A Statement on Anti-Racism

by the Ontario Society of Artists

We recognize that we have a responsibility to improve our support to artists of all cultures. We have a membership filled with excellent artists who volunteer regularly to help support art and artists across Ontario. For the past four years we have been actively reflecting on where we have been, where we are and where we must go as an organization. We recognize that we need to improve the way we reach out to support and represent artists across all of Ontario. Our membership has grown in diversity and includes people of colour but we do not yet reflect the diversity in the population of Ontario. We recognize how our practices have led us to this point; we have been making corrections and we will continue to do so.

Over the past four years we have:

1. moved from a Toronto-centric and largely in-person gallery setting to a more accessible and province-wide hybrid digital and in-person gallery setting
2. reached out across the province by adding Northern, Western and Eastern Member Hubs 
3. developed our methodology for accepting new members by implementing specific jurying parameters and careful voting proceedures
4. introduced digital submission and jurying proceedures in order to allow everyone to participate regardless of their location or schedule

We will work to prevent racism and bias with:

1. improved practices
2. multicultural art history education
3. curation 

We pledge to continue to help develop a healthy culture within our society. We welcome direction from you; we are listening to you, and we welcome you.

We can be reached at info@ontariosocietyofartists.org

Sincerely,

Kim Atkins, Vice President

Clare Ross, President