Year in Review: ArtistsInspire Grants

ArtistsInspire Grants have continued this year to bring arts projects from a broad range of disciplines into Quebec’s schools. In the 2021-22 year, 78 Teaching Artists facilitated 248 creative projects reaching a total of 24,000 students. Workshops for homeschoolers helped more students have access to these inspiring projects. The I Belong projects in partnership with LEARN Quebec helped empower students to explore their identity and sense of belonging to Quebec society through the arts. The 2022-23 school year is off to a strong start with over 87 projects planned so far!

Here’s an overview of the AIG activities from this past year:

February

Workshops for Homeschoolers: 10 different Artists facilitated a two-week workshop series reaching about 200 homeschooled Quebec students

March

5 LEARN I Belong projects realized in partnership with AIG

April

Workshops for Homeschoolers: another 10 different Artists facilitated another two-week workshop series again reaching almost 200 homeschooled Quebec students
3 Discipline-Specific Learning Communities for AIG Artists

June

By the end of the 2021-2022 school year 213 Schools had used at least one AIG
248 x $1500 projects made possible
78 Artists facilitated an AIG project
Over 24 000 Students reached
Average satisfaction rating of 4.8/5 for both Artists and project administration

July

Guidelines and rates adjusted to match Culture in the Schools rate increase
New guidelines benefit Artists while maintaining high AIG expectations (repeated visits for maximum impact with students)
Response from AIG Artists – 96% wanted to return for another year of workshop facilitation

August

Recruitment of 15 new Artists and Arts Organizations
New AIG Digital Catalogue sent to 1246 recipients via MailChimp
18 AIG Artists now also in Culture in the School Repertoire

November

Workshops for Homeschoolers: 10 different Artists facilitated a two-week workshop series reaching over 150 homeschooled Quebec students

December

87 School Projects planned for the 2022-2023 school year so far!
We now have 796 followers on Facebook (110 new followers gained this year) and 522 followers on Instagram (130 new followers gained this year)

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.