The ever-changing reality of COVID-19 makes it difficult to program future exhibitions, performances, symposia, and residencies with any sense of certainty. The need to ensure the safety of audiences, and adhere to ever-shifting restrictions regarding travel and crowd sizes leaves most in-gallery projects in doubt.
With this in mind, the Owens Art Gallery and Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre are excited to announce Umbrella Projects, a new collaborative venture designed to pool our resources, energies, and respective strengths in order to facilitate new, innovative, off-site programming for the next twelve months.
In a town the size of Sackville, these types of collaborations were already frequent and fruitful; now they feel essential—part of the age-old tradition of neighbours pulling together in a time of crisis. Rather than retrofitting existing programming to suit an online platform, we aim to entirely reimagine the possibilities—to expand not retreat. We are dedicated to providing opportunities for artists to realize unusual or strategic projects and, in the coming months, we will roll out a series of new platforms coupled with calls for submissions soliciting proposals for exciting off-site, on-paper, and on-screen projects.
Sweetest Sympathy was presented in association with SappyFest and with the generous cooperation of Terra Beata and Atlantic Auto Cold. Sweetest Sympathy would not have been possible without the collaboration of Sappyfest and especially the efforts of Jeff MacKinnon. Thank you Jeff! We sincerely thank our staff, members, student interns, volunteers, and supporters in the community of Sackville and the broader Atlantic region.
Umbrella Projects gratefully acknowledges the support of John Murchie, the Rotary Club of Sackville, the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation, Mount Allison University, the Canada Council for the Arts, the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, the Government of Canada (Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations) and the Town of Sackville.
