Dear ArtBridges community partners, friends, readers,

Happy New Year!

Hoping that you have had a chance to rest, replenish, reconnect, and reset!

We look forward to connecting this year! and learning and sharing more about community-engaged arts and arts for social change going on across Canada.

Last year was an exciting one for ArtBridges! Some highlights were:

• For almost one year now, ArtBridges has been operating as a new charitable organization, not-for-profit, and registered National Arts Service Organization (NASO). We’ve successfully laid down the foundation of a new organization: setting up payroll, HR, contracts, bookkeeping, financial reporting, Board meetings, complying with CRA and Corporations Canada, issuing charitable tax receipts, banking, setting up Paypal & CanadaHelps, sent out numerous proposals to foundations, and have started to apply for Arts Service grants with government granting programs. With the building of strong organizational foundation, we can slowly build up programming and projects again!
  
• Here’s an article by Kate Rowswell on the Tides Canada blog about ArtBridges’ new beginnings after 10 great years with Tides.
  We connected with over 390 (and growing!) community-engaged arts initiatives across Canada.
• Learn more about these amazing initiatives from coast to coast to coast on the Map and Profile Directory and update your initiative’s organization profile any time.
• In collaboration with Centre Résidentiel et Communautaire Jacques-Cartier, in Québec City, ArtBridges surveyed community-engaged arts initiatives across Canada to find out what services there are for homeless youth. We added a search filter on artbridges.ca Map and Profile Directory that shows which community-engaged arts initiatives actively serve or work with homeless youth across Canada.
  
• We worked hard to keep the information flowing about what’s going on in the field via artbridges.ca with blog posts, Facebook & Twitter, Learning and Resources, and helped people with special requests—assisting with finding mentorship, connections, supplies, resources, and writing letters of support, all year!
  
• As a community partner over the past six years, ArtBridges assisted the ASC! Project (Arts for Social Change) with research about community-engaged arts across Canada. This year marks the conclusion of the research project. Please read their final report which presents a brief overview: https://icasc.ca/resources/asc-project-final-report
  
• ArtBridges held its 5th Annual Recognition Awards for Remarkable Community-Engaged Arts! There were 32 submissions for this juried award. The outcomes were: Remarkable Creativity: 1st place – Cirque Hors Piste National Social Circus Gathering, 2nd place – Home2.0; Remarkable Resiliency: 1st place – Thinking Rock Community Arts, 2nd place – Music From Hope; Remarkable Innovation: 1st place – Otahpiaaki. The awards were sponsored by the Ruth Mandel – WHO GIVES Fund.

Happy new year!
Please call or write to connect, share stories, ideas, or events.
-ArtBridges team

-photo by pixel2013