Deadline: 29-Oct-21
The Museums of Mississauga and Mississauga Celebration Square have partnered to invite a Curator or team of Curators who identify as BIPOC to develop a project that engages with the community using the Museums and Mississauga Celebration Square as a platform to be delivered in 2022.
This initiative is intended to provide access to space and resources within the City’s cultural spaces. This call is open to a Curator or Curators who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Person(s) of Colour.
This initiative is part of the ongoing commitment made by the Culture Division to confront the legacy of museums and cultural institutions as traditionally white, colonial spaces with Eurocentric curatorial practices. Some members of the BIPOC community in Mississauga have reported that City spaces are not welcoming, can be unsafe and hostile environments and are not interesting because their experiences are not reflected.
They are listening to this feedback and they are striving to create welcoming and inclusive facilities that reflect the diversity of their entire community in all of their programming 365 days a year.
To create more inclusive programming, they seek to engage a Curator or team of Curators who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Person(s) of Colour to develop and execute a project that centres the voices of peoples historically silenced in colonial spaces.
By sharing history, culture and art, that reflects the community as well as hiring and working with BIPOC artists and cultural workers, they hope to begin to take steps towards addressing systemic racism and building awareness of racism issues within their areas of influence and within the community-at-large.
MCS offers a variety of potential programming spaces that could be accessed as part of this project, including:
- digital program screens with audio (two 25’ LED screens)
- 300 seat Amphitheatre Stage (open air programming space with sound and lighting)
- opportunity for an activation and/or space as part of City-produced event(s)
- A component of the project should include community engagement, such as:
- focus groups
- workshops
- consultation
- surveys
- guided tours
Funding Information
The total budget for all fees and expenses related to this project is $15,000.00 + HST in Canadian Dollars. No further compensation will be made for costs associated with participating in the selection process.
Eligibility Criteria
Priority will be given to applicants who are Black, Indigenous, or Person(s) of Colour and/or are members of other equity-seeking groups and are recognized by their peers as a Curator or Curators. As a Curator, you may have experience with:
- working in the curatorial realm with relevant project experience
- the development and execution of temporary or permanent art, exhibitions or public programming
- knowledge and experience collaborating with, and engaging with the community
- strong project management skills
- mobilizing and executing large-scale creative projects in a community setting
- community engagement from the perspective of drawing in diverse and/or new audiences
- involving community members in the creation of temporary art, exhibitions or programming through collaboration, production and/or dialogue.
For more information, visit https://culture.mississauga.ca/event/celebration-square/call-bipoc-curator-or-curators
