ELAN’s projects are working hard all year round to bring important services, creations, and resources to the Quebec Arts community. Once a quarter, we do a round-up of project news so you can take a peek at what’s on the go.

What We Choose To Remember

ELAN’s feature-length documentary  What We Choose To Remember has resonated with viewers because it reflects a lived reality that is rarely acknowledged in the media or in the official history of Quebec.  Since the March edition of ELANews What We Choose To Remember has continued touring to communities around Quebec: The Colby-Curtis Museum in Stanstead, St-Bruno, Greenfield Park, Lachute, Lachine, Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Morin Heights, Gatineau and Shawville.  The National Film Board, as part of its Filmmaker Assistance Program, is partnering on a special Montreal screening at the new NFB Headquarters on June 9th at 14h00.  A few tickets are still available.  To reserve a ticket, RSVP at guyrexrodgers@gmail.com

Each screening is accompanied by a Q+A with director Guy Rex Rodgers where audience members share their own experiences about living in Quebec. The conversations have been particularly animated in the context of Bill 96 and the federal revision of the Official Languages Act.  Check our webpage for dates and locations of screenings.   https://whatwechoosetoremember.ca/       

The subtitled version of the film (Ce qu’on choisit de se souvenir) is now available for presentation to French-speaking audiences.  

Community Digital Arts Hub

The Community Digital Arts Hub continues to support artists from a variety of different practices in their digital media needs. From photography to podcasting and more, CDAH has been providing low-cost rentals for studio space and equipment, in addition to their growing community workshops and events. Here’s a glimpse of what’s on the horizon at CDAH in the coming month: 

Equipment bookings 

Now is the best time to start your summer projects – check out our catalogue and rent some equipment! 

Fringe Festival We are happy to announce we are currently working with 10 Fringe artists to promote/document their shows! For all of the Fringe Festival, we are offering video documentation of performances. If you have a show in Fringe, we can help! Cost is $50-$100 sliding scale, and we have remaining availability in the first half of the festival. 

Workshops:  Our current workshops are all full – please email us to get on a waitlist for Street Photography.

Look out for our upcoming workshops in: Audio Engineering and Sound Walking 

CHSSN Mental Health Initiative

ELAN’s Mental Health Initiative had a busy and successful year in 2022-23. We are excited to report that ELAN’s 2022-23 Mental Health Initiative trained 35 Teaching Artists and reached over 5700 people of all ages through projects taking place in over 125 schools and community organisations! 

With the support of Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) and Quebec Drama Federation (QDF), the Mental Health Initiative expanded to provide professional development for Teaching Artists working with children & pre-teens (ages 5-14), youth (ages 15-29) and older adults (ages 55+). Facilitated by Teaching Artist and social worker Alyssa Kuzmarov and music therapist Andy MacDonald, workshops and individual coaching sessions addressed mental health issues as it relates to Teaching Artistry, such as:

  • Inclusion, diversity and multicultural competencies, 
  • Classroom management and group dynamics (drawing out quiet students, attention-seeking behaviour, bullying etc.), 
  • Non-violent communication and active listening, 
  • Maintaining one’s own mental health as a facilitator.

To connect with Teaching Artists who have received this training, search the ArtistsInspire website by the search criteria ‘Include only Artists with CHSSN Mental Health Initiative training’. To become an artist who has received this training, stay tuned! We’ll be recruiting Teaching Artists for the 2023-24 initiative starting mid-August! 

ELAN’s Mental Health Initiative is funded by the Community Health And Social Services Network (CHSSN). 

ELAN ArtEd: Celebrating Year 4 Of ArtistsInspire School Grants!

The ELAN ArtEd team would like to offer a big thank you to the Teaching Artists, schools, teachers and organisational partners who worked so hard to foster student creativity and make Year 4 of ArtistsInspire a success! Here are some stats from the ArtistsInspire Grants project for  the 2022-23 school year:

  • 221 school projects across Quebec
  • 20 sessions of Homeschool workshops with approximately 400 Homeschool students
  • 79 Teaching Artists led one or more ArtistsInspire Grants
  • $331,500 + in funds paid to Artists
  • 16000+ students developed their creativity through in-person and virtual Arts & Culture experiences with a Professional Artist

New Artist Recruitment – Seeking Artists Who Work with Adults and Older Adults & Regional Artists!

We are also excited to be expanding the roster to include Teaching Artists with experience facilitating Arts and Culture experiences for Adults and Older Adults ages 55+! If you or anyone you know works with Older Adults ages 55+, please feel free to share this information and encourage any interested artists to apply by June 10, 2023.

APPLY HERE: Artist recruitment form