South Asian Visual Arts Centre
The South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC) has established itself as the leading showcaser and promoter of South Asian visual art in Toronto and Canada. SAVAC became active in 1993 and is unique in that it operates without any gallery space but partners with different organizations, institutes and collectives, to produce exhibitions, screenings, online projects and artistic interventions.
SAVAC's innovative approach has greatly added to the development of multiple arts forms as a way of expressing both diaspora art and arts of new immigrant generations. While its focus is on visual arts, SAVAC has also brought the enjoyment of fusion music as well as performing arts to enhance the appreciation and enjoyment of art as a total experience. SAVAC's influence goes far beyond the confines of Canadian boundaries and its initiatives at international level is considered a model of how a relatively small organization can achieve global reach while expanding the Canadian artistic vocabulary and adding to its strength through diversity.
Website: http://www.savac.net
The following article was written by CARFAC Ontario (http://www.carfacontario.ca/) after a fascinating interview with Haema Sivanesan, SAVAC's Executive Director, and Ambereen Siddiqui, SAVAC's Education and Outreach Officer.
SAVAC is a not-for-profit organization which is dedicated to promoting visual art produced by South Asian artists. SAVAC was founded in 1993 by a group of artists who programmed the visual art content for the Desh Pardesh Festival. Desh Pardesh no longer exists but SAVAC continues to flourish.
SAVAC's members range from third generation Canadians to newcomers. South Asian artists face a range of problems regarding their art practice(s). Many artists feel a lack of support from their community and a lack of appreciation in their career choice. Also, many newcomers find it difficult to adjust to a Canadian art environment as there is virtually no commercial art market and art funding is project-based and funded by the government. Although South Asian visual aesthetics differ from Anglo-Canadian aesthetics, many of the public, which visits SAVAC's shows, are Anglo-Canadian.
SAVAC's Members Day: 10 Things you need to know as an artist in Toronto was useful and successful. During the event, Lisa Wöhrle from the Ontario Arts Council and William Huffman from the Toronto Arts Council spoke about the benefits available for artists and the grant application process. Also, Kristian Clarke Executive Director of CARFAC Ontario spoke about the establishment of artist's fees and about the important access to advocacy, which CARFAC provides.
Big Stories Little India was a project initiated by SAVAC and Murmur, an audio documentary and visual intervention at the Gerrard Street India Bazaar. The project was very successful and many interesting artworks were produced; they can be seen on http://www.savac.net/littleindia/1024/
One of the more recent events is Monitor 5, which screens contemporary film and video made by artists of South Asian heritage in Canada and abroad. This is an annual event with this year's curator coming from New York.
SAVAC has many exciting upcoming events. Of note is the South-South: Interaction and Encounters; this is an exhibition in the Justina Barnicke Gallery at the University of Toronto. It explores interactions, influences and relationships between South Asian, Caribbean and African communities.
SAVAC and the University of Toronto Art Centre (UTAC) are creating a program for a Tamil Studies Conference. The exhibition The One Year Drawing Project is a collaboration of four leading Sri Lankan artists. As part of the conference, an artist panel and community drawing workshop at UTAC will be held. This is an exciting opportunity to expose art to large audiences and outreach to the diverse South Asian community.
In addition, Art Metrople is hosting an online cross-cultural project involving five artists collaborating and responding to each other's images. This project will also include a public talk.
As part of its outreach initiatives SAVAC will participate in the Mosaic Festival in Mississauga and a mural project with the Tibetan community in Etobicoke coming up in 2010.
SAVAC's artistic and outreach programs incorporate great artistic and multicultural experiences. More information about SAVAC is available at http://www.savac.net
