WHO WE ARE
Founded in 2000, Art Matters is often labeled the largest student-run art festival in North America.
An annual Art Matters festival spans 3 weeks and features about 10 exhibitions curated by and for undergraduate students.
We love new ideas, and frequently collaborate with professional festivals and organizations to create mentorships and future exhibition opportunities.
Art Matters is a non-profit, honorarium-based initiative. Our goal is to get people working together, encouraging students from different artistic practices to exchange meaningful artistic endeavors.
We promotediverse artistic approaches and encourage risk-taking.
Art Matters makes it known that Art Matters.
2021 COORDINATORS
FINANCIAL & ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR
JULIE POULIN
“Sensitive to sustainable practices and very involved in my community, I stand out for my ability to find solutions adapted to everyone's needs. Creativity is, like for many of us, my problem-solving tool. I can't wait to get more involved with the Concordia University community, and as the administrative and financial coordinator within the Art Matters Festival, I intend to approach this particularly pivotal year with openness.”
Learn more about julie
EXHIBITIONS COORDINATOR
JOYCE JOUMAA
“As the exhibition Coordinator for this year's Art Matters, I am aiming to push the boundaries of how an art festival operates, especially in a time of crisis such as this. Exhibitions are still happening but in a way that offers a response and a statement to the current state we are living in. Emphasizing acts of care will be the way to go.”
Learn more about joyce
FUNDING
Art Matters is non-profit, and as such is funded by fee-levies student-written grants, and fundraising.
For more information about Art Matters' budget or funds, please contact:
admin@artmattersfestival.org
WHAT WE
STAND FOR
The Art Matters festival takes place on unceded Indigenous lands.The Kanien’keha:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of these lands and waters. Tiohtia:ke/Montreal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within the Montreal community.
Fine arts and academia have an ongoing history of oppression. The Art Matters festival exists at the intersection of their colonial legacies, and is woven into the fabric of structural and systemic violence(s) that uphold such institutions. This structural and systemic violence includes (and most often represents) the prioritization of certain bodies and their interests based on race, ability, sex, gender, sexuality, nationality/status, class, education, culture, religion and more. For instance, in the history of fine arts, certain movements have mobilized racist aesthetics to depict and interpret the experiences ofcolonized peoples while using such depictions to justify colonial rule (and, subsequently, neo-colonialism/global capitalism).
Bylaws and Policies
Click for board meeting minutes & details.