artsUNITE / UNITÉ des arts is a free, centralized and comprehensive wayfinding service that connects artists and creatives to the resources they need. Our National Launch starts March 8 until March 31 with a jam-packed schedule of fun featuring a showcase from our first virtual artist residency, workshops on how to craft an artist bio, artist discussions on the unforgettable (or forgettable) year 2020 and the future of live online performances.
We’re on a mission to unite the national Canadian arts sector in a mutual goal of empowering, educating and employing artists and creatives from across the country: join us, won’t you?
Register for Events!
Wednesday March 10, 5pm – 6pm EST
Danse et technologie
(Dance and Technology)
5à6 Featured as part of Festival Bouge d’ici with presenting partner artsUNITE / UNITÉ des arts. This is a streamed panel available for viewing on the Bouge d’ici Facebook Fanpage and the Bouge d’ici FringeTV Channel.
Danse et technologie is a facilitated discussion with dance professionals about their growing relationships with technology. Participants will share as they reflect on their experiences adapting work for the online sphere, creating connections with audiences through digital experiences and the practical lessons they have learned.
Produced by MainLine Theatre, Bouge d’ici was founded in 2010 as a way to support Montreal’s up-and-coming contemporary dance artists. Created as a reaction to the lack of realistic opportunities for emerging choreographers or students to present their work in professional contexts, Bouge d’ici-ers believe in creating their own opportunities, sharing their experiences with others and taking their artistic development into their own hands. Bouge’s practice is baked in five principles: accessibility, mentoring, development, facilitation and creation.
No pre-registration required.
Thursday March 11, 2pm – 3:30pm EST
Hindsight 2020
An #artsUNITE Panel Discussion
Let’s look back at 2020 with the nine featured artists from the Unmute: Virtual Artist Residency! Coming together from across the country, we’ll reflect on how the pandemic has affected our creative practices and opportunities. This panel discussion will introduce Unmute’s nine resident artists and explore the labour of love that is art during COVID-19, looking back at the year that was to reflect on making art in the future.
Access: Closed captions, ASL Interpretation
Tuesday March 16, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm EST
Breaking the Mould
With Morgan Moats, Unmute resident artist
‘Breaking the Mould’ is a discussion-based workshop for artists of all sorts, speaking to making one’s artistic practice work for oneself instead of prescriptivism and tradition for tradition’s sake. Led by Unmute Artist-in-Residence Morgan Moats, this workshop will touch on considering one’s self and one’s audience in terms of anti-oppression, intersectionality, and accessibility/inclusivity. Breaking out of one’s comfort zone is important for doing radical work, but must be balanced with staying true to oneself and one’s artistic integrity. Morgan will touch on their own experiences as a marginalized person in and out of academia and the music industry, then lead a discussion amongst those who attend.
No registration is required. This event is hosted on the Zoom video conferencing client. Click the button below at 3 pm EST to join the workshop!
Tuesday March 16, 3:00pm EST
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS 2021
With Launchpad Learning
The world has changed, 2020 completely shifted our perspective and the way in which we do business. From E-Commerce reliance to living on zoom and spending more time than ever before on emerging social platforms, our lives have changed and created opportunities for connection. This workshop explores the emerging platforms, trends and tactics that are crucial to building a successful brand or business in the next 12 months, and beyond.
You Will Learn
- Develop an understanding of the market forces shaping trends within industries.
- Uncover the most impactful trends which will influence consumer behaviour in 2021
- Identify and select the opportunities that are right for your business objectives
- Understand the emerging social technology platforms in 2021 and beyond.
Friday March 19, 2:30pm EST
LIVEstreaming Workshop
Inspiration & Tech with Mind of a Snail
We love theatre because it’s about LIVEness – experiencing a moment in a room together. So how do we translate that feeling of connection to an online format? We want to get you excited about the possibilities! We will share our approach to designing new online interactive work, from concept to tech. We want you to leave this workshop with lots of inspiration and ideas, and the tools to start moving forward to make your own online performances, presentations or interactive live streams.
Mind of a Snail is a shadow puppetry duo from Vancouver BC, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleilwaututh Nations. Since 2003, Chloé Ziner and Jessica Gabriel have been developing a multilayered style of visual storytelling using overhead projectors as their main light source, and have been recently integrating live video and interactive live-streaming into their tool kit. Their performances play at the intersection of puppetry, visual arts, clowning & music. Their original shows Caws & Effect, Curious Contagious and Multiple Organism have won multiple awards for innovation and excellence at theatre festivals across North America.
Access: Closed Captions, ASL interpetation
Thursday March 25, 7:30pm EST
Unmute: Artist Residency Showcase
After three weeks of workshops, conversations and mentorship, the nine artsUNITE / UNITÉ des arts Unmute Virtual Residency artists share their work! Be it an exploration of the works in progress, a reflection of the residency itself, or a full blown performative spectacle, this showcase offers a formal conclusion to the artsUNITE / UNITÉ des arts Unmute Virtual Residency. The format and content will be devised during the residency itself, so be sure to follow us for updates!
Access: Closed Captions
Friday March 26, 1-4 pm EST
Dotgain
Holland College and Creative PEI
A coordinated effort between Holland College, Creative PEI and artsUNITE / UNITÉ des arts, Dotgain will bring you an afternoon of online professional development specifically tailored to the visual arts communities of Prince Edward Island. The goal of Dotgain 2021 is to create a digital arena for Prince Edward Island’s creative community to connect, network and consider important topics like mental and environmental health.
The theme for this conference is Creative Ripple Effects: How does our own mental and environmental health affect our creativity? We will explore questions such as: How can we use our skills and talents for social good? What type of creative problems will we be solving in the future?
Tuesday March 30, 1:00 pm EST
GRAPHIC DESIGN DEMO: Images to Illustrations
With Launchpad Learning
Turn your photo images into fun, clean illustrations using graphic design. Transform your surroundings into digital settings. Create vibrant visuals and
select pictures to draw with Adobe Illustrator, the result being a unique space style to your liking.|
You Will Learn
- How to draw a room environment
- Make daily objects into quick graphics using tips
- Select a strong colour palette
- Create inner and outer glows
- Illustrate plants, furniture, and patterns
Wednesday March 31, 12:30-1:30 pm EST
The (Short) Story of You:
Crafting Your Artist Bio With Ease
Even the most prolific writers, performers and artists find it challenging to talk about themselves and their work in a succinct and effective way. The challenge of writing a bio isn’t about your abilities or your confidence level. You probably don’t need an ego boost; you just need a process. In The (Short) Story of You, Christine Hennebury will lead you through a painless, repeatable process that guides you past some common writing obstacles, helps you to identify the most applicable details from your life/work, and then enables you to develop a solid first draft of an engaging and effective bio statement for your next grant application or public event.
Access: Closed captions, ASL interpretation
Christine Hennebury is a storyteller, writer, and creative life coach with a knack for encouraging people to be kind to themselves. She has 30 years of experience in leading workshops to help individuals and groups ease their way into new creative practices. Christine is the founder of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl, the acting Vice-President for Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada, and a past president of the St. John’s Storytelling Festival. She is also the proud recipient of the 2019 Impact in Music, Arts, and Culture Award from the City of Mount Pearl.Unmute Virtual Artist Residency
Early in 2021, while the artsUNITE staff were planning our National Launch, we began brainstorming how we can actively and tangibly support artists. While public panels, events and workshops are excellent ways to bring artists together (and get resources to artists!), we wanted to find a way to get to the heart of artist experience with the pandemic, connect with specific artist’s stories, and explore creative solutions with artists. And so, the Unmute Virtual Artist Residency was born. Launched in tandem with artsUNITE’s National Launch, we wanted to do something that tangibly supported artists during the pandemic, but also invited artists into the conversation around the future of the arts in Canada, so that these conversations are fundamentally artist-led.
Meet the Artists
Bekah Brown
Bekah Brown
Bekah is a multi-disciplinary artist of Anishinaabe and mixed European descent residing in Toronto. She graduated from Ryerson’s Fashion Design program and has expanded her creative practice to encompass beadwork and multi-media art installations.
Click here to read full bio.Jessica Ruth Freedman
Jessica Ruth Freedman
Jessica Ruth Freedman is an emerging Canadian contemporary painter working in acrylic and mixed media. A former modern and ballet dancer, Jessica’s artwork explores the relationship between the natural world and our physical and mental environments through movement, architecture, and music brought to life on the canvas.
Josephine Clarke
Josephine Clarke
Josephine Clarke is a multidisciplinary artist practicing in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, Canada. She primarily works with textiles, but her practice also embraces salvage, sculpture, performance, video documentary, and installation.
Julia Rose Sutherland
Julia Rose Sutherland
Julia Rose Sutherland is a Canadian (Turtle Island) born artist who is a member of the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation. She has an interdisciplinary practice which utilizes mediums such as photography, sculpture and performance.
Kasra Goodarznezhad
Kasra Goodarznezhad
Kasra Goodarznezhad is a new media artist based in Toronto. His main focus is Lighting Design and Installation.
Mike Hooves
Mike Hooves
Mike Hooves is a prairie queer artist working in illustration, animation, and film in Calgary, Alberta. Having received their BDes from AUArts in 2016, Mike has become a fixture in artist-run and non-profit communities through their work with Calgary Queer Arts Society, The Quickdraw Animation Society, Buds Collective, and Herland.
Mona El Husseini
Mona El Husseini
Mona El Husseini is an Egyptian-Canadian Contemporary Dance artist based in Montreal. She completed her professional dance education at the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center in Cairo, Egypt and studied International Business and Contemporary Dance at Concordia University.
Morgan Moats
Morgan Moats
Morgan is a singer/songwriter from Southern Saskatchewan. They’ve been writing music for more than two decades, beginning with pop music as a child.
Shazia Ahmad
Shazia Ahmad
Born in Karachi, Pakistan to a Pakistani father and a Chilean mother, Shazia Ahmad’s practice and research interests are centred on the notions of home and belonging, tied to the broader theme of otherness due to her interfaith and mixed-race background. Her practice comprises handmade miniature dioramas, painting, and printmaking.
Bekah is a multi-disciplinary artist of Anishinaabe and mixed European descent residing in Toronto. She graduated from Ryerson’s Fashion Design program and has expanded her creative practice to encompass beadwork and multi-media art installations. Her work is a form of personal healing, connection, and communication between her and society. Bekah grew up disconnected from her Anishinaabe culture and community but is now continually learning her Anishinaabe culture and exploring what it means to be a reconnecting Anishinaabekwe in an urban setting. Her work often uses traditional Anishinaabe florals in combination with contemporary motifs that are chosen carefully for their meaning. Her past work has utilized combinations of beadwork, digital illustration, textile surface design, wooden structural elements, sound, interactive lighting, and performance. She has created pieces for Nuit Blanche, The Winter Light Exhibition at Ontario Place, Come Up To My Room, and It’s all Right Now in collaboration with the Bentway.
Jessica Ruth Freedman is an emerging Canadian contemporary painter working in acrylic and mixed media. A former modern and ballet dancer, Jessica’s artwork explores the relationship between the natural world and our physical and mental environments through movement, architecture, and music brought to life on the canvas.
Julia Rose Sutherland is a Canadian (Turtle Island) born artist who is a member of the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation. She has an interdisciplinary practice which utilizes mediums such as photography, sculpture and performance. In 2013 Sutherland completed her BFA Alberta University of the Arts and in 2019 completed her MFA at the University at Buffalo. She has shown and participated in residencies internationally in Canada, USA, China and France. She currently resides in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, Alberta) on Treaty 7 territory.
Kasra Goodarznezhad is a new media artist based in Toronto. His main focus is Lighting Design and Installation. After studying Graphic Design in Tehran, Iran, he came to Toronto to continue his studies at OCAD University and graduated from the Integrated Media program, winning his major’s medal award. He started his career as a New Media artist around 2011. Since then, he’s done numerous projects in photography, video, lighting design and installation art.
Mike Hooves is a prairie queer artist working in illustration, animation, and film in Calgary, Alberta. Having received their BDes from AUArts in 2016, Mike has become a fixture in artist-run and non-profit communities through their work with Calgary Queer Arts Society, The Quickdraw Animation Society, Buds Collective, and Herland. Mike’s film practice has seen their work exhibited internationally, including Vancouver, Montreal, as well as in London and Warsaw. Using colour, shape, and markmaking, Mike playfully explores the inner workings of queer’d life.
Morgan is a singer/songwriter from Southern Saskatchewan. They’ve been writing music for more than two decades, beginning with pop music as a child. They went to the University of Regina for a degree in Piano/Composition, where they delved more into the classical world and got a little burned out from trying too hard to please others instead of following their heart. This was compounded by the decision in 2018 to begin HRT, which created some significant setbacks in Morgan’s singing voice and was very discouraging musically. In 2019, Morgan set their sight once more on creating, having finally had the epiphany that classical music just isn’t their thing, and that’s okay! They write about many things, but focus a lot on interpersonal relationships. Morgan enjoys collaborating with like-minded musicians and artists, and will be working on their debut album in 2021.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan to a Pakistani father and a Chilean mother, Shazia Ahmad’s practice and research interests are centred on the notions of home and belonging, tied to the broader theme of otherness due to her interfaith and mixed-race background. Her practice comprises handmade miniature dioramas, painting, and printmaking. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Arts (Painting and Drawing major) from Concordia University in 2019 and was a finalist for the Prix Albert-Dumouchel in 2018. She was also awarded the Guido Molinari Prize in Studio Arts upon graduation, and received the Earl Pinchuk and Gary Blair Undergraduate Award in the course of her studies. Shazia has exhibited work in Canada, the United States, and Spain.