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Director’s Message – October 2019

Photo from State of the Arts “TEXTURES” by Nasuna Stuart-Ulin.

ELAN’s ArtistsInspire Grants project is in full delivery mode this month, after months of promoting the new opportunity to schools, registering experienced artists, developing the website, and creating an entire administrative process in collaboration with LEARN. ArtistsInspire Grants is the largest project ELAN has ever undertaken, designed to send artists into every one of Quebec’s 300 English-speaking public for each of the next four years.

Project manager, Christie Huff, designed and developed ELAN’s ACE (Arts, Communities and Education) project, and for the past four years has been recruiting qualified artists and networking with educators.  ELAN now has an ArtEd department to coordinate ACE projects and ArtsInspire Grants. It is too early to estimate how these projects will effect artists, educators and students, but our entire team is stimulated by the impact that is already being witnessed.

Many ELAN members, past and present, have contacted us to offer congratulations on ELAN’s 15th anniversary, and to thank us for support that ELAN has provided over the years. Some of the benefits have been direct, personal and tangible but much of the work that ELAN does, particularly in the realm of advocacy and community development, is hard to measure and easy to overlook. It is only over a span of years that change becomes apparent. A 15th anniversary is a splendid opportunity to take stock.

Guy Rodgers

Executive Director