RISE, Within, 2018. Performance still from the Nuit Blanche Toronto project “STYLL,” curated by Alyssa Fearon. Photo: 
Sixty artists and arts leaders have sent an open letter to government to highlight a need for equity in Canada’s COVID-19 culture-sector relief funds. “Many of us are focused specifically on working with marginalized communities, and with some of our most vulnerable citizens,” states the letter, which is co-signed by Jason De Mata of RISE, charles c. smith of Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario, Phyllis Novak of SKETCH Working Arts and Shani K Parsons of Critical Distance Centre for Curators, among others. “We need to ensure that small groups experiencing the highest existential threat have access to this support,” said Jason Samilski of CARFAC Ontario in a related release. (emailed press releases, open letter)
Five artists have been named as finalists for a significant Quebec art prize. The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec has announced that the fourth edition of the MNBAQ Contemporary Art Award will see the $10,000 in prize monies split evenly between all finalists—a model initiated last year, before the pandemic. The finalists this year are Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Stanley Février, Chloë Lum and Yannick Desranleau, Marigold Santos and Walter Scott. A final winner, who will be announced in coming months, and will also receive a solo exhibition at the museum accompanied by a catalogue, as well as a $50,000 acquisition of the winner’s work. (press release)
The finalists for the 2020 MNBAQ Contemporary Art Prize. From left: Chun Hua Catherine Dong. Photo: Courtesy of the artist. Chloë Lum and Yannick Desranleau. Photo: © Clara Lacasse. Stanley Février. Photo: © Jean Turgeon. Walter Scott. Photo: © Chris Curreri. Marigold Santos. Photo: © Stacey Watson. All images via CNW Group and Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal is seeking to support local artists during the pandemic with an all-Quebec acquisitions policy. The new policy, released last week, will see the museum’s full $300,000 acquisition budget this year devoted to artists living and working in Quebec—and the museum is currently fundraising to try and double the fund to purchase more such works overall. (MAC Montreal)
A Canadian Museums Association (CMA) conference keynote recently highlighted how the COVID-19 crisis has exposed a “solidarity deficit” in the nation’s museum sector. “Large legacy institutions like national museums are responding through the only systems they know—systems of governance, economy and finance, technology, public services and civil society—but they have been shown to be too weak to support a national museum crisis,” said Jack Lohman, CEO of the Royal British Columbia Museum and president of the board of directors of the CMA, at a Museums Together virtual conference held on April 16. “The result has been the emergence of what I would call a ‘solidarity deficit’ in which these versions of what has gone wrong fight it out in a discourse that is polarized and visceral.” (CMA)
“It’s wiped out almost everything”: How COVID-19 is hitting Ottawa and Canada’s arts scene. (Ottawa Citizen)
DIY masks, hand sanitizer, street art: Canadian museums are already documenting life during COVID-19. (CBC Arts)
The BC Museums Association is offering micro-grants to help museums, art galleries, heritage organizations and Indigenous cultural centres across the province during the COVID-19 shutdowns. (Galleries West)
