Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: International
The Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: International program from the Canada Council for the Arts encourages social and community environments that support the development of Aboriginal arts and artistic practices. It aims to foster unique artistic relationships and networks through inter-nation collaborative exchanges among Aboriginal artists, across all disciplines.
The objectives of this program are to:
- ensure the transmission of artistic knowledge and expertise to cultivate the vitality of Aboriginal arts;
- foster the development and ongoing skills enrichment of Aboriginal arts professionals;
- encourage interaction and expertise-sharing between Canadian Aboriginal artists of various communities and also with international Indigenous communities; and
- support the inter-nation and intergenerational transmission of Aboriginal artistic knowledge and expertise.
The Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: International program provides support for Aboriginal artists to travel to other Aboriginal communities to collaborate in a traditional or contemporary artistic practice. This is a multidisciplinary program that is open to individual Aboriginal artists, arts groups, artists’ collectives and arts organizations.
In general terms, the program supports collaborations that are:
- Creative: Two artists or groups of artists creating a work together.
- Developmental: The development of artistic skills and techniques among participants, the advancement of traditional or contemporary artistic knowledge, and the formalized exploration of artistic themes.
- Exploratory and Research: Artistic research with Aboriginal communities to recover, examine, and authenticate traditional histories and artistic practices (while respecting each Aboriginal nation’s affirmed protocol).
One example of this program’s reach took place in 2011, when Iroquois Arts received a grant through the program to create new music in a workshop format with the Akamba Women Singers from Kyanzasu, Kenya.
For more information, please see: http://canadacouncil.ca/council/grants/find-a-grant/grants/aboriginal-peoples-collaborative-exchange-national-and-international-project-grants
The Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: International program is expected to help create unique artistic relationships and networks through inter-nation collaborative exchanges among Aboriginal artists, across all artistic disciplines. Other expected results include:
- The efficient transmission of artistic knowledge and expertise to cultivate the vitality of Aboriginal arts
- The development and ongoing skills enrichment of Aboriginal arts professionals
- Greater interaction and expertise-sharing between Canadian Aboriginal artists of various communities and also with international Indigenous communities
- Better inter-nation and intergenerational transmission of Aboriginal artistic knowledge and expertise
The total grant amount for the Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: International program in the 2013-14 fiscal year was $235 400 CAD.
The Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: International program was evaluated within a broader program evaluation of the Council’s suite of 15 Aboriginal Arts programs. This specific program was not evaluated individually. The conclusions were not specific to this program, but addressed questions about the entire suite of Aboriginal Arts programs.