this is our moment.
No progress
In progress
Goal achieved
Year One 2018-19
ARTISTIC TRAINING
In March 2018, Indefinite Arts Centre unveiled its five-year strategic plan. As a way to demonstrate our organization’s progress, here is a look back on the first year of the implementation of this plan – where we’ve succeeded, and where we still have a ways to go.
Initiative 1.1 Goal Achieved:
The Centre will resume Friday programming to reduce the waiting list and wait times for artists wishing to participate in our programs.
•• Wait list has been reduced by 75% thanks to 52 new spots, now filled. The wait list has now grown to 70+ individuals, speaking to the ongoing demand for our programming.
Initiative 1.2 In Progress:
The Centre will launch a program working with children and young adults with developmental disabilities in 2018/19 that cultivates a new generation of talented artists.
•• The Centre continues to engage in conversations with the broader disability community on the best way to provide programming for youth with disabilities. We have had success with providing mixed ability programming in our after-school classes.
CREATION Initiative 1.3 In Progress: The Centre will identify trends and best practices in our own artistic training that will contribute to a pedagogical standard of excellence in training for artists with developmental disabilities. • In 2018, the Centre introduced the “Art Atlas,” inviting artists to share images that inspire and inform their practice to be displayed at IAC. • In 2019, the Centre secured an “Aging Well in Community” grant through Alberta Seniors and Housing, which will allow us to develop pedagogical resources for organizations that service seniors living with physical and mental challenges.
Initiative 2.1 No Progress: In 2019/20, the Centre will launch a digital media + music lab that will introduce artists to the latest technologies in digital arts and music. • On hold due to the uncertainty around the current Indefinite Arts Centre facility, affected by the 2018 Fairview Arena roof collapse.
EXHIBITION • In addition, the Centre has recently partnered with Momo Movement to design set pieces for their feature performance in June 2019. Momo Movement has also moved their administrative offices to the Centre.
Initiative 3.1 No Progress: Create and fundraiser for a new “innovation fund.”
Initiative 2.2 Ongoing: Starting in 2018/19, the Centre will establish key partnerships and develop collaborative programs and artist residences with local arts partners. • The Centre launched its first residency program for artists in partnership with the Leighton Art Centre, thanks to generous funding provided by the Rozsa Foundation in September 2018.
• On hold due to a pending capital campaign.
Initiative 3.2 No Progress: Secure grants to commission our artists to work on new works of art. • The Centre continues to engage in ongoing conversations with arts partners on opportunities to commission works of our artists.
Initiative 4.1 Goal Achieved: Develop an exhibition strategy that places our artwork in key, strategic locations. • Karly Mortimer, our new Director, Artist and Program Development, has developed short- and long-term exhibition strategies that are aligned with program goals.
Initiative 4.2 Ongoing: Secure partnerships with arts organizations and curators who will be able to align our exhibitions with the exhibition strategy. • In the past year, we’ve partnered with arts organizations such as the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, artsPlace (Canmore), Leighton Art Centre to launch exhibitions. In addition, in alignment with our international strategy, the Centre has toured Hong Kong and Korea in 2018, and has recently unveiled its upcoming exhibition and exchange in Dubai.
SHARING Initiative 4.4 Goal Achieved: Create an archive strategy that responds to increasing exhibition demand of our artists’ works • The Centre recently received a generous grant from the Fairview Community to purchase a modular photography studio that will allow us to properly document and digitally archive our artists’ works. The Darlene Murphy Documentation Studio has been named in memory of the previous Executive Director of Indefinite Arts Centre.
Initiative 5.1 Ongoing: Position the Centre as a lead advocate for the inclusion and advancement of disability arts. • Consistently throughout last year, the Centre has been represented locally and nationally at various opportunities and published media opportunities. The Centre’s CEO, JS Ryu, was a panelist at the 2018 Canadian Arts Summit as a Leadership Fellow, and also represented IAC at the Americas Cultural Summit in Ottawa. In February 2019, he spoke to the Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector.
Initiative 5.2 Ongoing: The Centre will use conventional and social media to increase brand awareness. • On social media, Facebook has become the most effective medium, growing – in less than a year – from 500+ followers to more than 1,500. Instagram was also launched and we maintain an active presence on Twitter and YouTube.
Initiative 4.3 Ongoing: Secure opportunities for public art installations locally or beyond.
• Last year, Indefinite Arts Centre launched its first major public art partnership with the City of Calgary, commissioning 12 of our artists to paint utility boxes in the southeast Calgary communities of Fairview and Acadia under the mentorship of prominent local artist Andrew Tarrant.
Initiative 5.3 In Progress: • The Centre has recently partnered with a start-up company UppstArt to develop an online art sales platform utilizing blockchain technology for fair royalties back to the artists.
Our new home. By 2023, if not sooner, the Centre will have a brand new look, both inside and out, that reflects the aspirations identified by our strategic plan. The Centre is pleased to have made progress towards this goal – work accelerated by the Fairview Arena roof collapse of February 2019.
To date, $250,000 has been raised to support the Centre’s efforts to develop renderings, initiate community consultations, and develop long-term business plans to identify opportunities for revenue generation to help offset the costs of a much larger, multidisciplinary arts hub. In addition to signing our agreement-in-principle to become a company-in-residence when our new home is complete, Momo Movement – Calgary’s premiere mixed ability dance theatre company – has moved
its administrative offices to the Indefinite Arts Centre and discussions are now underway to share administrative capacity to reduce duplication of costs. Already, the Centre is demonstrating the synergies that happen by becoming a “hub” – now, we await the province’s approval to prioritize this very important project so we can realize what a true hub can do for our artists, the broader community of Calgary’s artists, the surrounding communities we can serve, and beyond.
Architectural rendering of the new Indefinite Arts Centre.