Guelph Museums announces a call for artists for Doors Open After Dark 2020, celebrating Guelph’s 193rd birthday and launch Doors Open weekend, with big, bold, innovative history and art activations at and around the Civic Museum from 5 p.m. April 24 to 1 a.m. April 25. This free event aims to create opportunities to connect, explore, and engage the community with history in unique ways.
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 8 Mar 2020
Historians and artists of all disciplines are encouraged to submit proposals for activations that explore Guelph’s history and identity through themes of reconciliation, diversity, landscape, culture, innovation, and environment.
This opportunity is open to individuals, collectives, and groups from anywhere in the world. Preference will be given to residents of the City of Guelph and Wellington County. Installations will be selected through an open call process. A jury, formed by Guelph Museums, will select the featured installations.
Submissions will be assessed by the following criteria:
- Innovation and originality
- Quality of work
- Interpretation of themes
- Design and execution plan
Doors Open After Dark 2020 Artist Benefits
Chosen artists will receive an honorarium based on the CARFAC Fee Schedule at the “Other Public Places” level. Since 2017, approximately 200-300 visitors attend Doors Open After Dark each year. Artists will receive promotion through Guelph Museums’ website and social media pages to an audience of over 7,000 followers collectively.
Social Equity
Guelph Museums is in the process of decolonization through the reconstruction of their colonialist framework and by collaborating meaningfully with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples. The Museums are committed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, strive to initiate dialogues, and create safe spaces for truth telling. These guiding principles inform all activities at Guelph Museums.
Doors Open After Dark 2020 coincides with the 193rd anniversary of the “founding” of the city of Guelph – a story traditionally centered on John Galt’s arrival in Canada in 1827 to build a Scottish settlement. The story excluded the Indigenous Peoples present on this land thousands of years before Galt’s arrival. Doors Open After Dark aims to provide space for historical truths and engage meaningfully with present-day communities impacted by those histories.
About Guelph Museums
Guelph Museums consists of three heritage sites – Guelph Civic Museum, McCrae House, and Locomotive 6167 – where they explore local histories through permanent and changing exhibitions, interactive galleries, special events, and engagement activities.
The Civic Museum (the location of Doors Open After Dark) is located in the heart of downtown Guelph in the renovated Loretto Convent. Guelph Civic Museum is home to a collection of over 30,000 artifacts that bring Guelph’s past to life.
They are adjusting the way history has been portrayed at the Museums to incorporate authentic Indigenous voices, stories, and knowledge, which have traditionally been sidelined in favour of colonial narratives. Guelph Museums considers truth and reconciliation fundamental in upholding its mandate to be a community museum that makes a difference, improving the lives of residents and visitors to the City of Guelph.
For more information, contact sarah.ball@guelph.ca.