Kegan McFadden Named Executive Director of Open Space Arts Society

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Kegan McFadden

The Board of Directors of Open Space Arts Society has announced the appointment of Kegan McFadden as Executive Director of the artist-run centre located in downtown Victoria effective November 1, 2017.

“I am very excited to become involved with artist-run culture in Victoria — there are wonderful things happening on the Island, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Greater Victoria and beyond to build on existing conversations and to challenge ourselves as well as our audiences,” said Kegan McFadden.

Kegan obtained a Master’s Degree in Critical and Curatorial Studies from the University of British Columbia following his undergraduate studies in Art History and Creative Writing at the University of Winnipeg. He has held positions with Plug In ICA as well as Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts and is the founding director of Window — Winnipeg’s only 24 hour artist-run space. Kegan’s time with these spaces has focused on promoting critical exhibition making, fostering partnerships locally and nationally, and emphasizing the importance of publishing in a visual arts context.

"After a thorough national search the board is excited to announce that Kegan McFadden will become the next Executive Director of Open Space. Highly respected by his colleagues, Kegan has fifteen years of experience working in artist-run culture throughout Canada and beyond as an administrator, curator, writer and artist. During his recent visit, Kegan made the comment “as far as artist-run culture goes, I’m all in”, and I think this speaks to his passion and dedication to the kind of work we at Open Space are deeply invested in,” noted Lynda Gammon, Vice- Chair of Open Space and Chair of the Search Committee.

For the past five years, while based in Winnipeg, Kegan has worked as an independent curator on projects across Canada and beyond. Recent exhibitions of his have been produced by Artexte, Artspeak, The Banff Centre for the Arts, the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, Kamloops Art Gallery, AKA + P.A.V.E.D. Arts, and Vtape, among many others. Notably his curatorial effort commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts in 2016, Punctured Landscape, which skewed the anniversary celebrations surrounding the Canada 150, was restaged earlier this year at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C. to great applause for its candour and sensitive handling of the harsh realities in our country’s living memory.

“The dedicated community that makes up Open Space’s interdisciplinary program made my decision to leave Winnipeg (and its amazing arts scene) a little easier,” added Kegan.

Kegan replaces Helen Marzolf, Open Space Executive Director since 2005, who is retiring.

Source: Open Space Arts Society