About Urban Shaman

*Above image Urban Shaman as it pretty much is today at 290 McDermot Ave location

MISSION STATEMENT
Urban Shaman is an Aboriginal artist-run centre dedicated to meeting the needs of artists by providing a vehicle for artistic expression in all disciplines and at all levels by taking a leadership role in the cultivation of Indigenous art.

VISION
Urban Shaman presents contemporary Indigenous Aboriginal art with integrity while remaining rooted in our diverse Aboriginal cultures.

MANDATE
Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art is a nationally recognized leader in Aboriginal arts programming and one of the foremost venues and voices for Aboriginal art in Canada. Our focus on developing new programming and new ways of presenting it have resulted in increased exposure and the expansion of our activities. Urban Shaman is dedicated to the Aboriginal arts community and arts community at large.

• Committed to serving the needs of emerging, mid-career, and established Aboriginal artists through exhibitions and associated programming, workshops, residencies and curatorial initiatives.
• Dedicated to contributing to art historical and cultural critical discourses on a local, national, and international level.
• Committed to facilitating artistic production, education, and appreciation of contemporary art as an important and empowering tool for Aboriginal peoples.

Admission to the gallery is free.

Open call for Indigenous painters who work in portraiture

Aboriginal Music Manitoba (AMM), producer of the sākihiwē festival, is asking for Indigenous painters in Canada who work in portraiture to submit information about themselves and samples of their work for a new project that will pay tribute to four Residential School Survivors who live in Manitoba.

With help from Urban Shaman Gallery, each Survivor will have a photograph taken so painters across the Country can create a portrait without leaving their home or studio.

AMM will work with each Survivor to pick a painter for their portrait. A fee of $2,500 CAD (inclusive of supplies, materials, and studio space) will be paid to each painter selected for this project.

The portraits must be 36 inches wide and 48 inches tall.

The submission deadline is Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 11:59 pm CST. The painters will be selected and notified by February 11.

All submissions must be sent online through our google form. Email, fax, and physical submissions will not be accepted.

Submit here: https://forms.gle/N9fXQk1CaArKvw8d8

AMM plans to create up to four prints of each portrait and two banners or pop-up walls. The banners or pop-up walls will be installed at each of the sākihiwē festival’s four sites (Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre, Central Park, Ka Ni Kanichihk, and Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre) in 2021, 2022, and 2023. AMM also plans to make the portraits available to organizations that have projects or exhibits that pay tribute to Residential School Survivors.

Please email Alan Greyeyes (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) if you have any questions.

AMM acknowledges the Government of Canada for their support of our Survivor Portraits project.