Mandate & Basis of Unity | Staff & Board | History | Policies | Partners | Moving Project
Mandate
articule is an open-access artist-run centre dedicated to the presentation of a broad range of contemporary art practices. Through our various programming channels, we strive for artistic excellence, interdisciplinarity and social engagement. While special consideration is given to emerging artists, we also respect those who have already established important precedents, who continue to test the limits of aesthetic gesture, and who commit themselves to the ideals of experimentation and risk-taking.
articule supports discursive and alternative activities that promote dialogue and build networks with local, national and international artists, collectives and organizations. Our open structure encourages the direct participation of an active and diverse membership on both programming and organisational levels.
Basis of Unity:
Strategies for an anti-oppressive centre
In response to affirming articule as an inclusive space, and in hopes of providing a resource for more equitable spaces throughout our local and international arts communities, we prepared the Basis of Unity. The construction of this project is ongoing, as we build a framework and gather a collection of tools to tackle oppressive systemic disparities in our own, other art spaces, and beyond.
articule recognizes that systemic oppression exists in and operates through arts communities to disempower individuals because of their race, nationality, gender, sexuality, economic status, religion, ability, and more. The shape these intersecting forms of marginalization take includes: unequal access to opportunity, cultural insensitivity, cultural appropriation, harassment whether psychological or physical, microaggressions, sexism, racism, homophobia, transmisogyny, ableism, and derogatory language.
articule commits to prioritizing the knowledge and safety of individuals with intimate, lived experience of a particular oppression in order to collaboratively arrive at ways to address its effects.
articule acknowledges its location on the unceded territory of Indigenous peoples. We commit to decolonizing our space through our practices, language, and politics.
articule values solidarity, patience, and compassion in the process of working towards equity in both personal encounters and structural decisions; this includes both individual and collective accountability as well as prioritizing accessibility and QTBIPOC safety.
articule acknowledges that good intention is not enough; anti-oppressive practice requires individuals to cultivate an ongoing awareness of the dynamics which disempower some and privilege others, in order to redress inequalities.
articule is committed to investing in the process of self-critical adaptation, maintaining collaborative efforts with other cultural workers, and developing ongoing public outreach to include those marginalized by the arts community we operate within.
The Basis of Unity is an ongoing collaboration available to all of articule’s participants, including its membership, Board of Directors, and staff. In order to ensure transparency, the Basis of Unity and other educational tools must remain visible and accessible to all who engage with articule (including renters, special project participants and contractual collaborators). Many of the points of unity and core principles were informed by feedback offered by the membership. Continual proactive efforts, such as open discussion, feedback, and surveys, should regularly occur at the centre to ensure a constant development of these values and preventative approaches.