AOTA

All funds raised will go to support...

Community + Art + Passion
Arts on the Ave Edmonton Society is a registered non-profit, charity organization engaged in developing 118th Avenue (75 – 106 Streets) into a community arts district.

Begun in 2005 and incorporated into a Society in 2007, this creative coalition has experienced exponential growth with a current involvement of over 200 multi-disciplinary artists and invested community members. This active growth has been spurred on by highly dedicated and involved members. In April 2008 Arts on the Ave was the proud recipient of the 21st Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts.

Arts on the Ave has organized and presented a broad range of activities: extensive art showings, a variety of inter-disciplinary festivals as well as activities that are a blend of artistic expressions in an educational, mentoring and sharing environment. Using the existing cultural fabric to enliven Edmonton’s inner-city neighbourhoods, Arts on the Ave has showcased local talent, and crossed boundaries to establish a multi-disciplinary arts cluster.

The organization is engaged with the city and dedicated to the community through the cultivation of positive urban renewal. It is through culture-led urban regeneration initiatives, a vision of creative spaces and place-making that these art-infused communities have begun to flourish and provide a safe, nurturing environment for artists to thrive.

Vision, Mandate and Goals of AOTA
Arts on the Ave sees 118 Ave, (NAIT to Gretzky Drive), as a place whose “personality” is vividly expressed through the arts. This place has a dynamic momentum, “an arts pulse” where the artist and community continually engage.

At its core, Arts on the Ave believes in cultivating artistic fellowship through arts celebrations, signature art festivals, and traditions. The Society’s goals are to create opportunities for all individuals to experience the joy of artistic expression and to nurture creative environments. Arts on the Ave is comprised of visual and performance artists, literary and film artists, photographers, and musicians that collaborate and create in the Alberta Avenue Arts District.

Objectives:
1. Become the premier arts-based presenting organization in Edmonton.
2. Creating professional platforms of artist interdisciplinary exchange and creation.
3. Creating professional cultural art intersections, through signature festivals, happenings, and activations in carved-out spaces, in keeping with our mandate.
4. Support the re-purposing and revitalizing of existing buildings and empty lots within the Alberta Avenue District for inspirational, year-round placemaking.
5. Provide arts spaces to foster the celebration of the human spirit through the arts.
6. Establish the Alberta Avenue District as a colourful, creative arts destination
in Edmonton.
7. Create bridges to cross the boundaries between art forms to share and explore the creative process.
8. Celebrate all of Alberta Avenue District’s ethnocultural identities, both past and present.
9. Foster inclusive citizenship and civil society within the whole of our Alberta Avenue District.
10. Build positive relationships in an educational, mentoring and sharing environment.