Announcing Eyelevel's new Mandate, Mission and Values!

Eyelevel's Board of Directors is pleased to release our new Mission Statement, Guiding Values and Mandate

Posted 9 Dec 2020

Starting in April, Eyelevel's Board of Directors began a series of development workshops which concluded with a weekend-long visioning retreat in August. The goal of this retreat was to lay the groundwork for re-writing Eyelevel's guiding visioning documents: a new mandate and 3-year strategic plan. We are pleased to release our brand-new Mission Statement to drive the dreams of our organization towards a cohesive goal, a list of our guiding Values and a new Mandate outlining the core activities which govern our decisions. Our strategic plan is nearing completion, and will be released publicly when it is!

Mission Statement:

Prioritizing treaty, accessibility, and care, Eyelevel supports the production and presentation of socially-engaged artistic practices through arts programming outside of the traditional white-wall gallery.

Our Values:

To be a trustworthy and reliable resource for local artists, arts workers and community
To give generously to our local communities, partners and collaborators
To always be open to growth
To practice fairness and radical transparency in our decisions, actions and relationships
To create spaces that centre care, inclusivity, thoughtfulness and reciprocity
To live and work in Treaty and Solidarity
To oppose and disrupt oppression and violence in all forms including, but not limited to: sexism, misogyny, transmisogyny, ableism, ageism, sizeism, homophobia, transphobia heterocentrism, racism and white supremacy.

Mandate:

Eyelevel is an arts worker/artist-run organization mandated to present and support the development of socially-relevant and thought-provoking artistic practices locally, regionally and nationally. Eyelevel supports artists through residencies, mentorship, publishing and presentation outside of a traditional gallery context that is accompanied by care-oriented and trauma-informed artistic, professional and personal support. Eyelevel aims to raise public awareness and capacity of our local arts community; particularly artists and arts workers who have been historically underserved and misrepresented in the contemporary art dialogue. Eyelevel strives to be a connector between artists, communities and the broader public, to constantly question the balance of power and work against systemic oppression and discrimination by centering anti-violence and pro-survivor practices. Eyelevel works in treaty to build a more inclusive and caring world through art, and to advance positive change within the arts through its operations, policies and programming.

We want to extend our gratitude to the workshop leaders: Delaine Tiniakos-Doran, Ann Divine, Carmel Farahbakhsh & Sally Wolchyn-Raab, as well as each of the members of our community who generously gave their input in our Member and Community Survey.