[Bcma-l] Media Release Kamloops Art Gallery - Largest Grant for Native Youth Project

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

*MEDIA RELEASE* **
For immediate release from
Kamloops Art Gallery
January 10, 2008


*Gallery’s largest grant to*
*fund Native Youth project*


Victoria Morgan and Lyle Morgan, participants in a Native
Youth workshop, record some spoken words this past
summer at the Kamloops Art Gallery.

Photo by Jayce Salloum

The Kamloops Art Gallery (KAG) is thrilled to announce that it has been 
awarded $85,130.00 for the creation and development of site-specific, 
collaborative artwork spearheaded by Jayce Salloum, with Meeka Morgan 
and Native youth from throughout the region. This award, presented by 
Arts Partners in Creative Development (APCD), is the largest individual 
project grant that the Gallery has received in its 30-year history.

Recipients of the APCD grants were officially announced at the Vancouver 
Art Gallery this morning. Salloum, who lives in Vancouver, was present 
at the media conference.

Jayce Salloum is an internationally recognized video and installation 
artist, who was born and raised in Interior B.C. Collaboration has long 
been a hallmark of his work. Although he has exhibited as a solo artist 
in venues such as the Sydney Biennale in Australia, the Canadian Museum 
of Civilization, and the Vancouver Art Gallery, he is also the founder 
of Vancouver’s desmedia collective in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and 
has collaborated with artists and non-artists on projects for over 
twenty years.

Meeka Morgan, Salloum’s co-facilitator in this project, is an 
Ashcroft-based artist, performer, and sociologist. She is Secwepemc and 
Nuu-chah-nulth and a member of the Bonaparte Band.

Since June 2007, Salloum and Morgan have been facilitating workshops 
with Native youth from Kamloops and surrounding areas. Their goal is to 
produce a large-scale, two-dimensional, multi-media work of art, which 
will be installed at the KAG in the fall of 2009, during Salloum’s 
survey exhibition, /Jayce Salloum: history of the present {1984-2009}. 
/A two-year project in the making, the collaborative artwork will be 
displayed for eight weeks at the KAG, then tour with his exhibition to 
venues across B.C. and Canada until the end of 2011.

To date, five workshops have taken place at the KAG, at the Centre for 
Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada at Thompson Rivers 
University, and at venues on the Bonaparte Indian Band reserve and the 
Kamloops Indian Band reserve. All workshops are free of charge to 
participants, and all supplies and lunches are provided. The grant from 
APCD will allow for workshops to continue on a regular basis throughout 
2008 until the fall of 2009, and will cover all costs of materials and 
production.

At the workshops, participants are trained in a variety of media, 
including paint, ink, video, and sound. Traditional storytelling is 
incorporated, and Elders and guest artists are invited to attend to 
share their experiences. “We are not trying to create representations of 
traditional knowledges,” Salloum and Morgan explain, “Instead, we and 
the participants are making representations of new, cross-generational 
reflections on history and contemporary reality.”

Jen Budney, curator at the Kamloops Art Gallery and organizer of the 
Jayce Salloum retrospective exhibition says: “We couldn’t be happier 
with this news. The commissioned artwork and the process leading to its 
completion will go a long way in the community’s recognition of 
Salloum’s accomplishments, and will also renew and confirm the Kamloops 
Art Gallery’s commitment to youth, the expression of Aboriginal voices, 
and community-building in our region.” She adds, “Based on Salloum’s 
previous work, the final work of art is going to be beautiful, and rich 
with ideas and images. I can’t wait to see it!”

APCD is a consortium of funding agencies, including 2010 Legacies Now, 
City of Vancouver, Vancouver Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, 
Province of B.C., and VANOC.

Budney says, “The Kamloops Art Gallery is extremely grateful to the APCD 
for helping us realize this commissioned collaborative artwork. We’re 
thrilled to hear about Western Canada Theatre’s grant as well. Both 
organizations’ announcements bode very well for Kamloops.”

The next collaborative art-making workshop for Native youth will be held 
on Saturday, February 23, 2008, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the 
Kamloops Art Gallery. Those wishing to participate, or seeking further 
information, are invited to call Jen Budney at 377-2410.

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Please direct all media inquiries to James Gordon, Marketing & 
Communications Coordinator, Kamloops Art Gallery, (250) 377-2403, or 
jgordon@kag.bc.ca