An artist paints a wall for Collective Arts Brewing in Hamilton, Ontario
Photo by Collective Arts Brewing
“Our brand can be encompassed in three short words,” says Matt Johnston, co-founder and CEO of Collective Arts Brewing in Hamilton, Ontario. “Creativity, community, and leadership.”
Founded in 2013, the 60,000-barrel-per-year brewery made a name for itself with its “art series,” which sees the brewery feature the work of over 200 emerging artists every year.
Combined with technically excellent beer, Collective Arts has become one of the fastest-growing breweries in North America. Today, around 150 people work for the brand, which plans on launching a US CBD portfolio and a Canadian cannabis brand later this year.
Over the past seven years, even as new employees joined Collective Arts and the product line and artist roster expanded, the company stayed true to their core values. Most recently, these values took the form of a call for art from historically marginalized voices, whose thought-provoking art will be featured across the fifty or sixty SKUs which will debut in January 2021.
“Inherent in our values is inclusivity and equality,” says Johnston. “You can’t have a creative world without inclusivity and equality. You can’t have a community.”
The call for art, which is “specifically geared toward art dealing with the issues of social justice,” invites “any artist, from any medium, anywhere in the world” to submit, and is open until August 31st, 2020. Like the brewery’s other series, finalists will be chosen by an independent group of curators.
What Is Collective Arts Brewing?
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Collective Arts Brewing in Hamilton, Ontario
Photo by Collective Arts Brewing
Collective Arts Brewing was founded in Hamilton, Ontario, in 2013 by Matt Johnston and Bob Russell. However, as Johnston says, “There are really four of us I’d describe as partners in the business — myself, Russell, brewmaster Ryan Morrow, and Jeff Tkachuk, who leads all of our finance and operations.”
Together, Johnston, Russell, Morrow, and Tkachuk wanted to create “something with a voice and a purpose.” As lovers of the arts, they built their fledgling brand on the ethos of combining craft beer with the talents of emerging artists from around the world.
“We love all things creative and feel the status quo should always be challenged,” says Johnston. “So many artists and musicians have a really hard time being seen and heard. For us, we had a platform that we were looking to build that really brought it all together.”
Every quarter, the brewery releases a call for art, inviting artists from around the world to submit work based around a specific theme. And each quarter, a rotating board of “curators” chooses the forty to sixty artists the brewery ultimately features on their cans.
What Is The Collective Arts Brewing Call For Art: Amplified Voices?
Maia Faddoul, the artist behind Collective Arts Brewing call for amplified voices
Photo by Collective Arts Brewing
“With everything happening in the world — and with our company’s purpose and ethos — it just made sense for us to have a very purposeful call for art,” says Johnston.
The theme of this quarter’s call is for art dealing with issues of social justice. As Collective Arts writes on their website, this includes “protest art, artwork that deals with topics of equity/inequity, art from BIPOC artists, art from LGBTQ2+ artists, and artwork that conveys a sense of hope for a safer and more inclusive future.”
Every artist featured on a Collective Arts beer can receives $250.
Who Are The Curators For The Call For Art: Amplified Voices?
Cans from the Collective Arts Brewing Artist Series
Photo by Collective Arts Brewing
While Collective Arts tapped artist Maia Faddoul to help design the collateral for their Amplified Voices Call for Art, they also selected several third-party judges to help curate selections. The list of curators includes:
Ashley Mackenzie – Toronto, ON, Canada
Ashley has over fifteen years of integrated experience in creative direction, curating, cultural programming, teaching and visual art. She has worked in the media/broadcasting, entertainment, publishing, corporate, and non-profit sectors.
Most recently, Ashley was one of the 2019 curators for Nuit Blanche Toronto, and her work has included programmed exhibitions, creative collaborations, design and installations for companies such as TEDxToronto, Scotiabank, Samsung, Bell Media, WE Charity, Manifesto Festival, Artscape and byMinistry.
Currently, Ashley is a part time Academic Professor in the Visual and Digital Arts program at Humber College and has directed the Creative Arts Academy for The Remix Project. She’s been a featured speaker, moderator, and facilitator across many forums for OCAD, Ontario Arts Council, TDSB, The Power Plant, Ontario Association of Art Galleries, FreshBooks, ArtReach, Nia Centre for the Arts, UofT, Artscape and others.
Julio Ferrer – Hamilton, ON, Canada
Julio Ferrer is a Cuban-Canadian painter and printmaker whose Pop Art – inspired artwork originates from — and comments upon — political, societal, and personal experience.
Trained at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Havana, Julio has participated in 126 group exhibitions, 18 solo exhibitions, and a commissioned exhibition of the Canadian Prime Ministers for the Canada 150 celebrations.
Since 1990, Ferrer has won 21 awards for his artwork, including 1st prize at Bienal International del Humor. In 2006, he was selected Artist of the Year in his home province of Cienfuegos., Cuba Also in 2006, Julio moved to Canada where he continues his career as independent artist. His artworks are in numerous private and public collections in Cuba, the Americas, and Europe.
Goldie Harris – New York City, NY, USA
Goldie Harris’ affinity for music has evolved into the founding of her own digital agency and studio – 24:OURS – which merges culture and community. Through the company, Goldie has launched two series: #NoiseCtrl and TheLoftSessions, a live music platform giving indie artists a chance to be heard.
In the past, Goldie has served as the Production Manager for the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival — New York City’s largest Hip-Hop cultural event — and creative Marketing Lead for Roc Nation’s EQ Distro.
Ren Navarro – Kitchener, ON, Canada
As a queer black woman in beer, Ren Navarro has talked extensively about diversity in craft beer as the sole Canadian panelist at the 2019 Craft Brewers Conference in Denver, Colorado, as well as on appearances on podcasts, television, and radio shows. For many years, Ren worked as a sales representative for renowned and award-winning breweries, and has appeared frequently at workshops, conferences, and talks to inform and entertain people through her love of beer.
Nate Dee – Miami, FL, USA
Born and raised in South Florida, Nathan Delinois (Nate Dee) has numerous influences, including his Haitian background. He has work with multiple brands, public arts projects, and community activations to create murals, public works, and studio-based art.
In the past, Nate has been featured in media outlets such as ABC, the NFL Network, NBC, the Miami New Times, and many others. He’s been featured on multiple mural projects, and has displayed his work in exhibits throughout the world.
Cadex Herrera – Belize
As a young artist in Belize with limited resources, Cadex Herrera had to always consider his materials and extend the life of his supplies for as long as possible. This has extended to his present artistic practice as he considers appropriate material use, taking into consideration the impact it has on the environment as well as fulfilling his artistic goal of applying minimalistic principles to his work.
How To Enter The Collective Arts Brewing Call For Art: Amplified Voices
Artists interested in submitting pieces for the Collective Arts Brewing Call For Art: Amplified Voices series can visit this page to learn more. The deadline for submission is August 31st, 2020.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
