2020-2021:

We’re All in This Together

We’re All In This Together is a web series and community collaboration between ELAN and Seniors Action Quebec, with a mission to connect with and inspire isolated, English-speaking seniors across Quebec during the pandemic. The 23 bi-weekly episodes ranged in scope from Indigenous Hoop Dancing with Makhena and Author Conversations with Louise Penny, to Bird Watching with Joël and Gardening in Small Spaces with Graham. The series was directed by Bobbi Jo Heart and ended in November 2021.

Watch Episodes
  • 1: Holiday Baking: Making Sugar Cookies
    with Hainya & Linda
  • 2: Holiday Concert at Martha Wainwright’s URSA
  • 3: Art Therapy With Sarah Tevyaw
  • 4: Mindfulness & Movement with Mariko Tanabe
  • 5: Author Conversations With Louise Penny
  • 6: Creative Writing with Christian — Character Development
  • 7: Laughter Yoga with Liliana
  • 8: Flower Arranging with Lyudmila
  • 9: Gardening in Small Spaces with Graham
  • 10: Animal Fostering with Cindy
  • 11: Eating Healthy on a Budget with Crystal
  • 12: Bird Watching with Joël
  • 13: Medicinal Hoop Dancing with Makhena
  • 14: Horse Therapy with Karine
  • 15: Wine Pairing with Ana
  • 16: The Flamboyant World of Drag with Barbada
  • 17: Making Small Batch Jam with Susan
  • 18: Tango Dancing with Mireille & Friends
  • 19: Urban Art with Jamie
  • 20: Organic Co-Op Gardening with Hannah
  • 21: Author Conversations with Richard King
  • 22: Making Homemade Tomato Sauce with Greg
  • 23: A Celebration in Song, Spoken Word & Step

2019:

Artists Illuminated

Artists Illuminated was a project that aimed to delve deeper into the unique artistic and creative lives of ELAN members. These features described the intimate processes behind art-making and served as a firsthand introduction of ELAN members to the wider public.

State of the Arts

Creative Resilience: Exploring Arts & Health

2018-2020:

ACE Initiative

ACE provided facilitation and coaching to support school leaders, community partners, arts organizations and artists from 20 schools across Quebec to plan and implement ACE projects. ACE projects took place over an extended time period, were cross-curricular and achieved education program goals in multiple subject areas.

  • Arts
  • Community
  • Education
See Details

2018:

Digital solutions

Digital Solutions was designed to ​better understand the problem that inhibits artistic producers from connecting with artistic consumers, and vice versa. This work builds upon other studies which researched parts of the problem, and will identify new solutions that will have a strong economic impact on Canada’s arts and culture sector, as well as on the way Canadians consume arts and culture. Quebec’s English-speaking artists have been hit harder and sooner due to a decline in traditional media than other regions, which has necessitated this research, but solutions identified will be applicable to other regions as well as for French-speaking artists and audiences.

See Details
Digital artist with electronics and a purple background.

Career labs

ELAN’s Career Labs series placed emerging artists directly in conversation with artists who have established careers with Montreal as a home base.

Each Lab encouraged open, honest, and practical discussions about the difficult aspects that working artists face: dealing with money (or lack thereof), talking about your work, maintaining balance, learning from failure, building support networks, standing up for yourself, and more.

Part workshop, part artist talk, part round table, Career Labs equip you with recommendations, tips, insights, and actions to help you carve out your path as a working artist in Montreal.

Career Labs were free to attend with priority given to emerging artists.

ELAN`s Career Labs is made possible with the support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

Attentive audience members

Performing Arts Market Access

  • In 2015/2016, ELAN conducted a research project at the request of the Canada Council for the Arts to identify the needs of tour-ready English-speaking artists in Quebec. The result was the creation of ELAN’s Savvy Sessions (workshops for performing artists) and producing showcases for tour-ready artists.
  • Performing Arts Market Access Showcase project led to national and international festival showcases at Pop Montreal, Fierce Festival (Birmingham, UK), Northside Festival (Brooklyn, NY), with the support of FACTOR: Halifax Pop Explosion Festival, and CINARS.
  • The Performing Arts Market Access Savvy Sessions were free professional development workshops forPerforming Artists aimed at enhancing the skills needed to successfully navigate a career in the arts. With a focus on Dance, Music, and Theatre, these workshopswere open to all performing artists.

    The Performing Arts Market Access Savvy Sessions project was managed by June Park.

Arts Alive! Quebec

Arts Alive! Québec

2017:

Made au Québec

  • Made au Québec aimed to bring together two linguistic solitudes (ENG/FRE) by following media coverage of their arts scenes.
  • This project was a result of the English-speaking arts community becoming increasingly visible in Québec, with major international recognition for such artists as: Arcade Fire, Louise Penny, and Jay Baruchel.
  • Aimed to provide a flexible understanding of language in Québec. Many artists speak, create, play, write, work, and live in several languages.
  • Made au Québec was developed with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Visiting Curators Series

  • ELAN’s Visiting Curators Series sought to create links between Québec artists and cultural centres outside Québec, to increase career opportunities and market awareness.
  • Three visiting curators: Emelie Chhangur (Toronto), Alex Fialho (NYC), and Larry Ossei-Mensah (NYC) viewed the work of 12 artists based in Montreal and West Québec
  • On October, 2017 at the Parisian Laundry, the three participating curators presented strategies for artists on exhibiting their works; art markets observations; and some tips from their own curatorial practices.
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

2016:

Performing Arts Market Access Strategy

  • Sought effective ways to support market access for English-speaking artists in Quebec
  • 110 in-depth interviews were conducted with performers, and with arts producers, managers, and agents in the fields of dance, theatre, and music
  • Career goals and aspirations, barriers and opportunities, and gaps in professional knowledge were identified
  • Phase 2 of this work will be a 2-year implementation project (2016-18).
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

Visual Arts Market Access 2016

  • Follow-up to our successful 2015 edition (see below) brought four curators from New York City to tour 16 Quebec artists’ studios
  • Eastern Townships studios added to the tour itinerary for the first time
  • Panel discussion and reception hosted at the Phi Centre attracted 90 attendees
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

Grantwriting Workshops

  • Hands-on workshops delivered concrete tips and practical examples to familiarize artists with the process of developing and delivering successful grant applications
  • Montreal workshops included specific content for culturally diverse artists
  • 90+ artists in the regions and in Montreal benefited
  • Participants rated the workshop 9/10 on average
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

2015:

Visual Arts Market Access 2015

  • Three US gallerists were brought to Montreal during Nuit Blanche to visit artists’ studios
  • A public panel discussion and networking event allowed 70+ interested artists to meet the gallerists and ask individual questions
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

2014:

YEAH! (Youth, Education, Arts, and Health)

  • Fostered province-wide connections between practitioners in these four sectors
  • Discussion groups with major organizations and with CHSSN (Community Health and Social Services Network) members produced a list of 12 of the most important issues among youth in various Quebec communities
  • Examples of successful projects and best practices were shared in an online directory accessible to remote communities
  • Funded by the Government of Canada

Digital Shift

  • Created to help Quebec’s English-language artists and arts organizations adapt to the shift towards digital media and reduction in arts coverage, with the goal of pooling community efforts and determining pragmatic next steps
  • 226 artists/arts organizations, journalists, and publicists answered online surveys
  • 20 artists/arts organizations, journalists, and publicists participated in focus groups
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

2013:

ACCORD (Arts & Community Culture On-the-Road)

2012:

RAEV (Recognizing Artists: Enfin Visibles!)

  • 154 artist profiles, 24 videos, and 6 essays increased access to the cultural wealth of Quebec’s English-speaking community and broke down stubborn stereotypes about English-speaking artists in Quebec
  • Essays were compiled into a book published by Guernica Editions, Minority Report: An Alternative History of English-Language Arts in Quebec (2011)
  • Captured, recorded, and distributed important stories and community knowledge which had only circulated anecdotally
  • Positive response, launch attended by 180 guests, and plentiful media coverage
  • Funded by the Government of Canada

2011:

State of the Arts

  • Two-day summit of 100 community leaders from several regions of Quebec, plus funders from three levels of government
  • Objectives: Evaluate causes of growth in the community, identify opportunities and challenges, bring together new partners and resources, raise the profile of English-speaking artists
  • ELAN’s role as artistic community catalyst was affirmed, but participants also recognized their own need to participate in creating strategies and developing projects
  • ELAN’s Minority Report book was launched, putting names, faces and accomplishments to a new generation of artists as a major force in Quebec culture
  • Two panel discussions on the future of English-language artists were funded by the Conseil des arts de Montréal
  • Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, and Telefilm .

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.

ELAN logo with orange graphic and white letters

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