About Us

Artists’ Network Mandate
We are a non-profit, membership-based initiative dedicated to supporting professional visual artists in their business practice.

We promote professional development and entrepreneurship of artists by organizing seminars, providing exhibition opportunities and the facilitation of networks in various areas.

Through the Riverdale Art Walk, the Little Art Show, Hang Man Gallery, as well as other events, we strive to offer artists an affordable opportunity to exhibit,
promote and sell their work.

History
The Artists' Network [ANR, Artists' Network of Riverdale, The Network] is a not-for-profit arts organization that was incorporated September 15, 2004. In the two years since its incorporation The Artists' Network has not only successfully maintained the operation of the Riverdale Art Walk from which this organization was formed, but has also managed and developed the operations of Hang Man, the gallery for the Artists' Network, and continues to grow as a viable arts organization.

What was started in 1999 as an informal artists' studio tour organized by a small group of community members in the South Riverdale area, grew into the Riverdale Art Walk [RAW] that showcases roughly 100 fine artists from around the city. Fostered and supported by the Riverdale Community Development Corporation [RCDC], RAW grew rapidly and brought together professional artists who formed associations that constituted a year round network of support and communications. It is from this that the Artists' Network was created.

The Riverdale Art Walk was growing in size and needed funds to execute the event. As a result, the first Little Art Show [LAS] was created and held at Eastern Front Gallery, the foundation of which is still in tack today. Artists donate a piece, 7" x 9", for silent auction with proceeds contributing to the ongoing work of the Network, including RAW. This annual event is now held at the BMW building on Sunlight Blvd, has grown to over 150 artists and roughly 800 people in attendance. In just five years, it has become an esteemed arts event in South Riverside, recognized by the Toronto arts community and supported by artists, collectors and businesses locally and further a field.

In 2002, however, it became clear the LAS would not generate ample funds to support the ANR's or RAW's annual budget. Under the direction of the RCDC, a small group of individuals wrote and obtained an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant to launch a non-profit arts organization with a mandate to:

Strive to meet the needs of professional artists as entrepreneurs

To grow an educated and eager collector base

Establish South Riverdale as an arts destination

The three year Trillium grant allowed for the establishment of the Artists' Network and financially assisted in its operations from April 1, 2003 to April 1, 2006.
Obtaining funding allowed the organization to hire an Executive Director who was pivotal in the creation of services and opportunities offered to our first artist-members. By the end of January 2004, a volunteer Board of Directors was recruited who initiated the process of incorporation, developed by-laws, reformed the original mandate, and established relationships with other groups. Some of these include the Culture Department of the City of Toronto, Councillor Paula Fletcher, The Riverside BIA, BMW Toronto, WoodGreen Community Services, NOW Magazine, the Ralph Thorton Center to name a few. By May 2004, The Network moved into the premises we currently occupy on Queen Street East and opened Hang Man.
In the two and a half years Hang Man has been operating, it has given artists a supportive environment to exhibit their work. Currently Hang Man has a programming committee which juries all submissions to show, and is booked to September 2007. Through the efforts of a volunteer Director, the gallery has two very successful open calls to artists a year; the most recent, "Do Hands Make Us Human" received over 70 submissions from across the country. There are two annual members' shows, and eight to ten exhibitions. As part of the programming for Hang Man we are the venue for the Rosedale Heights School of the Arts Contact Festival exhibition.

In the fall of 2005, the Network had their first Annual General Meeting and elected its first representative Board of Directors. In the past year, this Board has managed to strengthen accounting practices for the Network and was able to present the first audited financial statements to the membership at the 2006 AGM. Also, this Board identified a need for the organization to assess the mandate, services, programs and overall direction of the Network to better determine the future activities of the organization and ensure fiscal responsibility.

Since then we have continued to refine our services and strengthen our projects.

Our current Board of Directors and Staff are:

Board
Jamie MacLean, Chair
Gary Smith, Vice Chair
Brenda Lyndon, Treasurer
Julie Boudreault, Director
Gary Bercovitch, Director
John Donahue, Director
Ron Trider, Director
Walter Zenko, Director
Lisa Cruji , Director

Staff
Russell Brohier, Director of Organization Development
March Gregoroff, Director of Membership and Programming
Rachel Conduit, Gallery Assistant

To contact any of us:
416.465.0302
artistsnetwork@bellnet.ca

Artists’ Network
756 Queen Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M4M 1H4