Kind of a Collective Peer Mentorship Program

Deadline to submit: Friday, March 31st, 2023 at 11:59PM p.m.

Program dates: April 24, 2023 - June 2, 2023 

Location: FOFA Gallery and online 

Commitment: participation in six workshops over the course of six weeks

Compensation: $600 honorarium, additional funds are available to offset the cost of commuting to the workshops

Language: Sessions will be given in English, but all facilitators are bilingual.

The FOFA Gallery is seeking participants for a six-week long peer mentorship program.

Kind of a Collective (KoaC) is a peer-mentorship project that will run alongside Lan “Florence” Yee’s exhibition at the FOFA Gallery, What Academia Has Done to Me. Starting with the central question: ‘How do we collect ourselves?,’ the project aims to support emerging artists in developing forms of creative practice that are neglected by traditional university arts education, namely: collective and community-engaged practices.

KoaC is created by Vince Rozario, Lan “Florence” Yee, and Mattia Zylak. Working within artist-run centres, DIY collectives, and their own artistic practices, they recognize people’s active desire to create space for their communities. Having each completed a university arts education, they also recognize that it failed to prepare them for the community-engaged practices they currently pursue. KoaC supports emerging and aspiring collectives by filling in the gaps left by university arts education to better prepare them for the transition from student to community member.

KoaC addresses the practical challenges faced by artists and cultural workers in collective and community-engaged practices. With an emphasis on workshops and peer-mentorship, the program facilitators and participants will form (kind of) a collective. Together, over the course of six weeks, we will:

• Discuss issues around creative labour, establishing boundaries, securing funding, and accountability

• Meet people working in Montreal so that we can expand our network, strengthen ties to our community, and build local knowledge and resources

• Establish the foundations for how to build safe, empowering, and sustainable collectives

If you have an interest in collective and community-engaged practices and a desire to build stronger networks of collaboration between artists and arts workers, we encourage you to apply!

Application information:

KoaC is developed to support emerging artists and arts workers who are based in Montreal. The programme will prioritize applicants from marginalized groups, including working class, racialized, and queer communities. A university arts education or professional experience in the arts are not prerequisites for participation. We encourage applications from a range of academic and professional experiences. 

Commitment and compensation: 

Participants in KoaC will be expected to participate in six workshops over the course of six weeks. Each workshop will be between 2-4 hours in length. Participants will also be asked to contribute to a publication that documents the knowledge, discussions, and proposals that were generated during the programme. 

Participants will each receive an honorarium of $600 to take part in the programme, with the option of requesting additional funds to offset the cost of commuting to the FOFA Gallery for in-person workshops. 

1. Read the FAQ (below)

2. Attend the information session on March 21st, 2023 at 6pm (not mandatory). Please email kindofacollective@gmail.com with the subject line “Information Session” for details.

3. Complete and submit the application form

Deadline to submit applications: Friday March 31, 2023 at 11:59PM

Click here to complete and submit the application form

Applicants will be notified by Friday April 14, 2023 of their application status. We look forward to reading your applications!

FAQ

When will the program take place?

The program comprises six workshops over the course of six weeks. The workshops will take place between April 24, 2023 - June 2, 2023.

Will the program be delivered in-person or virtually?

The program will take place in a hybrid manner. Workshops that are delivered in person will take place at the FOFA Gallery at Concordia University in Montreal. Online workshops will take place on Zoom. For accessibility information of the FOFA Gallery, click here.

I am not currently part of a collective, should I still apply?

Yes! We understand how difficult it can be to find communities and develop sustainable collective practices. That being said, applications from individuals who are not/were not part of a collective are absolutely encouraged to apply. 

I am not a current or former Concordia University student, can I still apply?

Yes! The programme is open to individuals from all types of academic backgrounds. A university education (from Concordia or other institutions) is not mandatory to participate in the programme. 

How will participants be selected?

A total of nine participants will be selected by KoaC’s main facilitators (Vince Rozario, Lan “Florence Yee,” and Mattia Zylak), as well as a member of the FOFA’s staff.

If I have questions about my application, who should I contact?

Questions can be sent to kindofacollective@gmail.com.

The FOFA Gallery is working towards dismantling barriers in its work, structure and programming. It is our aim to create an environment where individuals with diverse backgrounds and knowledge are valued and welcomed.

We strongly encourage, among others, Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC), people with disabilities, people identifying as 2SLGBTQIAP+, formerly incarcerated or institutionalized people, immigrants, and people from working class backgrounds to apply. 

As part of our commitment to anti-racist and decolonial ways of working, we recognize that whiteness carries immense privileges which shield white and white-passing artists from the marginalization that racialized artists have faced from and within arts institutions. We also recognize that the term 'BIPOC' and other acronyms can flatten nuances of identity, and that experiences of privilege and discrimination are intersectional and complex. 

Vince Rozario is an independent critic, curator, writer, arts administrator, and community organizer based in Tkarón:to/ Toronto. They have presented curatorial projects at the Art Gallery of Guelph, Xpace Cultural Centre, the Gladstone Hotel and the Canadian Filmmakers’ Distribution Centre. They have published criticism in C Magazine, Momus, and ArtsEverywhere, and contributed to exhibition texts for Whippersnapper Gallery, InterAccess and Gallery 44. They were the winner of the 2018 C New Critics Award and the 2021 Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators. They are a co-founder of Bricks and Glitter, a grassroots, intergenerational QTBIPOC arts festival, and currently serve on the board of Whippersnapper Gallery

Lan “Florence” Yee is a visual artist and serial collaborator based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. They collect text in underappreciated places and ferment it until it is too suspicious to ignore. Lan’s work has been exhibited at the Darling Foundry (2022), the Toronto Museum of Contemporary Art (2021), the Art Gallery of Ontario (2020), the Textile Museum of Canada (2020), and the Gardiner Museum (2019), among others. Along with Arezu Salamzadeh, they co-founded the Chinatown Biennial in 2020. They obtained a BFA from Concordia University and an MFA from OCAD U.

Mattia Zylak is an arts worker based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. She holds a BFA in Art History from Concordia University and an MFA in Criticism & Curatorial Practice from OCAD University. Mattia is pursuing an MA in Arts Leadership from Queen’s University where she is researching alternative forms of governance (or ungovernance) within the context of Canadian artist-run centres. She has worked at non-profit art galleries including SBC Gallery of Contemporary art (Montréal) and Gallery TPW (Toronto). Mattia is currently the General Co-director & Operations at La Centrale galerie Powerhouse (Montréal), an artist-run centre dedicated to multidisciplinary and intersectional feminist practices.