This summer, come hang out at grunt and multiple locations across the city for HOHOL (Hang Out Hang Out Lang), a project presented by artists and curators Patrick Cruz and Christian Vistan with grunt gallery. Bringing Cruz, Vistan and fifteen other diasporic Filipino contemporary artists from across Canada, US and France in dialogue, HOHOL comprises a group exhibition at grunt and a series of site-specific artworks and programs in venues and other cultural gathering spaces for the Filipino community throughout Vancouver. HOHOL echoes the 1996 exhibition at Plug In, Institute for Contemporary Art in Winnipeg, Memories of Overdevelopment: Philippine Diaspora in Contemporary Art, an unprecedented project in Canada during its time, that brought together Filipino contemporary artists from across the diaspora to reflect on their shared and individual contexts and personal histories. Twenty-eight years later, we are gathering another group of artists to revisit and continue to think about themes and questions of diasporic and postcolonial Filipino identities and practices.
Opening on June 15th, the exhibition will feature works by Christopher Baliwas, Trisha Baga, Patrick Cruz, Ella Gonzales, Ramolen Laruan, Lani Maestro, Manuel Ocampo, Christian Vistan, and Thea Yabut.
HOHOL includes several other special programs: a panel conversation presented in partnership with the Libby Leshgold Gallery, a performance showcase at Redgate, a film screening at the Pacific Cinematheque and a Filipino food tour — stay tuned for further details coming soon!
ASL, Captions & Audio Description for Young Canada Works Summer Job at grunt gallery.
Position: Exhibition and Gallery Assistant (Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations) Location: grunt gallery Reporting to: Exhibitions & Accessibility Manager Length of assignment: 2024-06-03 to 2024-08-23 (total hours: 266) Remuneration: $25.68 per hour Start date: June 5, 2024
Description of the Position: The interested applicant will undertake a large inventory catalogue project where technology and tools used by preparatory (installing), archives, and event staff will be tested and documented to create an accessible database of current assets available on-site. Once a week, work will be conducted in total silence, and the applicant will co-host open hours in the gallery, prioritizing a voice-off, no-scent, and low-sensory experience for visitors. During the work placement, the gallery assistant will also assist in installing an exhibition and will be invited to participate as an observer with the grunt gallery staff in the annual exhibition jury selection.
Required Competencies: Writing in English, Clear Communication (writing, speech or ASL), Commitment, Reliability, Respect, Curiosity, Care and Empathy.
The ideal candidate for this position is a student interested in arts and culture work, eager to learn about artist-run centre operations, including exhibition selection, design, installation, event documentation, and archives processes. They should be committed to the arts community and interested in accessible public art presentations. The role is open to students who are Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, non-verbal or Disabled, or non-Disabled students aware of their privileges and willing to learn about inclusive systems and design.
Candidates should be comfortable with English communication, including writing, speaking, texting, or ASL, and have the physical ability to handle objects up to 15lbs. They should be tech-savvy, open to problem-solving, and capable of teamwork. Punctuality, adaptability, and readiness to handle diverse tasks in the gallery, from physical work to computer tasks, are essential. 70% of the work will be completed on a computer. Having a mobile device, such as a phone or tablet, that works with Wi-Fi will be an asset.
The candidate must be registered in the YCW online candidate inventory and meet the YCW eligibility criteria. Therefore, the candidate must also be enrolled in a post-secondary institution at the time of application.
To apply: Applicants can apply by emailing access@grunt.ca. Please send your resume and address your cover letter to Katrina Orlowski, Program Director. Applications can be in writing, as an audio file, or as a video. Please limit audio and video applications to 7 minutes.
Application Deadline: Applications are due on Friday, May 10th.
grunt is an equal-opportunity employer and welcomes all applicants.
Our site has an automated front door and washroom door. Washrooms are gender-neutral and mobility device accessible, but the entrance is narrow, and transit space is limited.
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Job: Gallery and Exhibitions Assistant (YCW)
“Daughter, I made these works for you, my future ancestor. I created this document, these pieces, thisMichif self-archive for you. So you wouldn’t have to search my name, dig deep for my stories…”
Inspired by her grandpa’s hunting shack and her daughter’s ancestral home lands, Maria-Margaretta Cabana Boucher reaches for the space between worlds in her solo exhibition, a memory of you: of holding, of carrying together. In this exhibition she extrapolates, expands and focuses in on beaded works and structures as a way of building forward with new archives of work, mindful of the gaps and omissions that she would like to not be repeated when passing her lineage to her own daughter. Running counter to a long history of assigned anonymity to Michif women in the archive, she is using the space of this exhibition to reclaim agency and position her beading practice as resistance to the erosion of cultural memory.
Maria-Margaretta is an interdisciplinary Red River Michif Artist from Treaty Six Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her family has historic ties to the Métis communities of St-François-Xavier, St. Boniface, and St. Louis, Saskatchewan. She is currently making and living on the stolen territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ, and xwməθkwəy̓əm Nations. Utilizing traditional beadwork practice merged with contemporary mediums she considers how this duality serves as both an act of reclamation and commentary on cultural hybridity. Navigating Indigeneity through the lenses of both the settler and the settled Maria-Margaretta attempts to negotiate her sense of self through the implications of existing in a colonial system. Using Métis’ identity as a place of transformation she questions how memory, personal experience, and ancestral relations influences her understanding of self.
Term: Part-time, permanent 24 hours per week. Some evening and weekend work. Flexible schedule.
Remuneration: $29/hour
Following a 90-day probationary period, enrollment in employee benefits program
Hybrid office/work from home model
Two weeks paid vacation
Additional paid days off during office-wide closures (one week in August; two weeks in December)
Ten sick days annually
Start date: April 29th, 2024
General Description of the Position:
The Communications and Outreach Manager is an energetic and creative person that is responsible for clearly articulating grunt’s public identity in a cohesive way to a broad-based audience. This position oversees all communications at grunt gallery and is responsible for effectively communicating who we are and what we do.
We are looking for someone with exceptional writing skills who can create consistent, sophisticated messaging that is “on brand” for dissemination across multiple platforms. This role ensures that content aligns with grunt’s vision, mission and values and is sensitive to social issues and the cultural climate.
The Communications and Outreach Manager is responsible for promoting all grunt gallery exhibitions and events and working with other staff members on offsite project promotion (Blue Cabin Residency and Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen).
This position monitors and posts to all social media outlets to ensure an active presence and generates content to keep the grunt gallery website fresh and current, as well as communicating through newsletters, press releases and more.
The Communications and Outreach Manager is engaged with grunt’s communities, helping to build and maintain lasting relationships with audiences and stakeholders, and is a key role in organizing and executing grunt events.
Required Competencies:
Communication Flexibility
Marketing Creativity
Computer Software Reliability
Resourcefulness Accessibility
Networking Care
General Responsibilities:
Promoting all exhibitions, events and other public programs at grunt gallery through newsletters, press releases, website content and social media.
Working closely with the Program Director and all grunt staff to maintain an excellent understanding of the range of grunt gallery activities, programs and initiatives.
Creating clear, sophisticated and impactful content for a variety of communications platforms.
Managing the grunt.ca website and refreshing content on a regular basis.
Working with the Program Director to develop marketing, publicity and communications strategies for the gallery.
Contributing to event planning and execution.
Front of house assets management, including guest log, exhibitions binder, outreach materials and C-Care supplies program.
Working closely with sub-committees and project groups’ communications needs, e.g. Blue Cabin Residency and Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen.
Required Skills and Education:
Two to three years of experience in a communications-related field.
Post-secondary education in an arts-related or communications-related program is an asset.
Sophisticated and advanced writing skills.
Must be extremely detail oriented, organized and committed to quality.
Must be able to multitask in a busy work environment.
Must be able to work independently with minimal supervision.
Tech savvy with advanced knowledge of various social media platforms, most specifically Facebook and Instagram.
Excellent working knowledge of WordPress, MailChimp and the Adobe Creative Suite.
Familiarity with and commitment to accessibility, including but not limited to basic principles of accessible web design and visual description.
Strong time management skills.
Excellent understanding of artist-run centres.
Resourceful, hands-on and proactive.
Outgoing, social and comfortable with public speaking.
Ability to work flexible hours and be onsite at grunt for events.
How To Apply:
Please forward your cover letter and C.V. to: meagan@grunt.ca
You can apply by email in writing (Preferred file format is PDF) or in a recording (video or audio).
Application Deadline:
Friday, April 5th 2024 @ 11:59 pm PDT
grunt gallery welcomes, encourages, and is actively seeking applications from members of equity deserving communities such as (but not limited to) people from racialized communities, Indigenous peoples, persons with Disabilities, women, gender-diverse and LGTBQIA2S+ people, and others with the skills and knowledge to productively engage with diverse communities.
It is our hope that this position will encourage working artists, or creatives with an on-going practice, to consider this role. We hope to develop a working relationship wherein artists can exist both as artists and arts workers, and will be in conversation with the successful applicant on what grunt can do to support their on-going career.
grunt gallery is located on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ/selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations of the Coast Salish peoples.
Image Description (clockwise from top left): Photos taken by Merle Addison, Rachel Topham, Merle Addison, and Henry Robideau. A digital graphic with four archival images of artworks by Marie Clements, Cheri Maracle and Sam Bob, Cheyenne Rain Legrande, Rolande Souliere, and George Littlechild. The works are performances, paintings, and sculptures, which have been presented at grunt over the years. White text on an indigo-coloured oval at the bottom reads “Introducing archives.grunt.ca”
This year we’re celebrating forty years of grunt! The incredible array of artists, cultural workers and community members who have shared their time and gifts with us since we opened our doors in September 1984 has made grunt what it is today: often ineffable yet steadfast in our support of diverse and unruly approaches and practices. Anchored in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood on the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ/selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations throughout our history, we reach far beyond our gallery walls through the work of extraordinary artists and you, our delightful, generous and ever-growing community—these are the ingredients of the ‘grunt sauce’ simmering on our proverbial stove for four decades. At times sweet, at times spicy, ours is a concoction reduced and extended over the years, with a pinch or dash from too many cooks to thank, a secret recipe we’d love to share with you.
To kick off our celebrations, grunt gallery is proud to launch archives.grunt.ca, the new home for our archives online. The grunt archive, containing documentation of forty years of artist-run programming and projects, has become a cornerstone of gallery operations, a wellspring for research, programming, and other activations, and an extension of our care for artists and their work during and beyond their time in our space. While our initiatives have placed our archival content in several spaces online since 2012, we are pleased to at last offer audiences and researchers a comprehensive, centralized, technically robust, and practical platform to explore and enjoy our collections.
archives.grunt.ca is a work in progress and we welcome feedback on the content, use, accuracy and accessibility of the site. Research inquiries are also welcome and we are happy to support and guide your searches. If you are an artist who has shown or worked with grunt over the years, we would love to be in touch about how we can best represent records of you and your work. More details on feedback and policies can be found here.
While we celebrate in the present we also look back to acknowledge the foresight and labour of folks like Glenn Alteen, Brice Canyon, Merle Addison, Archer Pechawis, Venge Dixon, and the dozens of art workers and volunteers whose work foregrounded this project. For the full story of our collection please see its record here.
This project, now some three years in the making, is the product of many folks’ hard work and a community of care for the story of contemporary art in Vancouver. We would like in particular to thank Susan Gibb and Anna Tidlund at Western Front, Kendra Place and Syr Reifsteck at VIVO Media Arts, and Shaunna Moore, Seth Kaufman, and Maria Passaroti at Whirl-i-Gig, as well as Casey Wei, Russell Gordon, Emily Guerrero, and Vanessa Kwan. Thanks to the team at grunt: Katrina Orlowski, Meagan Kus, Kay Slater, Whess Harman, Keimi Nakashima-Ochoa, Dan Pon, Jessica Fletcher, Sebnem Ozpeta, Dustyn Krasowski-Olmstead, Kira Saragih, Linda Gorrie, and Mary Ann Anderson. Finally we give thanks to the thousands of artists, curators, photographers and videographers, and others whose work is represented in our archive.
archives.grunt.ca is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategies Fund.
Please stay tuned for archives features, highlights, instructional resources and much more, we are forty, sporty, and excited for what lies ahead.
Image creditsImage Credits (starting at top left, clockwise): Photos taken by Merle Addison, Rachel Topham, Merle Addison, and Henry Robideau.
Composed of archival family images, copper etchings in handmade frames, and literary work brought together by familial ties and an impulse to document and collect, this exhibition marks the first art presentation for both Sue Dong Eng and Mercedes Eng. Inside/Out: the art show my dad never had by Sue Dong Eng and Mercedes Eng takes a close and specific look at the life and work of the late Sue Dong, showing images of his family and upbringing focused around Vancouver’s Chinatown, while connecting to broader themes of cultural visibility, institutional violence, and community building that are still in flux in this city today.Sue Dong’s copper works were created in the carceral facilities he spent most of his adult life going in and out of. Mercedes has gathered and built this collection of archival images and her work – which is inextricably linked to Sue Dong’s as his daughter – intentionally responds to the prison industrial complex she and her family frequently brushed up against, while pushing back at the idea that the colonial nation-state of Canada is a multicultural utopia.
Mercedes Eng is a Chinese mixee settler with familial connections to “Vancouver’s” Chinatown that are 100 years deep. She is an artist, poet, prison abolitionist, and a professor at Emily Carr University, where she organizes the On Edge reading series. Mercedes’ writing and art is shaped by lived experience, grounded in community organizing and volunteering, and in service to social and environmental justice. It has been her years-long dream to exhibit her father’s prison artwork as an act of loving care.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Guest curated by Keimi Nakashima-Ochoa and Mercedes Eng.
Digitized Programming:
Publication catalogue:
Designed by Vicky Lum and printed by Moniker Press, free, physical copies of the catalogue are available in the gallery while supplies last.
A PDF version with images is available to explore here.
An Alternative-Text version is available to explore: Plain text, Audio.
Artist Talk:
On Feb 3, 2024 from 3-5 pm. Event archive footage is being processed and captioned. It will be shared here shortly.
Inundated by the idea that prosperity and success will come to her once she gives birth to a daughter, Sora Park’s exhibition Daughter, Daughter, Daughter at grunt gallery reflects Korean diasporic experiences through the exploration of Saju, Korea’s ancient form of divination and fortune-telling practice that predicts one’s fate based on the date and time of their birth.
Travelling between the past, present, and future, Park invites the visitors to the gallery space trapped inside a red square on her Saju chart that links her destiny to motherhood. As a happily child-free person, Park delves into how her childhood spent in Korea and her upbringing in a Korean-Canadian household where childbearing is considered a norm collide with her own interpretation of motherhood.
Daughter, Daughter, Daughter depicts a playful perception of a fortune-telling practice and its claim that the future can seriously be predicted while revealing a tiny fraction of trust and belief in the practice that lures so many people into being participants. By applying aesthetics within Saju to her colourful and immersive installation, the exhibition at grunt gallery explores the relationship between people’s belief in the occult and the role that gender plays in predicting one’s fate.
Sora Park gratefully acknowledges the support from the Canada Council for the Arts for this exhibition.
Sora Park (She/Her) is a Korean-Canadian interdisciplinary artist living on the traditional territories of the q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), Máthxwi (Matsqui) and Se’mya’me’ (Semiahmoo) First Nations. She received her BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and received her MA in Fine Arts from Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway. In her art practice, she is currently interested in exploring the space between clarity and confusion brought on by diasporic experiences.
Image courtesy of the artist.
This exhibition is curated by Whess Harman.
Digitized Programming:
Publication catalogue:
PDF
A companion catalogue for the exhibition with curatorial text by Whess Harmon, and exhibition response by Areum Kim.
Visual description available: Plain Text, Audio.
A free printed copy is available in gallery while supplies last.
Artist Talk:
This recording is being processed and captioned. Check back soon.
Summary: Recording of the artist Sora Park in conversation with local artist Romi Kim from January 11th, 2024
Image Description: The grunt gallery logo, a distressed rectangle of paint with the letters grunt in negative, sits atop the words Voice-Off Co-Learning Program. 4 icons below L-R: A mobile phone with a speech bubble, a no-speaking icon with an open-mouthed head crossed out, an ASL interpreter logo with two hands one on top of the other, and a Deaf emoji of a face with a index finger pointing from ear to chin.
Submissions due: November 30th, 2023, Midnight or 11:59 PM PDT
Below is a video of the information presented in ASL:
You can apply by email in writing, in a recording (video) or a separate text file, or by using Google Forms. Email access@grunt.ca
This program is limited to the Greater Vancouver Regional District and Lower Mainland artists. We appreciate the interest of artists living outside this area, but we still lack the funds to support artists outside our local area. If you still want to be in contact with us, feel free to email us, but only local applications will be considered.
What is the voice-off artist co-learning program?
Our co-learning program is an opportunity to support up to two guest artists, makers, explorers or knowledge keepers to continue exploring their own ongoing practices while providing a space for sharing and learning with the grunt gallery team.
The Details
This program focuses on voice-off participation. For this, we are inviting Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing or non-verbal artists to participate in our program. Any artists who apply must have ongoing creative practice and space for making, but artists may use the fee from this program to help them secure their own making space during the program if they choose.
The purpose of the voice-off co-learning program is a dynamic opportunity that provides paid time for participants to explore their own non-verbal, silent, or signed practice while also working with grunt gallery to deepen our understanding of non-verbal accessibility and Deaf culture within contemporary arts. Artists are invited to create something in response to grunt gallery.
Artists will be paid a fee to either pursue their own ongoing projects or to begin a project related to the gallery during their co-learning program. This is not an exhibition opportunity but a knowledge-sharing and supporting program where artists will receive a fee to continue their own explorations and development within an ongoing non-verbal, non-auditory, silent, or Deaf (De’VIA) practice while being in conversation with grunt gallery about what it means to produce work for a hearing and speaking world.
The co-learning program allows artists to be paid to work on a silent or signed project (either new or ongoing) and have their process documented on-site at grunt gallery or have an archivist visit their studio to document their work. Artists will be asked to consider what it would mean to have their practice in a gallery, the barriers they face as a silent, non-verbal, or Deaf artist, as well as give feedback on some of grunt’s practices to provide non-auditory and silent access in their shows.
We acknowledge that practicing silence, being non-verbal, and being Deaf are very different. This is a call to a broad range of art practices, and while there may be some overlap, we acknowledge that being deaf is not the same as being Deaf and that one can be Deaf and have a practice not connected to Deaf culture. Someone can be hearing and process audio but not being able or willing to speak. This co-learning initiative is designed to be expansive, and we hope to host it again in the future (pending funding) and continue learning from different artists over the coming years.
Artists are expected to commit to up to 8 hours of co-learning sessions with grunt staff, where they will share and chat about barriers and challenges facing non-verbal, deaf or Deaf artists and brainstorm ways to better support their practices within formal gallery spaces. An opportunity to meet with grunt gallery’s program director, curator or exhibitions manager will be made available. The artist can discuss their practice and receive feedback on how they can present their work when applying for exhibitions and other programs within contemporary gallery spaces. Artists are asked to visit at least one exhibition at grunt gallery and respond to the space in conversation or making. Any travel costs and access support for this will be paid for by grunt gallery.
The program is designed to be spacious and allow participants to shape the program.
grunt gallery offers the non-verbal or Deaf artist co-learning program as an opportunity for their staff and our community to explore how silent media and De’VIA can exist and play out within predominantly hearing/verbal spaces where silence or signing is discouraged, forbidden, not considered or not funded. Time is built into the residency to allow artists to share and participate in grunt staff and committee meetings, and members of the AEPE department at grunt will be available to support throughout the program as needed.
We invite expressions of interest in the program from community members working on Coast Salish land within the colonially named Metro Vancouver and Lower Mainland area. This residency is limited to creative people who self-identify as non-verbal, deaf or hard of hearing artists who do not speak (but may use tools to communicate besides signing) and d/D/HOH individuals. We recognize that wellness, ability, and identity are a spectrum, and we ask you to share how you position yourself within your communities and how your practice is engaged with a non-verbal and Deaf arts discourse.
grunt gallery hosts and makes work on the unceded and stolen ancestral territories of the Hun’qumi’num (hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓) and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) speaking peoples, as uninvited guests on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh lands. We will prioritize applications from Host Nation creators when reviewing with our jury. We will also encourage and prioritize experiences by Black, Indigenous, and racialized individuals. Please let us know when you apply if you are a part of one of the many Coast Salish families and nations, are an urban Indigenous guest on these lands, or identify as a racialized individual.
The grunt gallery 2023 voice-off program will involve a selection process following an application. The selection will be made by the current grunt gallery AEPE department, grunt accessibility committee, and 1-2 community assessors.
Fee:
Selected artists will receive a fee of $2000, with an expectation of about 10-15hrs/week of artistic labour over six weeks (including the initial discovery phase and project introduction—2 hours maximum), with any hiring of interveners/interpreters/translators, time spent in additional meetings, and any workshop, community gathering, and research costs covered by grunt. Artists will work offsite, although space may be available at grunt gallery depending on the artist’s practice. Most of the artist’s work is expected to be done offsite (or in their home spaces). Selected artists will coordinate with the Exhibitions and Accessibility Manager, Kay Slater, and, on occasion, the Accessibility and Events Manager, Keimi Nakashima-Ochoa. Invitations to additional staff and committee meetings are optional and up to the artist to decide their capacity.
Schedule:
Call for artists: October 2023.
Deadline for submissions: November 30th, 2023
Jury/Assessment Panel: Week of December 11th, 2023
Notice of selections: December 18th, 2023
Successful applications will begin the program in January 2024.
Submissions can be submitted in text or ASL. When submitting computer voice recordings, please indicate the language used in the recording. ASL questions are available in our Google Drive.
If Google Forms are not accessible, these questions are available in Word Doc, Google Doc, and Plain Text and can be copied from here into an email.
If a Google Form format works for you, please visit the Google Form with the following questions:
Name:
Email or Phone:
This residency is limited to artists, makers, and knowledge keepers who are non-verbal, are deaf or hard of hearing, have a non-verbal or silent practice, or are Deaf or Hard of Hearing with a non-verbal practice. Tell us how you self-identify.
Are you a member of MST (Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil Waututh) host nations and families?
Are you a person of racialized experience?
Do you identify as Trans, Queer, Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing, neurodiverse, mad, or otherwise excellent? Tell us about your intersectional identity (if you want)!
Which city or territory do you live in within the colonially defined province of BC?
Tell us about yourself. (250 word limit)
How does non-verbal communication, De’VIA, or silence show up in your practice and work? Why do you explore silence, non-verbal communication or De’VIA? (250 word limit)
What would you like to explore in the residency if you were to participate? (250 word limit)
Please attach your CV (1 page )
Please attach support materials (maximum of 10 images, 5 minutes of video or audio, and seven pages of written materials at 14 pt or higher). If support materials are supplied in languages besides English, please indicate the language in the file name or your application comments.
Accessibility:
grunt has wide automated double entrances and an automated door for their washroom. Here is a video walkthrough of the space, which includes a visual description. For full access details or to discuss needs and inclusion, please email access@grunt.ca
If you would like to have a meeting to discuss your application or for any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Please let us know if you require a translator, intervenor, or other access support. Service dogs with certification are welcome in the space. Please note that non-certified support animals cannot be supported in the space for staff and visitors and their access needs. Please contact us with any questions.
How can I support this initiative?
If you are not eligible for this residency but still wish to support it, we ask that you share this with your networks, directly invite people that you think would be interested, and if possible, donate to grunt gallery to help us sustain these programs.
Share our invitation on social media, and be sure to write image descriptions in your media captions should they be erased when shared.
Written support can also be sent to access@grunt.ca for us to use in grants and to help us better our programming and calls for submissions in the future.
Financial support can be provided by donating or by contacting communications@grunt.ca to become a funding partner for our Accessible Exhibitions, Public Programming and Events initiatives.
[Image Description: A photo of Katrina from the waist up, arms loosely crossed, standing on a path with overhanging tree branches. Katrina has pale skin with several tattoos on their arms, large glasses, a nose ring and a buzz cut. They are wearing a black sleeveless shirt, blue jeans and their nails are painted sparkly teal.] Photo by Joey Malbon.
The board and staff of the Visible Art Society are excited to announce the appointment of Katrina Orlowski as the incoming Program Director of grunt gallery. We welcome Katrina’s diverse experience and artistic vision as they undertake this essential leadership position. Katrina has worked with grunt as Communications and Project Manager for four years and will step into their new role co-directing the organization as of October 10th, 2023.
Katrina brings a strong commitment to accessibility, community care and interdisciplinary experimentation. At grunt, they have been deeply involved in the organization’s curatorial processes, the launch of both the Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen and the Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency, the growth of grunt’s digital programming and special partnership initiatives. Katrina’s fresh perspective on leadership, their programming insight, grant writing acumen and immersion in a variety of art communities both local and abroad is an asset to the gallery and marks a new and invigorating moment at grunt.
“The board is excited by the breadth of expertise and the expansive vision that Katrina brings to this role. Their leadership will be vital in this pivotal moment in grunt’s trajectory.” — Diyan Achjadi, outgoing Board President
Katrina is a cultural worker and artist who has spent over a decade in the artist-run communities of Vancouver and Toronto. Their work as an administrator, curator and programmer is built from a foundation in DIY creative cultures as well as critical academic inquiry. Katrina has served as the President of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres, as a curator at Pleasure Dome, a programmer with Images Festival and VIFF, and holds a Masters of Communication and Culture from York University. Katrina is a white, queer, disabled settler who has lived most of their life on the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Image Description: Two illustrated hands, one with Swan-neck fingers, and one without, reach from both sides to touch the grunt gallery logo. Text below reads: Tactile Co-Learning Program.
Submissions due: October 31st, 2023, Midnight or 11:59 PM PDT
Accessibility information: This information can be listened to in English by visiting soundcloud or downloading an MP3 from our Google Drive.
You can apply by email in writing or in a recording (video or audio) or in a separate text file, or by using Google Forms. Email access@grunt.ca
This program is limited to artists living in the Greater Vancouver Regional District and Lower Mainland. We appreciate the interest of artists living outside of this area, but we still lack the funds to support artists outside of our local area. If you still want to be in contact with us, feel free to email us, but only local applications will be considered.
What is the tactile artist co-learning program?
Our co-learning program is an opportunity to support up to two guest artists, makers, explorers or knowledge keepers to continue within their own on-going practices exploring, while also providing a space for sharing and learning together with the grunt gallery team.
The Details
This is our second year working on our tactile learning program. It was previously called the Tactile Residency, but have shifted away from that language because we do not provide dedicated working space for artists with our current set up and wanted to be clear about that! Artists must have an ongoing tactile practice and space for making, but artists may use the fee from this program to help them secure their own making space during the program if they choose.
The purpose of the tactile co-learning program is a dynamic opportunity that provides paid time for participants to explore their own tactile practice while also working with grunt gallery to deepen our understanding of non-visual and touch interactivity within contemporary arts. Artist are invited to create something in response to grunt gallery for our archives.
In the past, artist editions produced have included a glossary of tactile marks by a Blind illustrator, and an improvised drum performance in the empty gallery.
Artists will be paid a fee to either pursue their own ongoing projects, or to begin a project related to the gallery during their co-learning program. This is not an exhibition opportunity but a knowledge sharing and supporting program where artists will receive a fee to continue their own explorations and development within an on-going tactile practice, while being in conversation with grunt gallery about what it means to have tactile work and to navigate non-visually in a primarily visual space.
The co-learning program offers the opportunity for artists to be paid to work on a tactile project (either new or on-going) and either have their process documented on-site at grunt gallery or have an archivist visit their studio to document their work. Artists will be asked to consider what it would mean to have their practice in a gallery, the barriers they face as a tactile artist, as well as give feedback on some of grunt’s practices to provide tactile participation in their shows.
Artists are expected to commit to up to 8 hours of co-learning sessions with grunt staff where they will share and chat about barriers and challenges facing tactile and non-visual artists, and brainstorm ways to better support their practices within formal gallery spaces. An opportunity to meet with grunt gallery’s program director, curator and/or exhibition manager will be made available where the artist can discuss their practice, and receive feedback on how they can present their work when applying for exhibitions and other programs within contemporary gallery spaces. Artists are asked to visit at least one exhibition at grunt gallery, and respond to the space either in conversation or in making. Any travel costs and access supports for this will be paid for by grunt gallery.
The program is designed to be spacious and allow participants to shape the program.
grunt gallery offers the tactile artist co-learning program as an opportunity for their staff and our community to explore how tactility can exist and play-out within predominantly visual spaces where touching and interacting with work is discouraged, forbidden, or not considered. Time is built into the residency to allow for artists to share and participate in grunt staff and committee meetings, and members of the AEPE department at grunt will be available to support throughout the program as needed.
In our second year of this program, we are hoping to invite expressions of interest in the program from community members working on Coast Salish land, within the colonially named Metro Vancouver and Lower Mainland area. This residency is limited to creative people who self-identify as Non-Visual, Blind, DeafBlind, Partially Sighted or Low Vision individuals. We recognize that wellness, ability, and identity is a spectrum, and we ask you to share how you position yourself within your communities, and how your practice is engaged with a non-visual, and tactile discourse.
grunt gallery hosts and makes work on the unceded and stolen ancestral territories of the Hun’qumi’num (hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓) and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) speaking peoples, as uninvited guests on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh lands. We will prioritize applications from Host Nation creators when reviewing with our jury. We will also encourage and prioritize experiences by Black, and/or Indigenous, and/or racialized individuals. Please let us know when you apply if you are a part of MST families and nations, or if you identify as a racialized individual!
The grunt gallery 2023 tactile program will involve a selection process following an application. The selection will be made from the current grunt gallery AEPE department, grunt accessibility committee, and 1-2 community assessors.
Fee:
Selected artists will receive a fee of $2000, with an expectation of about 10-15hrs/week of artistic labour over 6 weeks (including initial discovery phase and project introduction — 2 hours maximum), with any hiring of interveners/interpreters/translators, time spent in additional meetings, and any workshop, community gathering, and research costs covered by grunt. Artists will work offsite although space may be available at grunt gallery depending on the artist’s practice. It is expected that most of the artist work will be done offsite (or in their home spaces). Selected artists will coordinate with grunt’s Events and Accessibility Manager, Keimi Nakashima-Ochoa, and on occasion grunt’s Accessibility and Exhibitions Manager, Kay Slater. Invitations to additional staff and committee meetings are optional and up to the artist to decide their capacity.
This residency is limited to artists, makers, and knowledge keepers who are Non-Visual, Blind, DeafBlind, Partially Sighted, Low Vision or otherwise on a non-visual spectrum. Tell us how you self-identify.
Are you a member of MST (Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil Waututh) host nations and families?
Are you a person of racialized experience?
Do you identify as Trans, Queer, Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing, neurodiverse, mad, or otherwise excellent? Tell us about your intersectional identity (if you want)!
Which city or territory do you live in within the colonially defined province of BC?
Tell us about yourself. (250 word limit)
How does tactility and non-visual interaction show up in your practice and work? Why do you explore tactility and non-visual interactivity? (250 word limit)
What would you like to explore in the residency if you were to participate? (250 word limit)
Please attach your CV (1 page )
Please attach support materials (maximum of 10 images, 5 minutes of video or audio, and 7 pages of written materials at 14 pt or higher). If support materials are supplied in languages besides English, please indicate the language in the file name or in your application comments.
If Google Forms are not accessible, these questions are available in plain text file, Word Doc, OCR PDF, and can be copied from here into an email.
Accessibility:
grunt has wide double-entrances (now with a power door) and a wheelchair accessible washroom. Please note, the washroom door on site is very heavy . Here is a video walkthrough of the space which includes visual description. For full access details or to discuss needs and inclusion, please email: access@grunt.ca
If you would like to have a meeting to discuss your application or for any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us.
If you require a translator, intervenor, or other access support, please let us know. Service dogs with certification are welcome in the space. Please note that non-certified support animals are not able to be supported in the space for the sake of staff and visitors and their access needs. Please contact us with any questions.
How can I support this initiative?
If you are not eligible for this residency but still wish to support it, we ask that you share this with your networks, directly invite people that you think would be interested, and if possible, donate to grunt gallery to help us sustain these programs.
Share our invitation on social media, and be sure to write image descriptions in your media captions should they be erased when shared.
Written support can also be sent to access@grunt.ca for us to use in grants, and to help us better our programming and calls for submissions in the future.
Financial support can be provided by donating, or by contacting communications@grunt.ca to become a funding partner for our Accessible Exhibitions, Public Programming and Events initiatives.
