ADVISORY COMMITTEE & JURY POOL

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BACKGROUND

Arts and culture will be critical for the future of these lands — both in the final buildout and in the interim as planning is underway. Landowners Northcrest and Canada Lands want to ensure that arts and culture planning draws on, and amplifies, the rich local scene and talent that already exists in and around Downsview. In fact, we’re calling our arts and culture process “XOXO Downsview,” because, in Downsview, there’s a lot to love.

Through our engagement process, we learned how important a community-focused, transparent, and defensible approach to arts and culture is to all parties. In collaboration with the local and city-wide arts communities, we developed an XOXO Workplan and a set of principles to guide arts and culture on these lands. The living document is available here. The Workplan outlines how an XOXO Advisory Committee (XOXO-AC) and XOXO juries will be part of a larger process that ensures diverse communities are part of the arts and culture projects that happen on these lands.

We know the success of XOXO Downsview relies on close collaboration with those who have deep local and city-wide experience and knowledge. Thank you for your interest in participating.

XOXO-AC MEMBERS

Open Seats

Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation
North York Arts

Landowner Seats

Northcrest
Canada Lands

XOXO Advisory Committee Members

ASHLEY BEERDAT

Ashley Beerdat is a visual artist and community arts facilitator who has experience working on public art activations for the cities of Brampton, Mississauga, and Toronto. She has roots in North York and is passionate about delivering accessible arts programming in the community.

KAYODE BROWN, Just B Graphic

Kayode Brown is the founder of Just BGRAPHIC, an arts education organization that has been based in the Blackcreek community for over 10 years. His organization brings the professional arts sector into local schools, including through a central partnership with the TDSB. As a local to the area, Kayode is invested in it and in possibilities for bringing diverse young people into local arts.

PAOLA GOMEZ, Muse Arts

Paola Gomez is a Community Arts Facilitator, a trained human rights lawyer, community organizer, public speaker, writer, and dreamer. She is also the co-founder and Director of Muse Arts. Paola’s work with refugee and newcomer communities has been award-winning and recognized many times in Canada, where she arrived herself as a refugee.

LYDIA HERNANDEZ, Sketch (alternating with Phyllis Novak)

Lydia Hernandez is a local who has been involved in youth-focused community arts programs for 10 years, including arts-based harm-reduction, digital storytelling, capacity-building, and skill development. Currently at SKETCH Working Arts, Lydia is committed to helping young people enter the arts and culture sector and make Toronto’s art scene more vibrant in the process.

PATRIZIA LIBRALATO, Toronto Biennial of Art

Patrizia Libralato is an original founder of the Toronto Biennial of Art and has served as its Executive Director since February 2017. Her 25-year career spans the national and international commercial and public art world, though, having been born and raised in Downsview, Patrizia remains a community and city-builder at heart.

PHYLLIS NOVAK, Sketch (alternating with Lydia Hernandez)

Phyllis Novak is a social-practice artist, curator, and PhD candidate at YorkU in Environmental and Urban Change, and was the Founding Artistic Director of SKETCH.ca which engages young artists in arts for social change. Phyllis uses community-engaged design justice to curate strategic projects about space and place, centering leadership from the margins.

TRACEY PREHAY, ArtworxTO

Tracey Prehay is a cultural producer, artist, and curator who grew up in North York. As a visual artist, Tracey explores personal/cultural memory through publicly-engaged projects and workshops. As an art professional with Toronto’s ArtworxTO, she works to support the visibility of arts and culture and make the North Hub shine for Toronto’s Year of Public Art.

ADRIANA SALAZAR

Adriana Salazar is a Colombian mestiza woman, singer, visual designer, artisan, master's student, and a passionate creator of innovative, community-based collective art projects that promote social justice and inclusiveness. A Downsview local, Adriana brings extensive hands-on experience working with immigrant/refugee communities.

MICHAEL VICKERS, Brampton Arts

Michael Vickers is a community activator, cultural worker and practicing artist focused on providing meaningful advocacy, support and growth for the arts sector at the local level and across Canada. Previously Co-Director of the Toronto-based arts organization Akin, he currently works as the Senior Program Lead for the new Arts, Culture and Creative Industry Development Agency in Brampton.

MANDATE

XOXO Advisory Committee (XOXO-AC)

The XOXO-AC is made up of members of diverse local and city-wide arts communities and landowners representatives. Members work in collaboration to ensure projects meet XOXO Downsview’s guiding principles and are of high artistic merit. The Committee provides feedback on proposed projects and programming and makes recommendations for project-specific juries, where required.

XOXO Juries

Juries are assembled, as needed, from a pool of qualified local and city-wide arts and culture community members. They review, discuss, evaluate, and rank proposals for XOXO Downsview projects. Jury members are identified by project in relation to their expertise and the themes of the project they evaluate. Their recommendations are based on criteria developed from the XOXO Downsview guiding principles.

MEMBERSHIP

The XOXO Advisory Committee will have a maximum of 12 people and include:

up to eight stakeholder and rightsholder members who are experts in:
- public art (ex: installation, mural-making, sculpture);
- performing arts (ex: music, dance, theatre, circus, story-telling);
- visual arts (ex: painting, drawing, photography, fine craft);
- media arts (ex: digital art, film-making, audio); and
- urban design, landscape architecture, heritage & architecture
two landowner representatives: one from Northcrest, one from Canada Lands
one representative from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation to attend, participate, or observe, as the rightsholders of the land
several alternate members will be named in order to ensure attendance and participation is maintained at each meeting of the XOXO-AC
a representative from the City of Toronto is permitted to attend and observe as they wish, in order to enhance general awareness of activities and collaborations taking place on the site.

Together, the Committee must reflect the diversity of Northwest Toronto, and will strive to include:

Indigenous voices;
African, Caribbean, Black communities;
youth and/or artists at early-career stages; and
other marginalized artists.

The Committee will also bring:

curatorial experience;
experience in community art/community-engaged practices;
local, on-the-ground experience and knowledge; and
city-wide understanding of arts and culture.

JURY POOL MEMBERSHIP

A pool of jury members will be created to draw from, as needed, to evaluate specific projects. Note, not all XOXO Downsview projects will be juried, though they will if they involve calls for artists and proposals. There is no limit to the size of the jury pool.

Individual juries will have a maximum of eight people. The juries will be assembled based on recommendations from the XOXO-AC and may include XOXO-AC members, where appropriate. They will be experts in the particular medium and/or subject of the project, as identified by the XOXO-AC and the XOXO Engagement Team, led by the Dept of Words and Deeds. Landowner representatives will sit on the juries. One representative from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation will also be invited to attend, participate, or observe, as the rightsholders of the land.

Like the XOXO-AC, and as needed in relation to the project subject and medium, the juries will reflect the diversity of Northwest Toronto, and will strive to include:

Indigenous voices;
African, Caribbean, Black communities;
youth and/or artists at early-career stages; and
other marginalized artists.

As needed, the juries will also bring:

expertise on the subject matter or medium of the project;
curatorial experience;
experience in community art/community-engaged practices;
local, on-the-ground experience and knowledge; and
city-wide understanding of arts and culture.

JUMP TO JURY POOL APPLICATION FORM

MEETINGS

The XOXO-AC will meet up to three times per year. Meeting summaries will be approved by participants and posted on this webpage. Half-day meetings will be held in person in Downsview, so long as public health allows.

XOXO Jury meetings will also take place in Downsview, when permitted by public health. The half-day meetings will occur on an adhoc basis.

COMPENSATION

XOXO-AC and Jury members will be paid for a half-day of work for each meeting at CARFAC’s rate of $322. Members can apply for a childcare subsidy for meeting times (max $60/meeting for children under 12 years), if needed.

Basic catering will be provided for in-person meetings, although travel expenses will not be covered. We welcome discussions regarding needs for, or access to, technology or accessibility accommodations.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

All XOXO-AC members, jury members, landowners, and Engagement Team members will work in collaboration to support and uphold the XOXO guiding principles in the process and project outcomes. In addition:

XOXO-AC Members:

will ensure projects are of high artistic merit;
will advise the XOXO Engagement Team and landowners on proposed plans and give feedback on proposed projects and programming;
will make recommendations for members to sit on project-specific juries, where required;
will review requests for proposals (RFPs) in advance of the meeting created by the XOXO Engagement Team;
will review meeting summaries for accuracy;
will commit to a minimum of one year; and
will agree to sit on the Committee for no more than three years to ensure a diversity and turnover of perspectives through time.

XOXO Jury Members:

will review and evaluate proposals in advance of jury meetings;
will meet to discuss proposals with other jury members; and
will make recommendations to the XOXO Engagement Team and landowners based on guiding principles.

Northcrest & Canada Lands Representatives:

will provide input on projects developed by the XOXO Engagement Team;
will approve Advisory Committee and jury members, with recommendations from the XOXO Engagement Team (and the Advisory Committee, in the case of juries);
will sit on the Advisory Committee and project juries (one representative from each landowner); and
will make decisions based on the XOXO Downsview guiding principles.

XOXO Engagement Team, Led by Dept of Words & Deeds:

will review submissions, and make recommendations for XOXO-AC and jury pool members to landowners;
will develop and issue RFPs for the creative community, and provide targeted outreach to particular communities, as needed;
will call meetings, share updates with, and facilitate the XOXO-AC meetings;
will summarize Committee meetings, circulate to members, revise, and post summaries online;
will revise projects based on XOXO-AC feedback;
will assemble and facilitate project juries with advice from the XOXO-AC and Northcrest and Canada Lands; and
will communicate with artists about their proposals.

CONTACT

Liaison with the XOXO-AC will be led by Dept of Words & Deeds, which can be contacted through info@id8downsview.ca or (647) 245 3399.

Fill out the application form below:

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