As part of Toronto Arts Foundation’s ongoing research into the importance of the arts in city and community building, Arts Chats brought together a diverse array of speakers from a variety of disciplines throughout the month of March to discuss timely and understudied issues that affect them, their practice and the impacts of their work. These discussions will help guide the Foundation’s research strategy towards better supporting advocacy, programming and community building efforts across Toronto and throughout the arts sector as a whole. We want to go beyond the conditions of creating and working in the arts during the pandemic to instead use our current context as a lens through which to understand long standing problems in the sector.
We're pleased to offer you the below recordings of past webinars for you to explore.
Click the above to watch the full webinar on YouTube
Arts Chats #1: Shifting to Digital, Obscuring Equity
March 4, 2021
The forced shift to digital content delivery in the arts challenged ongoing efforts to address equity in the sector. In our first session, our panelists will discuss equity in light of the shift to digital, steps that they see being taken to address equity in the sector and gaps that still exist. This panel was moderated by Ravi Jain who was joined by panelists Daniel Carter, Marion Newman, Jaclyn Qua-Hiansen, and Anisa Tejpar.
Transcription (PDF)
Click the above to watch the full webinar on YouTube
Arts Chats #2: What is Success? Metrics, Impact and Creative Practice
March 11, 2021
The pandemic is challenging us to re-think the ways we understand “success.” From artistic vision to statistical metrics, in this panel we discuss how the sector is grappling with articulating impact. What difficulties existed before COVID-19, and what has changed? This panel was moderated by our own Dr. Shawn Newman who was joined by panelists Natasha Adiyana Morris, Mark McGrinder, Jasmine Gui and Ilter Ibrahimof.
Transcription (PDF)
Click the above to watch the full webinar on YouTube
Arts Chats #3: Technology Before, During and After
March 18, 2021
Many parts of the arts sector have struggled with the ever-changing landscape of digital technology, and COVID-19 forced many of us to confront technology in new ways. In this session, artists discuss which issues existed before the pandemic, which were caused by the pandemic, and how they are envisioning the future. This panel was moderated by Heidi Strauss who was joined by panelists Nick Green, Ian Garrett, Debashis Sinha and Sagan Yee.
Transcription (PDF)
Click the above to watch the full webinar on YouTube
Arts Chats #4: Established On Shifting Sands
March 25, 2021
Establishing and maintaining a career as an artist is no easy feat. In this final session of Arts Chats, we turn to established artists to discuss their roles in our community, how they have navigated change in our sector and their visions for the future. This panel was moderated by Zainab Amadhy who was joined by panelists Augusto Bitter, Claudia Moore and Greg Staats
Transcription (PDF)