INNOVATION & RESILIENCE
IN CANADA’S CULTURAL SECTOR
IN CANADA’S CULTURAL SECTOR




East End Arts
Discipline(s): community arts
Highly impactful, local, innovative: Seniors online art diary. Book club addressing BLM and BIPOC readings and discussions. Partnership with Indigenous organization for online beading circle.
Equity seeking: Indigenous PeoplesSource: Research
Link to website
Aanmitaagzi
Discipline(s): community arts, multidisciplinary
"Slowly the creatures emerged from the pressure cracks jutting out of frozen Lake Nipissing. They danced about as Nipissing First Nation’s Penny Couchie recited Pressure Cracks. Blue light shone on the creatures as they moved to the amplified composition by Jacob Dayfox. Hundreds walked the ice path lit up with whimsical light installations to witness the performance of Mkomiiwi.
Aanmitaagzi produced the performance Mkomiiwi showcased at Ice Follies 2020 on Lake Nipissing at Marathon Beach in North Bay."
Special impacts:Online culture-specific workshops, which might be relevant to many other organizations and communities.
Equity seeking: Indigenous PeoplesSource: Research
Link to website
STEPS Public Art
Discipline(s): community arts
Read the story
Collaborating with 26 Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) across Ontario and engaging 50+ Canadian artists in creative opportunities, main streets will be activated through unique outdoor public art projects for communities to enjoy all summer long. New this year is the launch of an app platform for the public to engage with the projects virtually and plan walking tours around participating communities.
Source: ResearchLink to website
Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society, Keiko Honda
Discipline(s): media arts, reading, writing, publishing, multidisciplinary, community arts
The project Terakoya is an intergenerational learning and collaboration that is a unique approach to bridging the generational gap. Students (high school to university) and older adults to get a chance to form connections through shared experiences and projects. Older adults will play a vital role by sharing their wisdom and life stories, while students will learn valuable practical and emotional skills from working with older adults, such as group co-leadership, self-confidence, and emotional maturity. The older adults may also learn social networking skills and etiquette from the students.
Special impacts:After harvesting the goodness and challenges of 2020 and this year, I would like to keep coming back to Goethe’s participatory method that allows us to see a thing that is perhaps hiding in plain sight all along. And go out to nature more. Our true legacy for further generations is to leave nature accessible to the next generations so that they can actively participate to come into being. And in that, I see what is art for.
Equity seeking: Indigenous Peoples, Racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, D/deaf, disabled, or live with difference, Members of official language minority groupsSource: Survey
Link to website
Arts Etobicoke
Discipline(s): community arts
Reaching a broad age range with smart programming.
Source: ResearchLink to website
Mabelle Arts
Discipline(s): community arts
Online program with IRCC with refugees to assist with settlement. Online end of Eid celebration.
Equity seeking: RacializedSource: Research
Link to website
Jamii
Discipline(s): community arts
Jamii’s mobile theatre, the Kisanii Hub, travels the residential streets of The Esplanade neighbourhood in the early evening, while delivering musical performances.
Equity seeking: RacializedSource: Research
Link to website
MUSE Arts
Discipline(s): community arts, festivals
Happenings is the first and only Toronto festival made by community artists, giving centre stage to the talents and skills of immigrant, newcomer, and refugee artists. This year’s festival takes place during the entire month of May and will bring together over 80 artists and performers belonging to diverse communities.
Equity seeking: RacializedSource: Research
Link to website
Hearts and Minds: The Arts and Civic Engagement
Arts Research MonitorThis international literature review attempts “to better understand whether research has shown that arts experiences of any kind – whether conventional audience experiences or newer “engagement” experiences, learning in the ar… View this resource
Creative Strategies Incubator Findings
Arts Research MonitorThe nine video presentations in this series outline findings “from three years of strategic experimentation and shared learning” by seven arts organizations, with the overarching goal of better understanding “how to engage with audi… View this resource
Who can afford to be a starving artist?
Arts Research MonitorDrawing on the results of a variety of mostly American surveys, this brief article argues that there are “troubling signs that socioeconomic status does correlate with access to a professional arts career”.For example, an American study f… View this resource
Career Skills and Entrepreneurship Training for Artists
Arts Research MonitorThis report, based on responses from 26,200 alumni of arts programs in 43 American institutions, provides “insights into the current state of career skills and entrepreneurship education in arts schools”. The author argues that “bui… View this resource
Rewilding the arts ecosystem
Arts Research MonitorBased on 11 case studies of Canadian artists, collectives, and organizations engaged in multidisciplinary practices, this report identifies “key characteristics of multidisciplinary approaches … to develop and sustain their practices, ac… View this resource


