea” Question Series. the progress made by the EAC and its partners on an annual basis. To develop Connections & Exchanges, the EAC partnered with the Edmonton Heritage Council (EHC), Connections & Exchanges contains an Arts Habitat Edmonton (ArtsHab), the City of Edmonton , implementation principle that recognizes and a consortium of consultants. Together the project team designed an engagement strategy to that Indigenous peoples have agency in their consult with, and represent, the full diversity of journeys of revitalizing and participating in Edmonton’s arts and heritage communities. traditional, contemporary, and future manifestations of their culture. The consultation process and the secondary research were guided by the following overarching principles This key principle guides the EAC, EHC, for artists, festivals, and arts organizations: inclusivity; innovation, excellence and leadership; and ArtsHab in our work with Indigenous collective responsibility; and economic security. communities, and reflects the autonomy and development of Indigenous cultures. 07 q12 q13 ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE The Artist in Residence program launched in 2012