The Canadian Museum of History closed to visitors on Oct. 11, after Quebec placed Gatineau at high risk in the coronavirus pandemic. The museum said the health and safety of visitors remains its top priority and it will continue to provide digital content on its website. Museums in Montreal and Quebec City closed earlier in October.
Documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has won the $100,000 Glenn Gould Prize recognizing her dedication to chronicling the lives and concerns of First Nations people. Obomsawin, 88, directed more than 50 films during her career at the National Film Board, including Incident at Restigouche and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Established in 1987, the Glenn Gould Prize is awarded every two years in honour of the Canadian piano virtuoso, who died in 1982. Previous recipients include Leonard Cohen, Jessye Norman and Philip Glass.
The Art Gallery of Ontario will Zoom into school classrooms this fall with free virtual art lessons. The classes, which happen every weekday in real time, feature 30-minute conversations led by art educators who highlight artists in the gallery's collection, along with short creative exercise and discussion. To see the schedule and register, visit here.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto has received its largest private sector support — $5.7 million — from its landlord. Castlepoint Auto Building's contribution completes a $25-million capital campaign launched in 2017 to retire a loan for the museum's construction. Upcoming programming includes Canadian and international artists such as Fatma Bucak, Yazan Khalili, Shirin Neshat, Mika Rottenberg and Krista Belle Stewart, plus a new site-specific commission by Michael Lin.
The Canada Council's York Wilson Endowment Award of up to $30,000 goes to the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. The museum will use the money to acquire six works by Anishinaabekwe artist Bev Koski from her 2018 series, Beaded Sampler. Meanwhile, the council's $10,000 John Hobday Award in Arts Management goes to J’net Ayayqwayaksheelth, a Nuu-chah-nulth Indigenous arts educator at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
The Canada Council for the Arts invested $337.7 million in the arts sector in its last fiscal year, including $18.9 million, or a tripling of support, for Indigenous creation. Its 2019-20 annual report also noted that $137.5 million went to new grant recipients. As well, $20 million, or a doubling of support, was spent on international activities, and a digital fund of $88.5 million was created.
The Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam will be renamed as the Kunstinstituut Melly in honour of a 1990 work by Canadian artist Ken Lum. His piece, Melly Shum Hates Her Job, is installed permanently on the gallery's facade. The institution's original name comes from a Dutch naval agent who lived from 1599 to 1658. The change aims to recognize the negative impact of colonialism.
Tara Bryan, an award-winning Newfoundland book artist, painter and teacher, died Sept. 27 at age 66. Bryan was elected into Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts for book design in 2012, and received the Alcuin Award for Book Design in 2018. An influential figure in the province's art scene, and a mentor to many, she exhibited in Canada and internationally.
Two new sculptures by Toronto-based artist James Carl are now on view in the lobby of the Eau Claire Tower in Calgary. The undulating painted steel sculptures are titled thing's end (Eau Claire - red) and thing's end ( Eau Claire - yellow). Each is more than six feet tall and six feet wide. Carl says the forms are derived from rubber bands.
NSCAD University's alumni association has voted no confidence in its president Cameron Jantzen for supporting the removal of Aoife Mac Namara as the university's president. The alumni association has two seats on the university’s board. The other is held by Duane Jones, the association's vice-president. A petition is circulating in the NSCAD community to reinstate Mac Namara.
Clayton Windatt has been appointed as executive director of the Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference. Windatt has worked within advocacy and arts service positions as the previous executive director of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective. Windatt, who identifies without gender, is a Metis artist who lives in Sturgeon Falls, Ont. The conference represents collectives and artist-run centres in visual and media arts, architecture and contemporary craft in communities across Canada.
The Vancouver Foundation has launched new operating grants of $50,000 for BIPOC-led organizations. The goal is to help charitable organizations pursue their aspirations for building a more just world, the foundation says. Applications open Oct. 21. More information is available here.
Source: Canadian Museum of History, CBC, Art Gallery of Ontario, Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, Canada Council, Canadian Art, Carnell's Funeral Home, TrépanierBaer, The Coast, Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference, Vancouver Foundation