Ottawa Arts Council
Ottawa Arts Council was established in 1982 with a mandate to advocate for the arts in Ottawa; connect artists of all disciplines and backgrounds by providing information and skills development; organize an annual festival; and to establish a municipal arts centre in the urban core.
Following significant financial obstacles, the Council re-examined its mandate in the nineties to focus its efforts as an arts service organization. Through increased financial resources, the Council solidified its role as an arts and culture advocate.
Arts Network Ottawa
Arts Network Ottawa began in 1980 as Arts Gloucester, a volunteer umbrella organization created to serve Gloucester. In 1987, Gloucester Arts Council incorporated as a non-profit charity and in 1997, signed a purchase of service agreement with the City of Gloucester to provide service and professional assistance to groups, becoming the first arts council in Ontario to do so with their municipality.
The following year a similar agreement was signed with the Township of Cumberland. Following municipal amalgamation in Ottawa, the organization later rebranded to Arts Ottawa East, then AOE Arts Council, then Arts Network Ottawa.
Collaboration
After the amalgamation of the City of Ottawa in 2000, both organizations worked collaboratively on arts advocacy, including in the early 2000s on Ottawa’s first arts and heritage master plan (Ottawa 20/20). Preliminary merger discussions were had by staff and boards at the time, but it was determined that each organization would be stronger in achieving unique goals for the community as separate organizations.
Collaborative work did continue: both organizations partnered with the City of Ottawa and on Join the Crowd, an arts awareness campaign; a community-wide campaign called My Ottawa Includes Culture in 2004 that stopped a proposed 80% cut to Ottawa City Council arts funding; and again in 2008 partnered to run Our Ottawa Still Includes Culture, another rally in response to a City Council proposed 54% cut to arts funding. Both also participated on the Steering Committee and in consultations that resulted in the City of Ottawa’s 2013-18 Renewed Action Plan for Arts, Culture and Heritage.
In 2015, both organizations co-formed Ottawa Cultural Alliance with five other cultural umbrella groups to undertake joint initiatives to strengthen Ottawa’s cultural sector. From 2017-2019, the Alliance completed a community-driven, community-wide Arms-Length Cultural Development Feasibility Study, hosted an Ottawa Culture Summit, and facilitated the creation of this new community-driven A Liveable City for All: A New Cultural Roadmap for Ottawa 2019-22.
Building Trust
Arts Network Ottawa and Ottawa Arts Council reinforced their partnership through the COVID-19 lockdowns. As the priorities and needs in the sector sharpened, a stronger unified approach continued to be taken by the organizations and consistently saw increased impact and results when working in collaboration.
We actively engaged with key internal invested parties, including board members, staff and funders, to understand their perspectives. This process developed a careful yet important environment of openness to a merger between Arts Network Ottawa and Ottawa Arts Council, which generated excitement and curiosity about the process and its possibilities. On October 30, 2023 we made a formal announcement about our plans to merge into a united organization and voice for the arts in Ottawa.
On October 30, 2023 we made a formal announcement about the merger. By coming together as a merged organization, we can provide a stronger, more unified response to the complex issues facing the arts community in Ottawa. We are driven by the urgent need to respond to today’s challenges in the arts sector.
Learn more about all phases of the engagement process that brought us to where we are today.