Julianna Yau’s blog

This is a very exciting press release that came through my email from multiple sources today.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — February 11th, 2008Following the recent Visual Arts Summit, a new group of visual arts organizations has come together to form the Canadian Alliance for the Visual Arts (CAVA). Rather than an official organization, CAVA is an independent alliance of national visual arts organizations determined to advance the status of visual arts in Canada. Through communication, cooperation and collaborative action this network will achieve common goals, as outlined in the Visual Arts Summit’s Collective Agenda. (www.visualartssummit.ca)

Representatives from eleven of Canada’s national arts service organizations make up CAVA’s membership. These organizations, though diverse in focus, each have a vested interest in the promotion and advancement of Canadian visual arts. CAVA’s main objectives are to speak with a unified voice, to develop a cohesive strategy to improve the socio-economic conditions of artists, and to pursue the health of our art galleries, museums, artist-run centres and commercial art dealers so that Canada’s extraordinary visual arts can flourish.

After two productive teleconferences, CAVA held their first face-to-face meeting in Montreal on February 1st, with another scheduled for the 14th of March. These meetings have set in motion a number of joint projects which will affect change for Canadian visual arts, both in the artistic community and the general public. The group looks forward to the upcoming announcements on the disbursement of new funding by the Canada Council for the Arts, and will be in attendance at the Council’s meetings on February 12th.

For more information on CAVA and their planned initiatives, contact any member:

Shawn Van Sluys, Ottawa
Canadian Art Museum Directors’ Organization
613-862-5035, shawn.vansluys@camdo.ca

Lise Leblanc, Ottawa
L’Association des groupes en arts visuels francophones
613-244-9584, lleblanc@agavf.ca

April Britski, Ottawa
CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation)
613-233-6161, carfac@carfac.ca

Christian Bédard, Montréal
Le Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec
514-866-7101, Christian.bedard@raav.org

Daniel Roy, Montreal
Artist-Run Centres and Collectives
514-524-4529, danielroy@arccc-cccaa.org

Maegen Black, Fredericton
Canadian Crafts Federation
506-444-3315, info@canadiancraftsfederation.ca

John McAvity, Ottawa
Canadian Museums Association
613-567-0099 x226, jmcavity@museums.ca

Patricia Feheley, Toronto
Art Dealers Association of Canada
416-323-1373, gallery@feheleyfinearts.com

Milly Ristvedt, Toronto
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
416-408-2718, milly@kos.net

Jennifer Dorner, Montréal
Independent Media Arts Alliance
514-522-8240, dir@imaa.ca

Ryan Rice, Kahnawake, QC
Conference Aboriginal Curatorial Collective
514-756-6602, directoracc@gmail.com

Tags: art, Canada, cava, visual arts summit

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This was also distributed to the delegates at the Summit:

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Goals:
1. Increase revenues originating from the professional practice of visual arts;
2. Develop a social security net for professional Visual Artists.Actions:
1. Inclusion of the Resale Right in the Copyright Act.
2. Establishment of an Exhibition Right Fund, similar to the Public Lending Fund.
3. Adoption and implementation by the Government of Canada of a Policy for the integration of artworks in the architecture of public buildings (1% Policy) inspired by the Quebec experience.
4. Improvement of the financial and contractual conditions offered to Canadian and Québécois artists for the public presentation of their works.
5. Creation of a social security net for visual artists (collective insurances and retirement fund) based on contributions by artists, presenters, private enterprises and patrons of the arts.
6. Establishment and implementation of fiscal measures to promote the acquisitions of works by professional Canadian and Québécois Artists by individuals and private enterprises.
7. Creation of Regional Contemporary Art Funds dedicated to the acquisition by local and regional museums of works by professional Canadian and Québécois Artists based on contributions by the different levels of government, private enterprises and art patrons, inspired by the French experience.
8. National promotional campaign to present professional Canadian and Québécois Artists and to develop in the public a better understanding of the new artistic movements.
9. Establishment for Artists of a federal tax credit for the first 15 000.$ of copyright and/or net sales of visual art works.
10. Invite banks and credit unions to give loans at advantageous rates and conditions for the purchase of artworks by professional Visual Artists from Quebec and Canada.
11. Net increase by the Canada Council for the Arts of the sums dedicated to the visual arts sector for creation, research, development, production, presentation and acquisitions.
12. Obtain the abolition of the federal income tax on Artist’s awards and bursaries.

For further information contact:

April Britski
Executive Director
CARFAC National
1-866-344-6161
carfac@carfac.ca
http://www.carfac.ca

Christian Bedard
Executive Director
RAAV
(514) 866-7101
christian.bedard@raav.org
http://www.raav.org

Tags: art, carfac, raav, visual arts summit

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Google has finally uncovered that YYZ was also blogging at the Visual Arts Summit. While my posts were mostly reflective and condensed the pages of notes I scribbled, YYZ included what looks like their original notes from the event. And they have pictures!

Tags: art, Canada, visual arts summit

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I realized today that I have not yet distilled Tamara Winikoff’s presentations from the Summit. When reviewing my notes, I realized that most of them were of the stats she provided of and from NAVA. While the stats highlighted the challenges they have overcome and those yet to be tackled, the stats themselves were not the thrust of the content.

The most important thing Tamara had to share was that they have only been able to accomplish as much as they have because NAVA, as “the peak body representing and advancing the professional interests of the Australian visual arts and craft sector”, works internally with the various parts of the visual arts community to reach consensus before taking it to the government and the broader public. It seems like such a simple concept, but I’ve often seen (within the arts community and elsewhere) people let sensationalism get the better of them. I continue to hope that the arts community can maintain the unity initiated by the Summit.

Another strategy NAVA has taken is to demand public/government inquiries into matters relating to the visual arts. Through this and other work done by NAVA itself, they have been able to put numbers to issues and be more effective in their influence on policy and program changes. Figures such as those presented by Hill Strategies will help strengthen our statements of what needs to be done and why.

NAVA has also produced The Code of Practice for the Australian Visual Arts and Craft Sector, which is a publication encompassing all aspects of the sector. This is obviously the result of much work, not merely in the writing of the document but the development of the code itself. I think it would be immensely valuable for the Canadian arts sector to develop a similar document. The exercise would be a useful point of reference but, more importantly, would allow us to work through the many issues which need to be settled so that we can have a better understanding of each other’s concerns and a resolution for our own.

Tags: art, nava, visual arts summit

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Edit 5-Dec-2007: I noticed in the error log for this blog that some visitors have not been able to reach the files because of the spacing and punctuation in the name. I have altered the names so they are more browser-friendly.

Edit 9-Dec-2007: I have fixed the problem with the blog’s theme, so the full text is now available inline.

Shawna Dempsey has been gracious enough to provide me a copy of her remarks from the Summit and allowed me to share them with everyone here. The text is a bit too long for my blog’s theme to handle, so here are links to it in PDF and HTML format.

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Shawna Dempsey’s remarks — Visual Arts Summit 2007

When asked to be on this panel, we were each instructed to distill one, important point that was made at the Summit that needs to be remembered as we move forward together. So I’ve been listening carefully. And I’ve been struck by not just what has been said over the past three days, but what has not been said, as should be expected when we only meet every 40 years or so. The list of important topics not yet covered could fill weeks of Summits. However, even given the limitations of time, there has been on essential subject that was only briefly mentioned in the first two days of this conference, although thankfully given further consideration here today.

Building upon the comments of our Australia guest Tamara Winikoff early this morning, Kelly Hill’s meticulous research, and Paul Wong’s presentation on the last panel, I want to explicitly talk about the position and concerns of the individual artist. As Aaron Milrad stated in his comment yesterday, “We must not forget artists are human.” And although this is a cringe-inducing phrase, calling forth images of artist-as-elephant-man, to be pitied, not scorned, Mr. Milrad raised an essential, irrefutable point: we cannot discuss visual arts in this country without grappling with the material, human needs of those who labour to make the stuff upon which this so-called industry is based.

And what I am saying has been said many times before by voice more articulate than mine, yet when confronted by the statistics on how much visual artists earn from all sources (which for me has included activities as diverse as house cleaning and speaking on this panel) — when confronted with the actual amount of artists’ income — we continue to gasp in surprise. It is as if we live in a state of willful, collective denial. In fact this is true: by lunchtime the issue of artists’ wages had all but evaporated from this room.

And perhaps part of the reason that individual artists have been largely absent from the discussions here, not as participants but as a subject, is that we don’t fit neatly into systems or bureaucracies. It is often our intent to dismantle, disrupt, or deconstruct any semblance of order. To recycle a word that Steve Loft used earlier, artists are untidy. We interrupt or intercept the smooth, unquestioned flow of experiences, of acceptable meanings, of “beauty”, and of capital, that are necessary for the systems of education, collecting, and marketing (all topics we have discussed here).

At an elemental level, an artist’s most base, raw materials are images and ideas — things that are neither safe nor static. And working with these fearsome, unpredictable things — images and ideas — scares the shit out of me. Moreover, when I get it right it should scare you, too. So perhaps it is no wonder that there is only limited place for those of us who are unpredictable and even frightening at polite gathering such as this.

Further, if we acknowledge the conditions under which Canadian artists live and produce, we should be ashamed of ourselves that the core producers of what is named as a thirty-nine billion dollar cultural industry (that’s 4% of the GDP) almost always live below the poverty line.

In fact it is nearly impossible to live as a full-time visual artist in this country unless one has the good fortune of international sales. One simply cannot survive on artist fees and grants alone. Small incomes, erratic incomes, lack of basic security such as employment insurance, maternity benefits, training funds, or pensions: we as a community continue to accept and condone — to perpetuate — that this is acceptable if one chooses to be an artist. As well as being inhumane, this is in direct conflict with all our lip service to diversity, for if we truly want diverse producers from diverse cultural backgrounds, economic backgrounds, and with diverse points of view, the profession of being an artist must be financially viable, as opposed financially suicidal.

And when I talk about how “we” tolerate a grossly underpaid creative class (not exactly what Richard Florida had in mind), I don’t mean we the citizens of Canada, but we the arts community: museums who cleave to CARFAC bare minimums even when we can agree on the rate, and all other levels and sectors of the arts including artists themselves.

All that we have discussed here over the past three days, all the systems, all the institutions, all the achievements, on whose back have they been built? Artists, who subsidize the creation of their product to a degree unimaginable in any other sector. My point being: I agree wholeheartedly with Aaron Milrad that we cannot forget who makes what it is that we are talking about. No matter how untidy, uncooperative or uncomfortable-making artists may be, and no matter how awkwardly or ungratefully we fit into the systems you create for us, truly the only thing essential to artmaking is artists. And as we strategize around what should happen as a result of the Summit, all of our carefully worded statements and all of the lovely meetings to come will amount to zero real change if the individual artist is not considered: our human needs, our material needs, and that which enables us to produce art.

 

Tags: art, Canada, nava, shawna dempsey, visual arts summit

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Hot off the presses!:

Collective Agenda for the Visual Arts

Visual Arts Summit, Ottawa, November 2007
Art is the face of Canada.

We, as artists, curators, collectors, dealers, educators and supporters, are united to enhance the opportunities for Canadian art to be created, seen, understood and enjoyed. We came together in the largest gathering of the visual arts in our history, to proclaim the critical role of the visual arts in an innovative and compassionate society in the 21^st century. We know what is needed: we call on the governments, nations and peoples of Canada to join us in realizing our potential.

The visual arts community acts within an increasingly complex environment, with stagnant or shrinking resources. The growth in public engagement with the visual arts is not reflected in government policies or support. Canadian artists, galleries and museums have been starved for too long. Too many people work in the visual arts without an adequate livelihood or long-term security.

The lack of vigorous and consistent policy, particularly from the federal government, is unacceptable. The visual arts provide a high level of service while receiving an unjustly low level of support from most government agencies and departments. In a time of global challenges calling for dialogue and understanding, the Canadian government has cut support for our international cultural profile. The unique and diverse character of Canada is under threat. The visual arts offer the best opportunity to counter this threat. It is time to recognize the place of visual arts at the centre of society.

We commit ourselves to work together:

• To satisfy the public’s growing demand for participation in visual culture;
• To communicate the sector’s needs with a united voice;
• To provide a secure livelihood for artists;
• To acknowledge the varied cultures of the indigenous peoples of this land;
• To reflect the diversity of our society; and
• To strengthen the institutions that advance the visual arts.

With a united voice, we advocate:

1. To create a new alliance across the sector, to advance the position of the visual arts;
2. To engage public appreciation for, and connection with, visual arts in all their forms;
3. To provide stronger and stable support to artists and to the individuals and institutions that present, preserve and interpret the work they create;
4. To establish a dedicated fund for the payment of artists for the public exhibition of their works;
5. To increase investment in arts education for all ages and from all levels of government;
6. To provide dedicated support for Aboriginal arts; and
7. To recognize and support the leading role of visual arts in strengthening Canada’s international profile.

We envision a Canada that embraces creativity in all its dimensions. We believe in art that challenges us, deepens our understanding, and bridges our differences. Visual arts build a more tolerant, diverse and creative world.
Show your support, sign the statement here, and forward the link to your colleagues:
www.petitiononline.com/visarts/petition.html

For more information:
Canadian Museums Association
613-567-0099
info@museums.ca
www.museums.ca
www.visualartssummit.ca

Summit Partners:
Aboriginal Curatorial Collective: www.aboriginalcuratorialcollective.org
Art Dealers Association of Canada: www.ad-ac.ca
Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference: www.arccc-cccaa.org
Canadian Artists’ Representation (CARFAC): www.carfac.ca
Canadian Education Association: www.cea-ace.ca
Canadian Museums Association: www.museums.ca
Canadian Art Museum Directors’ Organization: www.camdo.ca
Independent Media Arts Alliance: www.imaa.ca
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts: www.rca-arc.ca

Tags: art, camdo, Canada, carfac, petitions, visual arts summit

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During and after the Summit, I talked to different persons (artists, curators, educators) about their feelings about the Summit and everyone seemed to have, as one person put it, a “lukewarm” feeling about the Summit. There was a general sense that there is much to be done and much which had not yet been discussed at the Summit. Because we, as a sector, so rarely meet and engage each other, there was much “what about me and my problems?” at the Summit. This attitude caused the lack of focus that so many found was the main disappointment of the Summit.

What was good is that we all seemed to agree that the same issues were indeed issues. We also agreed that 40 years is much too long of a time to pass each time we meet. From my perspective, these were the needs we identified through the panel discussions and smaller discussion groups:
1. The need for collaboration within the arts sector and the cultural sector.
2. The need for accessibility and visibility of art and artists.
3. The need for support from all levels of government. Although financial support is dearly needed, so is other support (such as programming and governmental bodies such as the Canada Council taking a leadership role).
4. The need to maintain the dialogue which has been created at the summit.
5. The need for real action!

I was extremely thankful that Tamara Winikoff was able to accept our invitation to not merely speak at the Summit but also to participate with us. What she and her peers in Australia has been able to achieve has been encouraging, and she provided us with a welcome perspective from the outside to remind us to keep focused and encouraged us to work collaboratively on the issues were very much joint issues.

Before and after the closing remarks, we were reminded that the Summit is the beginning and not the end of the change which needs to be made. My only hope is that the persons who attended the Summit and those who wanted to but were unable to attend will follow through with the intent to keep the dialogue open and to do something with all of the discussions we had. Without that, there will be no change and we will simply be starting over again in 40 years when someone realizes that we have allowed so much time to pass once again.

Tags: art, Canada, visual arts summit

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The closing remarks by the panelists in the afternoon were wonderfully powerful and reaffirming.

Shawna Dempsey has become one of my new heroines. Her speech was not merely insightful and eloquent, but immensely powerful and provided artists with the much-needed voice for the Summit. She reminded us that one of the stark things missing from the Summit was any direct discussion of the position and concerns of the individual artist. She remarked on the fact that we were all struck by the low artist income figures from Kelly’s presentation but that it was never mentioned again—that we seemed to almost be in denial of the fact that artist wages are so low. She also noted that there was no discussion on the conditions under which artists produce and live, and asked why so many creators of culture live below the poverty line. She brought our attention to the fact that artists subsidize the creation of their own work, and that society perpetuates the concept that current living conditions of artists are acceptable. And she reminded us that there will be no true change if the needs of individual artist are not considered.

Gerald Beaulieu, the President of CARFAC National, recapped some of the themes of the Summit and reminded us to think forwards from the Summit. He repeated the quote that “there is nothing creatively rewarding about not being paid”—a sad reality for some artists. He reminded us of the importance to maintain the momentum of the Summit and to build relationships. He also made specific reference to things we can do after leaving the Summit, such as work on realizing the Exhibition Right Fund and urging the Canada Council to have their artists’ grants refocussed on the research and creation of works rather than on the career stage of the artist because the Canada Council is not in the business of career development.

Hank Bull presented his closing remarks in the form of a wish list, which he dubbed “Hank’s List”:
1. Cultural diversity
2. Internationalism—both taking art and ideas outside of Canada and bringing it into Canada
3. Having the National Portrait Gallery in Ottawa (ed note: the nation’s capital, after all)
4. Strong national Museums Policy
5. Strong Support for Aboriginal Arts
6. Reaffirmation of peer juries
7. The National Gallery to take a leadership role
8. Solidarity from the Summit
9. Another Summit in 2 years
10. Universities to accept arts credits at the same level of other high school credits (ed note: I’m paraphrasing because he appended this to the list during the question period)

Tony Luppino reinforced that there needs to be real action coming from the Summit. He urged us to remember the importance of putting numbers to the things we want—to not simply ask for “increases”, but to ask for the actual amount of increase that we need to achieve our goals. He hoped (and I, too, hope) that from this Summit will come the formation of committees and action groups. He indicated that we need a real strategy for what to do with the National Portrait Gallery, rather than pitting cities against each other. He said that collection agencies should not call themselves that if they do not have a collection budget, and reinforced the need for more work to be done on the issue of education. He also asked us whether it would be beneficial to take up the issue of artists’ rights as human rights issues.

After these closing remarks by the panelists, many of the delegates also made pointed out items which still need to be addressed (my apologies to my fellow delegates: I was not able to capture names):
-publications not merely for broad audiences, but for specialized audiences
-support for the reinstatement of the art transport service
-raw studio space disappearing
-the need for an occupational health & safety report of the mental and physical health of artist work space
-the problem of artist advocates’ salaries being as low as the artist salaries
-the need to form a group to represent the sector, with an action plan
-the need for a government inquiry into the concerns raised at the Summit

Tags: art, Canada, carfac, gerald beaulieu, hank bull, national portrait gallery, shawna dempsey, tony luppino, visual arts summit

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The last day of the Summit was another day packed with information and enthusiasm.

The day started with presentations from Tamara Winikoff, the Executive Director of NAVA (National Association for the Visual Arts, Australia). Very regrettably, she was only given about a half hour at the beginning of the day. I was lucky enough to have attended a presentation with her on Saturday, where she not merely gave a thorough overview of what they have done in Australia but also had time to take several questions (she was there for three hours in total on Saturday). I will have to remember to put together an entry on that presentation—I have the equivalent of four pages of notes on my computer from that!

Following Tamara’s presentation was one from [Mr.] Kelly Hill, who provided us with a high-speed overview of the stats found in this presentation. What was both a surprise and not a surprise is that in 2001, the average income for an artist (from all revenue sources, including second and third jobs) was $18,700. This is compared to the average income of the Canadian worker at $31,800. What’s even bleaker is that there is no major increase in this income with an increase of education or age for artists, even though there is for people working in other sectors.

These figures are terrifying for an emerging artist like myself. Although I am fortunate enough to be able to foster other skills to maintain a job outside of the arts to support myself financially, not all artists have or want that option. Indeed, I am often chilled by the thought of having to maintain a Day Job my entire life so that I can produce the artwork I am compelled to create. Even jobs within the art sector itself aren’t financially appealing. Many are not merely paying less than other jobs requiring the same level of work but also have less job security because of a reliance on government funding which is decreasing and because of fluctuations from other revenue sources.

The morning’s panel discussion dealt with “the force of markets”. Being very new to the art world and one of the 20-30 artists at the Summit who was under 35 (remember, there were approx 450 total delegates and about a half to a third were self-identified artists), this portion of the Summit was very intriguing because I haven’t seen enough to have an innate understanding of the art market (aside from the understanding that artwork is valuable well after the death of the artist and living artists usually are Starving Artists).

Again, as a young emerging artist, Paul Wong’s portion of the panel discussion was particularly meaningful for me. He spoke of being a self-taught video artist who was the “bastard child of the arts” who was not welcome in the art, film or educational worlds in the 1970s. He spoke of having both good and bad relationships with galleries, where shows had been cancelled and he was sometimes never paid. He spoke of having to diversify his sources of income from reproduction fees, commissions, private collectors, curating and creating advertisement. It was somewhat reassuring to know that other artists feel disengaged from the industry, even though I am working in one of the traditional media he feels has an advantage over new media such as video work. I have actually found it more difficult to find a gallery which shows work similar to mine because I work in a traditional medium (stone) and neither a style which is purely traditional (e.g. figurative work) or something “wild” and “out there”.

Tags: art, Canada, nava, visual arts summit

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(continued from VAS Day 2 Summary)

More specifically, some of the main/reoccurring issues identified were:
-visual arts literacy (or visualcy, a termed being used by NAVA), especially compared to visual arts exposure
-educational standards and priorities for visual arts
-education not only in institutions, but also through artist-to-artist mentorships
-education at the K-12 level, both as integrated programs and specialized schools for the arts
-reaching a wider audience and allowing the general public to feel more comfortable in galleries and with art
-how can the arts community shift their thinking and practices to satisfy the public’s appetite for art
-the need for the arts sector to be recognized as having real financial weight
-how to build a stronger bond between the art being collected and the art being exhibited
-the need to document and publish catalogues and other materials on collections and exhibitions
-space issues when it comes to collecting and exhibiting
-financial constraints for collecting new works (Allan McKay of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery said that about 90% of newly acquired works, overall, are donations)
-how to make private collections and permanent collections more accessible (McKay here offered a more astounding estimate that 95% of a gallery’s collection is usually warehoused)
-engaging artists in the acquisition and exhibition process

There was also some discussion about the possibility of using new digital media as a possible solution for some of the issues of accessibility, education and preservation of works. Although these opportunities are very exciting, there is much yet to be discussed around the administration of these issues, and how much we really are reaching out. Alternative venues such as Facebook, Second Life or an independent website are great. But they are still inaccessible to the Canadians living in rural areas without an internet service to support the amount of information to be transmitted (if they have any access to internet services at all), and without careful planning we would soon end up having to rethink the issues again, or to need to convert everything to another format.

I also wonder, as did Jeffrey Matt, what other cultural industries face as issues of literacy and accessibility, and what they’re doing to address those challenges. Both composers of classical music and authors & writers certainly must face these issues to some degree–what are they doing about it?

I’m very curious to see what comes out of tomorrow’s discussions and closing remarks, and what will happen with all of this discourse after the conclusion of the Summit.

Tags: art, Canada, education, facebook, internet, nava, second life, visual arts summit

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