Letter from the Executive Director February 2023

February is a great time of year to turn your attention to your creative practice.

The shorter days and cold weather lend well to time spent contemplating your art. Keep in mind, we are here to help. The Artist Capacity Building Clinics are back, offering you the chance for a 1-on-1 consultation with legal, funding, and financial experts. Our QR program can help you navigate the funding opportunities in Quebec, have a look at our site or book a consultation with our in house expert, Nick Maturo.

If you are ready to get going but just don’t have the equipment or expertise to produce your work at the level required, book some time at the Community Digital Arts Hub studios where you have access to professional gear and can get as much (or as little) support from our in-house experts as you need.

February is also Black History Month and throughout the month we will be sharing resources for Black folks in the community, as well as highlighting some of the great events and activities going on around Quebec. Contact communications@quebec-elan.org if you have any resources or events you’d like us to share.

If you haven’t visited the Community Digital Hub and are hoping to check it out before booking, join us for our Valentine’s Day Schmoozer Karaoke Extravaganza (absolutely no one has approved that as the title of the event) and let loose! Time to sing away some of the winter blues.
See you soon

Vanessa

Take care,
Vanessa Herrick,
Executive Director of ELAN

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.