Mohkínstsis is the Blackfoot word for “elbow.” Wincheesh-pah is the Stoney word for “elbow.” Kootsisáw is the Tsuut’ina word for “elbow.” While the place where the Elbow River meets the Bow is today commonly known as Calgary, it’s had many other names throughout its history, which expands for thousands of years in all directions. The rivers’ confluence is a location of perennial importance. Sprung from a small lake on the eastern lip of the Rocky Mountains, the Elbow River snakes its way through the foothills in between the mountains and the city, enriched by the mineral-saturated terrain through which it travels. The Bow River also runs from the Rockies through the foothills and into the Prairie. Both rivers have always been veins of life. Today, they provide direction, power, fresh drinking water, and a home for millions of kinds of life. The Bow is fiercer, and has historically only had two crossings; one, where the Elbow meets it, and the second, Blackfoot Crossing: an integral trading route and hunting ground, and the place where Treaty 7 was signed in 1877. Today, the Bow and the Elbow continue to provide for all of us who call this place home—they cannot be owned, nor can this land. We are required, in return, to care for the rivers in collaboration with their traditional custodians who have always, and will continue to, care for this land, and tell its story; the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai Blackfoot First Nations who have called this land home for many millennia; the Tsuut’ina First Nation, whose ᑕᓀᖚ (Dane-zaa) ancestors migrated here from the northern Peace River before Europeans settled in this region; and the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley Stoney Nakoda First Nations whose ancestors migrated from the south and since, have cared for the rivers where they begin. Many other Indigenous people from across Turtle Island also call this place home and care for it generously, and where the rivers meet is part of the home of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III.

From Living Text, Richelle Bear Hat, Natasha Chaykowski, Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal, Curtis Running Rabbit-Lefthand. Untitled Art Society, 2020.

Untitled Art Society and Stride Gallery are seeking a BIPOC Outreach Coordinator on behalf of the Alberta Association of Artist-Run Centres (AAARC).

Job Description:

 The Outreach Coordinator will work closely with Untitled and Stride staff and the AAARC Equity Committee to assist in organizing a series of internal and public-facing initiatives around equity in artist-run culture and the arts sector broadly, in the Fall of 2020. As an advocacy organization for artist-run centres in Alberta, AAARC is currently developing internal work, best practices, field reports and various formats of public forums and plenary sessions. In the next year, AAARC will create communication channels for artist-run centres and the communities we serve to integrate equity and accountability frameworks, as well as support for artists from equity-seeking communities. The Outreach Coordinator will work with the Equity Committee as we create the initial blueprints for these conversations; they will assist in organizing these initiatives in the fall through sharing the responsibility for internal and external communications, including marketing and digital communications and advertising, and are expected to attend weekly meetings with support staff, monthly meetings with the organizing committee, and in-person or virtual meetings with local project partners in Mohkinstsis/Calgary. The Outreach Coordinator will assist with operations as needed. Alongside the administrative and planning responsibilities, there are contract hours earmarked for self-directed research of the employee’s choosing.

Qualifications:

Untitled Art Society, Stride Gallery and AAARC recognize the unique qualifications of applicants from BIPOC communities, and acknowledge that skills learned from living in those communities are integral to equity work. As this position is created around equity work, we are seeking applications from BIPOC candidates.

Additional qualifications include:

• Dedication and investment in equity work in the cultural sector;

• Strong communications skills;

• Strong writing and research skills;

• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team;

• Strong computer literacy including Microsoft Office; experience with database entry an asset;

• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail;

• Fluent in English, a second language would be an asset;

• Experience in the non-profit sector an asset;

• Experience working with art galleries and artist-run centres an asset;

• Experience with the execution of events an asset.

 Under the terms and conditions of Canada Summer Jobs, applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria: be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of the employment; be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 3; and, be legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant legislation and regulations

Remuneration:

This role will be a full-time position, 30 hours/week, from October 2020 – January 2021, at $25/hour. If full-time hours present a barrier for applicants, we are open to considering alternative ways of organizing working hours. There is an opportunity to continue this employment opportunity beyond the contract end date.

Support for the Position:

• UAS & Stride staff for day-to-day mentorship will be available to provide assistance as well as for regular check-ins as desired

• AAARC Equity Committee mentorship

• Dedicated BIPOC HR liaison

Application:

Please send:

·     1 page cover letter or 5 minute video or voice recording (link or actual file)

·     Outline of independent research interests for self-directed projects (optional)

·     CV or Resume (optional)

To [email protected] before September 28, 2020 with the subject line reading [ATTN: Hiring Committee].

Hiring Process:

Application deadline: September 28, 2020

Interviews: October 1 – 2, 2020

Position start date: October 5 – 13, 2020

The hiring committee will be comprised of staff from each of the two ARCs as well as a member of the AAARC Equity Committee.

Accessibility:

UAS, Stride and AAARC are committed to accommodating applicants with barriers to the recruitment process as well as throughout their contract. The Untitled Art Society office is wheelchair accessible, has two single stall, gender neutral washrooms and is located near public transit in downtown Mohkinstsis/Calgary. We are also able to accommodate remote work, if commuting daily to the office is a barrier for applicants. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the accessibility of the hiring process or the employment opportunity, please email [email protected]. We will work with you to meet your needs.

About:

Untitled Art Society is an artist-run centre in Mohkinstsis/Calgary, Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory. Our core goals are: to support the development, creation, and presentation of new work by early-career artists; to provide affordable studio space for Calgary-based artists; and to broaden the reach and scope of contemporary art in Calgary, with the ultimate, if ambitious, aim to expose Calgarians to artistic work that explores pressing contemporary issues. We work toward these goals with an artist-centric approach that prioritizes the wholesale support of artists; creative and radical uses of spaces outside of the gallery; and a curatorial focus on projects and practices that dovetail with the specific socio-political, cultural, colonial, economic, and Indigenous histories and contexts of Alberta. Ultimately, Untitled strives to empower and support artists to imagine radical futures, and to invite those inside and outside of our community to be co-conspirators in realizing such futures.

Stride is a non-profit artist-run centre that supports contemporary art practices. We believe in art that addresses our current realities with urgency, criticality and care through which we can propose new ways of thinking and being. For these emergent practices, we provide various platforms such as exhibitions, public programs, performances, workshops, publications, and gathering. Through these programs, we aim to foster community participation and conversations around art.

Founded in 2005, the Alberta Association of Artist-run Centres (AAARC) supports advocacy, networking, and organizational growth for artist-run visual arts organizations across Alberta. As a syndicate of ten not-for-profit artist-run centres, each with their own mandate, AAARC’s activities continue to strengthen community and collaboration in contemporary art by facilitating close communication between organizations. Since the early 1970s, and continuing today, Alberta’s artist-run centres have fostered artistic ingenuity, creative production, and dynamic public engagement with art—supporting a wide range of artists and contemporary art practices.

AAARC is part of the regional caucus of ARCA, an organization that represents and advocates for Canadian artist-run organizations on national and international levels, and in August 2021 AAARC will partner with ARCA to host Lands to Travel Through, an artist-run gathering in Mohkinstsis/Calgary, Alberta: landstotravelthrough.ca