New Cultural Animator At Arts Council

(WINDSOR, ON) – The Arts Council – Windsor & Region (ACWR) has hired Alana Bartol for the newly created position of Cultural Animator. The position was made possible in part by funding from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC). Ms Bartol will promote, support, and develop community-engaged collaborations between professional artists and community members to the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in the Community / Workplace (AICW) program in Windsor and Essex County. The AICW program supports the research, development, production and presentation of community-engaged, collaborative, process-driven artistic work.

Through the AICW program, arts and non-arts partners can apply for up to $10,000 in funding to develop community-based arts projects. The program is open to individual professional artists, groups of artists, community organizations, arts organizations and trade unions. Projects funded by the AICW program take place in various communities and workplaces, and have included CUPE Local 79, Toronto, YWCA St. Catharines, Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Kingston, Parkdale Community Health Centre, Toronto, The School of Dance, Ottawa, as well as many individual artists and arts groups. Past local recipients include the interdisciplinary creative research collective, Broken City Lab, and Windsor photographer, Sandi Wheaton.

The AICW program is open to artists, arts groups, and organizations from all artistic disciplines including theatre, visual art, music, media arts, and dance.  In the near future, Ms. Bartol will be organizing community meetings and information sessions about the AICW program and community arts projects, and will be available to assist with developing and refining grant proposals.

Through her work as career counselor, employment advocate, educator, and artist, Alana Bartol brings substantial experience connecting artists, organizations, workplaces, and communities to opportunities in the arts. She has worked with the Art Advisor at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and the Dance Department at Wayne State University (WSU) to develop interactive artworks, coordinated a community journaling project in Windsor and Detroit, and worked collaboratively with artists and community members to create installations with collected car window glass from Detroit streets. She developed and taught the first performance art course in the Department of Art and Art History at WSU and co-founded the first student-run gallery on campus. Alana Bartol has a B.F.A. in Visual Arts from University of Windsor and a Master’s of Fine Arts from WSU where she was awarded the Thomas C. Rumble Fellowship.

“With the creation of this position, the OAC and ACWR hopes to increase the number of applicants to the AICW program from the Windsor-Essex region and raise awareness of the importance and value of integrating the arts into community life and the workplace,” stated Jennifer Escott, the President of the Arts Council – Windsor & Region.

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