may, june, july, august, 2009 611 main street winnipeg manitoba canada r3b 1e1 204-949-9490 | [email protected] | www.mawa.ca s Canadian economic forecasts continue to look glum, with t r increased rates of personal bankruptcy and rising unemployment in A most parts of the country. Less personal wealth translates into less revenue from taxation, a situation that has led the federal govern- e h ment to forecast a deficit of $34 billion for the current year, a t projection that many claim will be higher. d The implications of shrinking tax-based budgets will have n ramifications for those of us in the arts. Recently the Province of a British Columbia reacted to an anticipated annual deficit of $495 n million by slashing the budget line for arts and culture from $19.5 o i million in 08/09 to less than $11.8 million in 09/10 (a 40% decrease), s with further reductions projected in years to come. This gutting of s e arts funding was framed as essential belt-tightening. But is it essential c or ideological? e Alberta, despite a reputation for not being the most arts- R friendly province, has committed to keeping cultural funding stable and has even suggested a slight increase in forthcoming years. This staying-the-course is even more significant in light of Alberta’s projected $4.7 billion deficit this year. Perhaps Wild Rose Conservatives have studied the recent statistics regarding the income generated by the arts in Canada; perhaps Alberta realizes that funding of the arts makes good economic sense. According to the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the cost of creating jobs in arts and culture is lower than in any other sector of the economy. Currently more Canadians are employed in arts and culture than those directly employed in the automotive industry, and the cultural sector employs twice as many people as the forestry industry or Canadian banks. Cam Forbes live drawing with overhead projector, MAWA, February 2009. Arts and culture not only efficiently create employment, arts and culture create wealth: a recent study shows that the direct impact of the cultural sector in 2007 was $46 billion and the indirect impact In short, our sector contributes a lot to the Canadian was $84.6 billion, or 7.4% of our gross domestic product. According economy: jobs (and resulting taxes), and billions of dollars in revenue, to Statistics Canada, culture also netted a trade surplus for the generated at home and abroad. We are not a frill, a non-essential period 1997-2006. Cultural exports doubled from 1997 to 2006, service, or an indulgence. We are an efficient economic engine! And from 1.5 billion per year to 3 billion per year, whereas the cost of we certainly aren’t parasites sucking on the public purse or decadent cultural imports to Canada ranged from 1.5-2.8 billion per year. ne’er-do-wells looking for a free ride. In fact, we make our contribution to the nation’s economy at the expense of our own wealth. Recent statistics from Hill Strategies show that even though we contribute billions of dollars to our nation’s economy, the average income of a inside Canadian visual artist has actually dropped from $20,936 in 2000 to $13,976 in 2005, a new low, a level $6,824 below the Statistics Canada 2 Artist lectures low-income cutoff. 3 First Fridays Fortunately in Manitoba we haven’t yet felt the effects of the recession as sharply as other parts of the country. Our recent provincial 4 Field Trip to Long Plain Powwow budget projects a surplus of $316 million for the fiscal year. Hurray Impact of Your Gift for slow growth! Manitoba governments of different stripes have 5 Women Artists and Mothering: Film long known that art is important in attracting people to our Stitch ’n Bitch province, keeping people in our province, building a sense of place, 6 Over The Top Fabulousness and creating a diverse economy. Manitoba boasts the highest level of provincial arts funding per capita in the country, second only to 8 What’s New at MAWA: Quebec. Our arts councils, provincial and civic, help to make our FMP Extension communities livable and vital. Resource Centre News Cultural workers and audiences have plenty to celebrate in the WAM! Wall arts, particularly here in arts-friendly Manitoba. However, now more 9 What You Missed than ever, it is essential that we educate the general public and 10 Members’ News political leaders regarding our contributions: aesthetic, cultural, 14 Heads Up Calendar spiritual and economic. 1 Team Executive Directors Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan and Dana Kletke s e Suzie Smith Allyson Mitchell r u POPULAR CULTURE, MULTIPLES, LET'S GET IT TOGETHER: t c AND MASS PRODUCTION, COMMUNITY BASED ARTS PROJECTS e L Saturday June 20, 2009, 2pm, 611 Main Street WITH ZERO (OR LITTLE) FUNDING t s Tuesday July 21, 2009, 7:30pm, 611 Main Street i t r A Grounded in Riot Grrrl, radical feminist art practices, anti- ! e corporate politics and a general philosophy about sharing the toys, e r Allyson Mitchell has collaborated with community groups to F facilitate art making for over 10 years. She has worked with queer youth, economically disadvantaged kids, street involved folk and other “outsiders” to make films that are inexpensive and easy. She presents her experiences and strategies, illustrated by images and film clips. Suzie Smith. Photo by Sheila Spence. Suzie Smith will talk about her own art practice as well as projects she has initiated through Martha Street Studio. Suzie Smith is a Winnipeg based interdisciplinary artist. Often using screen printing, drawing, and collage as her tools, she creates multiples that come together into larger installations. Her work is about looking at our surroundings in a new way and encouraging the viewer to do the same. In September 2008, she had her first solo exhibition at Open Studio in Toronto. She also works as Coordinator of Education and Outreach Programming at Martha Street Studio, where she has organized a variety of programs including the Steamroller Print Festival and 2007’s SERIPOP exhibition. Allyson Mitchell, Barb and Barb , mixed media, 2006. Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture, performance, installation and film. Rising from her experience in DIY activist culture, Mitchell also works collaboratively with fellow filmmaker Christina Zeidler as Freeshow Seymour, and was a co- founder of fat performance troupe Pretty Porky and Pissed Off. Mitchell lives in Toronto, where she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Women’s Studies at York University. 2 Suzie Smith, Second Hand Records (Fly) , screen print on record cover, 12” x 12”, 2008. s e Rosalie Favell: r u t Your Digital Portfolio c e Friday May 1, 2009, noon, 611 Main Street L y Internationally renown photo-based artist Rosalie Favell will discuss the a do’s and dont’s of digital support material: how to format and size images d i to ensure that you are representing your work to the highest standards. r F Perfect for anyone applying for a grant or submitting digitally to press, t or galleries or our Foundation Mentorship Program. s r i Rosalie Favell uses a variety of sources, from family albums to popular F culture, to present a complex self-portrait of her experiences as a ! contemporary Aboriginal woman. Her work has appeared in numerous e e solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in national and international r F venues. V. Elaine McIntosh: Rosalie Favell, The Artist in Her Museum/ The Collector , 2005. Symbolism in Anishinabe Art Friday June 5, 2009, noon, 611 Main Street Elaine McIntosh will discuss symbolism in Anishinabe art. The Woodlands Style image vocabulary will be explored – its history, its symbolism, and the legends that inform it. Elaine will draw examples and talk about the evolution of this important Aboriginal art movement. Interested in drawing from a very young age, Elaine McIntosh is a self- taught artist who has been painting seriously for the past 20 years. Her work ranges from portraits to wildlife, and combines different media such as prismacolour, paints, pyrography and printmaking. Born in St. Boniface and raised on the Sagkeeng First Nations Reserve in Manitoba, she has taught in schools and friendship centres through out Ontario. Many of her works are in private collections in Canada, USA and Europe. Milena Placentile: Dancing at the Revolution Daphne Odjig, Devotion , 1977. Friday July 3, 2009, noon, 611 Main Street Independent curator, Milena Placentile, will discuss possibilities for social and political activism through contemporary art curation. Topics of conversation will include relevance, resonance and resistance, also known as “thinkin’ up opportunities so people who don’t give a damn might be encouraged to think again”. Milena Placentile is a curator and writer who has had the pleasure of working with and for many organizations including Video Pool Media Arts Centre, Peacock Visual Arts (Aberdeen), SMART Project Space (Amsterdam), A Space Gallery (Toronto) and, most recently, The University of Winnipeg's Gallery 1C03. Smashing a white cube at the My Culture Includes My Scene launch party, Ottawa Art Gallery, 2005. Photographer unknown. Note: there will be no First Friday or Stitch ’n Bitch in August or September. The First Fridays and Stitch ’n Bitches fall on the long weekend of those months, so go fishing! And we’ll see you in October. 3 p i Field Trip to Long Plain Powwow, west of Portage la Prairie r T With artist Lita Fontaine d l SATURDAY AUGUST 1, 2009. CARS LEAVE MAWA AT 5 PM.