Featured Story from the Toronto Arts Council: "Akin Collective responds to local artists’ need for affordable studio space"

Many thanks to our friends at the Toronto Arts Council for profiling Akin in their October 2019 “Featured Story”. Here is an excerpt from the article :

“Entirely artist-run, Akin is overseen by a small team of 11 artists and now offers studio space at nine locations across the city, gradually adding locations over the years as demand for affordable workspace continued to rise.

This past March, Akin partnered with TAC to open REMOTE Gallery, a dedicated programming and exhibition space at 568 Richmond St. W. that provides low-cost space for artists and the public for exhibits and artistic programming. In partnership with Toronto Arts Foundation’s Neighbourhood Arts Network, Akin also offers opportunities for newcomer artists to grow their art practice and professional network through the RBC Space Award….

Given the current economic realities in the city that has seen live-work spaces and other vital venues close, Akin’s team is dedicated to finding ways for artists to continue their practice in a sustainable way.”

You can read more articles about Akin on our Press Page.

Aisle 4 presents In Residence: July-November 2019 at the Scarborough Museum

Aisle 4 is a Toronto-based curatorial project that initiates and promotes socially engaged artwork. Through collaborations with artists from a range of disciplines, they present critical public art experiences that reach beyond core arts audiences to animate unsuspecting spaces and connect communities.

In Residence is an artist-in-residence series at the Scarborough Museum that examines the role of a colonial house museum in present-day Scarborough. Seeking to expand the museum’s institutional capacity, five participating artists and collectives will introduce new narratives, perspectives, and timeframes that build stronger linkages with the surrounding Bendale neighbourhood. The residency participants are Sameer Farooq, Petrina Ng, Serena Lee, Annie Wong, and the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective.

Focusing on ideas of intergenerational, diasporic traditions; cross-cultural hauntologies; traditional labour and leisure practices; and experimental culinary interventions, the artists will activate the site with attention on the targeted demographics adjacent to the museum.

In Residence is a collaboration with the dedicated staff at the Scarborough Museum to both challenge and enhance its function as an operating “historical” site through contemporary art and social practice. Each artist/collective will inhabit a space at the Museum and create work in conversation with local residents, business owners, and community organizations during their projected residency period. The Museum will become a temporary home, office, or studio in which artists can conduct research, create work, workshop ideas, host meetings, and run public programs.