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At the Art Canada Institute, we are committed to integrating the following principles in our work:
Diversity, a principle of respecting the differences between all people, valuing the lived experience of minoritized people and fostering a plurality of perspectives and voices. We acknowledge that many people have and continue to experience systemic discrimination in Canada. We must actively, consciously, and mindfully address systemic barriers caused by ableism, genderism, heterosexism, racism, and sexism. We will take purposeful steps to create more opportunities for people who are Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, 2SLGBTQQIA+, Nonbinary, Gender Non-conforming, Deaf, Living with Disabilities, and Women.
Equity, a principle and a process of ensuring that all can participate meaningfully in our work and our programming (at the time of writing, the Art Canada Institute offers virtual programming only). Conscious that not all people have or experience comparable access to resources and opportunities, we will adapt processes and adopt appropriate practices and tools to do our best at ACI to ensure that individuals with different requirements have equal access to opportunities and programming. In this, we also recognize socio-economic disadvantage and the role it plays in creating barriers to opportunities for many artists and communities.
I am honoured to be part of
a visionary project that offers
scholars, students, and the
general public a one-of-a-kind
resource that provides content
never before assembled about
a diverse group of characters in Canadian cultural history.”
Carleton University, Ottawa
Bring Me to This Place, 2017, by Meryl McMaster. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, and Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain, Montreal. © Meryl McMaster.
The Art Canada Institute (ACI) wishes to acknowledge that this land where we live, work, and create has been the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and the Huron-Wendat. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.
The ACI offers virtual programming to audiences across the country, and, at the time of writing, operates in an entirely virtual, remote workspace with staff in Toronto and Montreal and contributors living and working in many places in Turtle Island/Canada. We wish to acknowledge that we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work in all these places, which are the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples and are home to many different First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities. We know as well that as an institution committed to virtual programming, we have a responsibility to reflect on our carbon and digital footprints and understand their impact on the land and communities. Because the ACI is based in Toronto, we honour and seek to understand, in particular, the relationships that the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and the Huron-Wendat have with their traditional territory, and we are working to do more to engage with these communities.