Group Show by Artists from the DTES Small Arts Grants Program

Curated/Coordinated by Jason Bouchard, Lara Fitzgerald and Murray Huehn

May 25th – June 3rd, 2012

Opening night celebration: Fri May 25th, 5 – 8pm, Program starts: 5.30 pm

Come down and applaud the second year recipients of the DTES Small Arts Grants (SM’ARTS) on Friday, May 25th at Gallery Gachet! This celebratory event will open a week-long exhibition of many of the 67 artists who received grants this year. This granting project, funded by Vancouver Foundation with support from Vancity and administered by the Carnegie Community Centre, is unique in that funds of up to $1000 are awarded to individual artists to take their arts practices to the next level. Recipients are selected in a two-stage application process by a volunteer advisory committee made up of dedicated community artists. This year they included Steve Lytton, Kelty McKerracher, Jennifer Merasty, Esther Rausenberg, Sid Chow Tan, Bruce Walther, and Carolyn Wong. Much appreciation goes to them for their thoughtful and supportive contribution.

 

This year’s artists took on projects in a variety of mediums, including ceramics, fashion, photography, conceptual art, music, video, fabric art and doll making, and ranged from the creation of new works to getting existing works ready for presentation or promotion. While some have already completed their projects and have satisfied the grant requirement of holding public presentations, others will be showing their works for the first time at the Gallery Gachet exhibition. According to Jason Bouchard, Project Coordinator, this year’s artists have shown a greater spirit of collaboration, especially in promoting each other’s works. He has also noticed more experimentation and the use of unconventional materials and the willingness to branch out to different local venues for exhibits and performances.

We hope you will join us at the DTES Small Arts Grants end-of-year event on the evening of Friday, May 25th to honour and celebrate this year’s recipients with delicious food, live entertainment and good company. Come back to the Gallery again between May 25th and June 3rd to spend more time admiring the fabulous creations of our local artists.

For more information about the DTES Small Arts Grants, please check out the website at vancouverfoundationsmallarts.ca.

You can also reach Jason Bouchard, Project Coordinator/Curator, at (778) 879-9843,

or Lara Fitzgerald/Murray Huehn, Curators/Coordinator at 604 687 2468 , programming@gachet.org.