Public Art and Monuments: Reconciliation and Relationships

Note: Registration closes 1 hour prior to the Call. If you miss this deadline, please email events@creativecity.ca to access the Call. We will do our best to accommodate you.

Registration Tip: Please register using your work email if possible. This helps us verify that only CCNC members are admitted.

---------------

The Creative City Network of Canada invites its members to a nation-wide conference call on Thursday, August 19, 2021 at 2:00 PM (EST).

The third National Call of 2021 is also Part 1 of a two-part series on Public Art and Monuments. Part 2 includes a Q&A with artist and Monuments Lab founder, Ken Lum and is a public event scheduled for Sept. 14. Register here for Part 2.

PUBLIC ART AND MONUMENTS IN CANADA'S MUNICIPALITIES

Part 1: Reconciliation and Relationships

In Part 1, CCNC members are invited to a roundtable-style discussion designed to allow municipal culture workers to touch base with colleagues about how their public art policy, plan, or work has (or has not) included action towards Indigenous reconciliation or strengthening relationships with local Indigenous communities.

In late May of 2021, the news broke that sonar radar had detected the unmarked graves of 215 bodies on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, ongoing calls for investigations into all residential school sites have resulted in the discovery of hundreds of graves, unmarked and presumed to belong largely to the children who attended these institutions. Gravesites continue to be located as searches continue.

With each new recovery, renewed hurt and trauma is experienced by survivors, their families, and communities. Response from Indigenous communities and beyond have included grass-root memorial tributes like 215 pairs of children's shoes left at houses of parliament and city halls, impassioned calls for the removal of monuments honouring colonial and residential school leadership, and the vandalization of these monuments.

These stories are the catalyst for this National Call. However, in addition to welcoming sharing on how these stories impacted or played out in your municipality, we also invite members on the call to share on their work in reconciliation, any policy around monument removal, honouring or commemoration of Indigenous communities, or questions and desired learning on public art's role in demonstrating reconciliation action, community education, and relationship building.

Further, how can CCNC support your work in reconciliation through public art and monuments?

Who is invited:

All CCNC members are invited. CCNC will be verifying that registered emails belong to representatives of Municipal, Organizational, or Individual members. Those working on public art and/or heritage portfolios are especially encouraged to attend.

Members who identify as Indigenous to Turtle Island (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) are invited to offer first thoughts in the roundtable discussion. If this is of interest to you, please email us at events@creativecity.ca to notify staff.

Things to Bring:

We want to encourage new faces at this table. If you are a regular at our National Calls, we are so looking forward to seeing you in August. Please reach out to colleagues in public art, heritage, and those working in Indigenous Relationship roles to attend. Questions for the floor will include:

• Was a local monument put under heightened scrutiny this summer? What was the action taken to address this at the municipal level?
• Have the ongoing discoveries at residential school sites been the catalyst for proposed changes in your cultural plan, public art policy, heritage work, etc.?
• What are the tools in place for community education on reconciliation?
• How does your public art policy/plan make space for Indigenous voices?
• Ask a question to the group.

-------------

Prior to this call, registrants will have the opportunity to submit initial thoughts, examples of their work, and questions for their colleagues to events@creativecity.ca to be incorporated into the discussion. If you are unable to attend, but have specific questions or would like to share your work, please email events@creativecity.ca and we will endeavour to share on your behalf.

Following the call, key discussion points will be shared with the full membership. To access previous meeting notes, sign into your Members Portal Account and visit our Members Portal main page, or join the CCNC Membership Forum private Facebook group: LINK

We anticipate this may be an in-demand discussion for our members. In an effort to accommodate everyone's input, this call will be open to 70 member representatives.

FUTURE CALLS

There will be four official National Calls in 2021:

January 14, 2021: Cross-Canada Check-In

April 8, 2021: The Role of Municipal Culture Work in Canada's Economic Recovery

August 19, 2021: Public Art and Monuments: Reconciliation and Relationships

November: TBA

Email events@creativecity.ca to submit a theme request for future calls.

PLATFORM: Zoom

NOTE: Ticket holders will receive a link to the online call via email approximately 1 hour prior to the call.

MEETING DETAILS:

Invited: Any members of Creative City Network of Canada welcome

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Pacific: 11:00AM

Mountain/Central: 12:00PM

Eastern: 2:00PM

Atlantic: 3:00PM

Newfoundland: 3:30PM

Information on Part 2:

Public Art and Monuments in Canada's Municipalities: Pt 2 with special guest Ken Lum will take place on September 14, 2021 as an all-access event. Part 2 registration is open and free for members (non-members: $25.00).

Register