Yellowhead Institute published the special report “A Culture of Exploitation: ‘Reconciliation’ and the Institutions of Canadian Art” in August 2020. The report addresses the contentious relationship between Canadian cultural institutions (art galleries, museums, funding agencies, collections, etc.) and Indigenous Peoples, which has been beset by tokenism and inequality. The report lays out standards of achievement for the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and cultural institutions in Canada and recommends repatriation of bodies of Indigenous ancestors, increased transparency, growth of Black and Indigenous cultural workers into senior positions and greater accessibility of cultural supports.
1 search result
for
Living in rural communities
Recommendation 7:
Restructure provincial and national arts funding in Canada. Funding initiatives for Indigenous peoples are still immensely important. But they need to be managed by Indigenous peoples and redesigned in a way that decentralizes institutional modes of power.
- Indigenous juries should have demographic qualifications, based on Indigenous consultation and development, that will ensure that all juries consist of diverse generations, backgrounds, fields, geographies, and other considerations.
- Granting bodies should shift to Indigenous board, panel, peer-reviewed, or jury led adjudication of professional status. Adjudication that accounts for alternative forms of professional development such as community knowledge and histories of mentorship. Until this is implemented, there should be greater transparency and dialog regarding the process of professional accreditation; namely, the assigning officers, their races and relationships to Indigenous peoples, and their qualifications to make such adjudications on behalf of Indigenous creative communities.
- The management of granting organizations and grant officers should meet demographic quotas that shift the minority and majority interest in Canada’s arts and culture granting institutions. Recruitment campaigns must widen their understanding of who can, and should, occupy these positions, even if that means investing in mentorship.
- Granting programs should strive to be discipline specific and include demographic quotas for diverse Indigenous groups such as Inuit, Black-Indigenous peoples, peoples residing in Reserve communities, folks in regions outside of currently over-represented central Ontario and Vancouver such as the prairies and the East Coast, community artists and vendors, first-time applicants, and other considerations.
- Granting bodies must invest significant resources into strengthening Indigenous self-identification measures, at least when it comes to accessing Indigenous funding lines. This will be a challenging exercise and must be flexible and evolving and ensure an ongoing dialog. Thus, this process requires continued resource investment from cultural institutions.
- Policy should be developed, in consultation with Indigenous communities, around the threshold of number of Indigenous employees to qualify for and receive Indigenous funding, and what precisely constitutes “Indigenous Art” for funding purposes.
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation: