The President's Message
ELAN was formed in 2005 with two objectives. The first was to bring together relatively isolated artistic communities to share ideas, information and professional services. The second objective was for artists to be more visible and actively involved within the larger community in which we live. Last spring the Quebec Community Groups Network hosted public meetings in the Greater Montreal Region to identify key areas for community development: one of them was Arts, Culture and Heritage. For the past six months I have had the pleasure of chairing a Task Force in collaboration with more than 50 artists and administrators from all artistic disciplines. Our objective was to devise strategies for promoting and presenting our work, building new partnerships and developing new resources.
The work of the Task Force was presented to a group of leaders and activists from Montreal's English-speaking community at Concordia on April 26. The vital role of Arts and Culture in community development was enthusiastically endorsed. As ELAN has proved, there is much to be gained by artists working together rather than in isolation. There is also much to be gained by artists building partnerships with educators, business people and community leaders. We will keep you informed as this work bears fruit.
Guy Rodgers
President