Canada Council for the Arts inspires conversation on place and belonging with Punctured Landscape exhibition in Washington, DC

OTTAWA April 27, 2017- The Canada Council for the Arts Director and CEO, Simon Brault heads to Washington DC for the opening of Punctured Landscape exhibition at the Art Museum of the Americas. Organized in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Canada to the OAS and support from the Federal Canada 150 Secretariat it is not only the largest exhibition by Canadian artists in the museum's history, but it will present a collection of some of the most celebrated contemporary works from the Canada Council Art Bank.

Curated by Winnipegian Kegan McFadden, the works present challenging events in Canadian living memory- from the Oka Crisis to the École Polytechnique massacre. The exhibition lends a critical gaze on Canada's history, with a special focus on Indigenous issues as Canada prepares to celebrate its 150th anniversary since Confederation.

While in Washington, M. Brault will also speak to the staff of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. This visit comes at the heels of his presence at the G7 Culture Summit in Florence, where he advocated the need for a new cultural democracy lead by citizens.

Mr. Brault is expected to discuss the importance of the arts, and by extension arts funding, as well as share how Canada has leveraged the arts in order to discuss issues of identity, culture and belonging.

Mr. Brault’s trip is one in a series that the Director and CEO will be undertaking in the coming months, as part of the Canada Council’s new strategic vision to increase visibility of Canadian arts and cultural leaders abroad.

Members of the press are invited to a breakfast with the curator Kegan McFadden and Indigenous artist Barry Ace on April 28th from 9h00-11h00 am.

In combination with the exhibition, the Art Museum of the Americas will be organizing two panels inspired by themes underscored in Punctured Landscape. The first: The Evolution of Rights and Legal Protection of LBTI persons in Canada and the Americas May 24th and the second: Promoting the Rights of Indigenous People in Canada on June 14th.

Punctured Landscape will be on view at the Art Museum of the Americas from April 27-July 30, 2017.

Canada Council for the Arts

The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s national public arts funder. We champion and invest in artistic excellence so that Canadians may enjoy and participate in a rich cultural life. In 2015-16 we allocated $157.4 million dollars towards artistic creation and innovation through our grants, prizes and payments. We also conduct research, convene activities and work with partners to advance the sector and help embed the arts more deeply in communities across the country. We are responsible for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO which promotes the values and programs of UNESCO to contribute to a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable future for Canadians. The Canada Council Art Bank operates art rental programs and helps further public engagement with contemporary arts.

The Art Museum of the Americas

The Art Museum of the Americas’ work is based on the principle that the arts are transformative for individuals and communities. This belief simultaneously serves to promote the core values of the Organization of American States (OAS) and its Secretariat of Hemispheric Affairs (SHA) by providing a space for cultural expression, creativity, dialogue and learning, highlighting themes such as democracy, development, human rights, justice, freedom of expression, and innovation. AMA’s work advances the inter-American agenda, drawing on the arts to showcase a constructive vision of the future of the Americas via local and hemispheric cultural exchange. This is achieved by showcasing cutting-edge exhibits of artists whose output creatively combine aesthetics with topical social and political issues and by establishing a dialogue of these works with AMA’s Permanent Collection.