Letter from the Executive Director, April 2022

As we come out of yet another dark winter, I want to start this spring season with some good news. We have earned it, as the members of the arts and culture community have been badly impacted by the enforced isolation of the last two years (keep reading, there is good news, I promise), as well as the constant pressure to reinvent their artistic practice and production process.

A challenge that our members and partners have raised to ELAN repeatedly is the need for artists to become more proficient with digital tools, and the need for more capacity building support for creating digital content, whether for artistic practice or promotional use. Now that we are embracing the hope of a less restricted cultural landscape, and as artists are rebuilding or reinventing their practices (again), barriers such as cost and know-how have created the possibility that some could be left behind. In response to this threat, I am so happy to let our members know that ELAN will be supporting the establishment of the ARTSCAST-Community Digital Arts Hub this year to support artists in navigating these challenges. This project was born of the collaborative efforts made by the co-leaders of our Arts, Culture and Heritage group, a collective of artists, stakeholders and funders from the arts, culture and heritage community, and made possible through funding and support from Heritage Canada.

The hub will be a physical space to assist, support, and instruct artists, and artist organizations, in creating high-quality digital content that will allow them to rebuild, strengthen, and broaden their audiences. It will be a space for the community to come together and work towards connecting with a population that is more at ease with online offerings but also keen to get back to in-person experiences. It will also allow artists to have a place to come together, share expertise and reinforce the excellent work already done in this community.

Stay tuned, more details coming soon!

Vanessa Herrick

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.