Clockwise from left: Bridget Moser, Asking for a friend (still), 2013; Alexia Fabre. Photo: Gueorgui Pinkhassov; Pascal Grandmaison, Le jour des 8 soleils, 2011.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
On Wednesday, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal announced that Lesley Johnstone has been appointed head of exhibitions and education, while Julie Bélisle joins the institution as cultural activities co-ordinator. Johnstone has worked at the MAC since 2007, and with this appointment she assumes “overall responsibility for temporary and travelling exhibitions, multimedia events, cultural activities, publications and education.”
Over the past week, recipients of prizes from the Hnatyshyn Foundation have been announced. Maya Beaudry, Jessie McNeil and Bridget Moser have received the 2015 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Canadian Artists, each valued at $5,000. The 2015 recipients of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Awards were also announced, with Pascal Grandmaison recognized for “outstanding achievement as an artist,” and Candice Hopkins clinching the “award for curatorial excellence in contemporary art.”
Alexia Fabre has been appointed the principal curator of Manif d’art 8–Quebec City Biennial. Currently the director and chief curator of the Musée d’art contemporain du Val de Marne in France, Fabre will lead the 8th edition of the biennial, which will open in the winter of 2017. The artistic committee for the biennial also includes Bernard Lamarche, curator of contemporary art at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and Claude Bélanger, executive and artistic director of Manif d’art.
Ahead of the Canadian federal election on October 19, the Green Party and the Liberal Party have released their arts and culture platforms. Justin Trudeau promised that a liberal government would direct $380 million towards cultural and creative industries, while the Green Party has promised to reverse past cuts and increase arts funding generally. Both parties have promised to increase support for the Canada Council for the Arts, in particular, with the Liberal Party planning to double the government’s annual investment in the institution (to $360 million per year). The NDP and the Conservative Party have yet to release their arts-funding plans.
