—Ukraine!

The recent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces has led to an astonishing array of creative works throughout the world, from cartoons and memes, to poems and songs, to paintings and graphic designs including one by our own member, Derwyn Goodall, RCA. Derwyn’s two-colour design, in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, is an eloquent gesture which acknowledges this tragedy.

—New Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts Laureates

On Friday, December 8, 2023, the ‘Covid cohort’, of 2021, 2022, and 2023 Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts Laureates, were inducted by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, at Rideau Hall. This group of distinguished artists, designers and craftspersons included members Brigitte Clavette, Luc Courchesne, FASTWÜRMS, Germaine Koh, Lou Lynn, and Anna Torma. We congratulate all winners on their career achievements.

—New RCA members, scholarship winners and medalists

We’re pleased to announce that at this year’s Awards Dinner on November 18, 2024 we inducted ten new members, awarded three CD Howe Scholarships, one Ernest Annau Travel Study Scholarship, one Arthur Erickson Travel Study Scholarship and two RCA Medals. Our new members are Duff Balmer, Christine Fitzgerald, Illarion Gallant, Mary Kavanagh, Kyung Park, Agathe Piroir and Alice Teichert. Our CD Howe Scholarship winners this year are Rowan Bell, Carleton University; Deon Feng, University of British Columbia; and Madison Melley, University of Alberta. We have one Ernest Annau Travel Study Scholarship winner this year, Amanda Miao, University of British Columbia. And our Arthur Erickson Travel Study Scholarship winner is Julia Krulicki, Toronto Metropolitan University. We awarded two RCA Medals, to Sandra Crabtree & Gerald MacGarvie of the Crabtree Foundation, and to art historian John O’Brian.

—Our new Ottawa location

On September 1, 2020, the RCA moved into its new office space at 50 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, the home of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Situated at the confluence of the Rideau Falls, and the Ottawa and Gatineau Rivers, this building, designed by architect Peter Spaull in 2000, has two purpose-built gallery spaces. We will present exhibitions beginning in the 2021–22 season, once social distancing is relaxed from the advisories established during the Covid-19 pandemic.

—Closing our office at 401 Richmond, Toronto

Since the early 1990s, the RCA’s office was located at 401 Richmond, a historic warehouse in downtown Toronto and home to over 140 cultural producers including fashion designers, film makers, jewelers, architects, animators, communications specialists, graphic designers, art galleries, artist-run centres, and several charitable organizations. Originally the site of the Macdonald Manufacturing Company, a tin lithography factory built in 1899, 401 Richmond represented a wonderful opportunity for the RCA to liaise efficiently with a centralized arts and culture community. It was determined in 2018, however, to relocate our office to Ottawa as both a cost-saving measure and to benefit from closer proximity to national arts funders.