A big congrats to our VIATEC Accelerate Tectoria (VAP) member Art Finds Me who recently received a $300,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to keep working on the artfinds.me app. Phase 1 of this grant is for research, and now they are launching a Canada-wide survey (details below) about the impacts of Covid19 on the art marketplace.

Click here to learn more about VAP.

NEWS RELEASE

June 8, 2020

Victoria, BC - A national survey launched this week seeks to understand how art enthusiasts have been interacting with visual art and artists during COVID19.

Developed by a group of Vancouver Island arts councils, the survey will help analyze how new, isolation-inspired habits might influence future art audiences and marketplaces. The findings will be made publicly available in support of the visual arts community's rebuilding efforts.

“We already know a lot about the financial impact of COVID19 on artists,” says team lead Jenny Farkas. “Now we're asking art lovers to tell us what's changed for them and help us imagine what a post-Coronavirus art world might look like.”

The survey is part of a two-year pilot project to identify new ways to connect audiences with the visual arts, funded in early March by the Canada Council for the Arts' Digital Strategy Fund.

The project goal is to develop an online app called artfinds.me that embeds visual art into everyday life.

“Starting this project in the midst of this crisis is timely,” says Kathy Holmes, Executive Director of the Arts Council of Ladysmith and District, one of 10 arts organizations overseeing this project. “We already knew visual artists needed to use technology in more dynamic ways, and the emerging insights from this pandemic will strengthen our sector.”

Waterloo-based information science researcher Margaret Lam is a consultant on this project and helped create the survey. “Art has played a pivotal role in bringing people together during this crisis and has offered a sense of togetherness despite our distance from each other,” Lam says. “This survey will allow us to understand this role in greater detail.”

Art enthusiasts can access the survey at www.artfinds.me , and enter a prize draw to win 1 of 5 cash prizes of $100.

CONTACT DETAILS

Jenny Farkas -  jfarkas@telus.net - 250-896-6446                              
Margaret Lam - margaret@bemusednetwork.com - www.Octagram.net