Mandate: Summary
CARFAC Alberta serves visual artists and represents Alberta’s visual arts sector. As a non-profit provincial cultural organization, we actively inform artists of sectoral developments, promote artists, and provide professional development opportunities for Albertans, including our members, marginalized artists, and the public.
Artwork by Samantha McLeod
CARFAC Alberta advocates on behalf of Alberta’s visual artists and works to improve the socio-economic conditions of all artists. As the official provincial affiliate for CARFAC in Alberta, we bring the resources of this national organization to the province. CARFAC believes that artists, like professionals in other fields, should be paid for their work, and share equitably in profits from their work. CARFAC defends artists’ economic and legal rights, and educates the public on fair dealings with artists, providing a vitally important perspective on issues affecting the making of art, artist’s rights, intellectual property rights, and the status of the artist within our society.
CARFAC Alberta actively responds to the changing needs of Alberta visual artists. We provide information, advice and professional development opportunities so that the visual arts sector in Alberta can continue to grow and prosper.
Mandate: What we do
CARFAC Alberta offers programs for visual artists throughout Alberta. Our goal is to serve the entire province. Our programming consists of educational talks, webinars and workshops; programming for our project space in our Edmonton office; mentorship opportunities; best practices guidelines for the visual arts sector; advocacy; and community-wide engagement.
CARFAC Alberta has a province-wide membership composed of individual members and artist-supporting groups of various types. As a membership-driven non-profit organization, CARFAC Alberta’s mission is to serve all Alberta visual artists regardless of location or personal circumstances; while we do provide some benefits exclusively for members, we believe it is necessary to provide access to our programs in ways that serve anyone who seeks them.
The resources CARFAC Alberta offers to visual artists can help them weather the variability of local and provincial economies, and allow them to grow their practice (and their income) here and elsewhere. CARFAC Alberta provides information and resources to individual visual artists and to organizations that deal with visual artists and their work, paying particular attention to respectful and professional dealings between artists and engagers, and the fair payment of artists for their work.
Mandate: Who we serve
- every visual artist in Alberta – regardless of their membership status
- overlooked + neglected artists
- emerging artists who need guidance in beginning their professional practice
- artists of any age who are interested in moving from a part-time to full-time creative practice
- established artists who need assistance with particular aspects of their career
- artists who are living in smaller centres and feel isolated from larger urban arts communities
CARFAC Alberta also serves:
- galleries of any sort (commercial, public, or artist-run) who want information on appropriate fee structures, best practices, contracts, or similar information for their work with visual artists
- community groups and art organizations in smaller centres who wish to provide professional development opportunities for the artists in their region
- post-secondary institutions who wish to provide professional practice information to their students in the field of visual arts
- government and governmental organizations who want to know how to interact or engage with visual artists
Our Values:
- Promise and Potential of Visual Art – We recognize that the visual arts have direct impact on the health, welfare and economic well-being of all Albertans and their communities. Along with education and health, the arts are a necessary pillar of a great society.
- Creative Communities – CARFAC Alberta is focused on building creative communities by providing information and resources to individual visual artists and to organizations that engage with visual artists and their work.
- Best Practices / Industry Standards – Quality research and emerging models inform our efforts to provide visual artists with a fair model for transactions within the visual arts community.
- Transparency – We value open communication and understand it is critical to maintaining and growing our communities.
- Equity – We recognize that we must reach out to marginalized communities and gear our work to addressing their unique needs and skill sets.