Arts Network Ottawa is a proud member of The Ottawa Cultural Alliance (OCA). This umbrella organization works collaboratively to address shared opportunities and challenges to advance the cultural sector development champion its contributions to our city and its residents. Learn more here. 

“The Ottawa Arts Council (the Council) is a bilingual service organization that advances, promotes, and advocates for the arts in Ottawa.” Through a variety of strategies including the Ottawa Arts Initiative, Arts Network Ottawa and The Council work collaboratively to advocate for more inclusion and representation of arts and culture in Ottawa. 

We have also worked together on professional development projects and research.  

Arts Network Ottawa is one of many Resident Art Partners located in the Shenkman Arts Centre where we are the stewards of the ARTicipate endowment fund.  

Shenkman Arts Centre is a creative hub where artists and audiences meet to explore a diversity of arts through live performance, instruction, exhibits and special events. The centre is located in the east Ottawa community of Orléans and offers programs and services in both English and French. Home to two theatres, seven galleries and seventeen studios – the SAC is operated by the City of Ottawa.  

Through a partnership with Cultural Development and Initiatives team, the Cultural Venue Recovery Project (HVAC) was aimed to build community capacity in non-City owned community arts and culture venues by offering access to interior air quality (IAQ) site surveys completed by Bouthillette Parizeau (BPA) engineering firm. Launched in 2021 to assist in the re-opening of cultural spaces after the first Covid-19 lockdown, it resulted in a report to help venue owners, cultural centers and event producers assess risk in their venues. Learn more here. 

Following years of meetings and forums to discuss issues and model activities to promote pluralism in the arts in Ottawa, local artists and groups collaborated with Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) to formalize a local Network in 2016. The CPAMO Ottawa Network was established to increase awareness of the presence and importance of pluralism in the arts for Indigenous and diverse artists, arts organizations, communities and audiences in the Capital Region, and to provide a forum for sharing information and growing partnerships in support. With the establishment of the Multicultural Artist Coalition (MAC-CAM), the work of the CPAMO Ottawa Network winded down to direct resources to this important new organization. 

The Multicultural Artists Coalition (MAC-CAM) is a professional arts organization shaped by immigrant, refugee, Indigenous, Black, and POC artists and arts administrators. Through capacity-building workshops, art festivals, research, and advocacy, our programming targets systemic barriers to support our communities in achieving their goals with a larger impact, audience, scale, and visibility. Arts Network Ottawa actively partners and supports the work of MAC-CAM through various projects, including the Art+ Series, and co-chairing the CPAMO-Ottawa group.  

Girls+ Rock Ottawa is an award-winning community organization that provides professional development opportunities, community engagement, and advocacy support for girls, women and gender-diverse folks to help them gain equitable access to opportunities in music. In 2021, Arts Network Ottawa and Girls+ Rock Ottawa partnered on the GRO Academy and gear-lending library, hosted at the Shenkman Arts Centre. Through this project, participants gained access to a compressive inventory of musical instruments and accessories, networks of peers, and learning modules.