Save the MOEG:
Why Independent Art Spaces Need Our Support
When we walk into Margin of Eras, there is a table decorated with sheets and sheets of paper. Photographs and notes make up the majority of the heap spread out. There are camera tripods a myriad of other props that show Roya DelSol — Gallery Coordinator — and her colleagues are constantly hard at work to accomplish the Gallery’s main mission.
The Gallery is a non-profit organization, a project of award-winning arts initiative CUE (www.cueartprojects.ca), and is run by creative directors Jason Samilski & Zanette Singh. It seeks to provide a safe space for artists and creators of all backgrounds who “live and work in the margins”. They’ve been realising this mission statement since 2017, hosting over 70 exhibitions and attracting around 7,000 guests in the process.
But as gentrification grows and government-backed funding reduces, Margin of Eras — and independent art spaces like it — face extinction.
Speaking to Roya and hearing from other lovers of the Gallery, an obvious fact became even clearer: spaces like these are crucial, not only to individuals, but communities at large. The heart and soul of a society can be seen in the art it creates, and all too often, spaces like these that are established to give individuals (especially those who are often not given space in society) the room to express themselves creatively are the first to fall when gentrification begins to run rampant. At this point, we really have to ask ourselves why? Margin of Eras is at risk of closing, and it shouldn’t be.
Here’s why everyone should care about this incredibly essential space, spaces like it, and how we can help protect them:
Your website mentions that this space is for people who “live and work within the margins”. What does that mean?
“That specifically refers to people who belong to historically marginalized groups and are facing explicit barriers to making and creating work. There are so many ways in which people can be marginalized and “othered” — race, gender identity, sexual identity, history of trauma, incarceration, mental illness, street involvement, etc., but it’s ultimately about a lack of access to traditional structures because of systemic exclusion. I think this is a space that is very specifically like “this space is for you” and we’re going to centre you and we’re going to centre your experiences and we’re going to meet you where you’re at.”
What does this space mean to you, personally?
“This was kind of the first way in which I felt really legitimized within the arts. My bosses really took a chance on me…and so I think that for me, it’s meant a lot personally in terms of my own artistic practice and being able to learn from people, to believe in my competency and life and learn from others.”
What would you say this space means to the community?
“I think that this space is so important for our community — the artistic community in Toronto. I feel like having a space that’s so consistently accessible is really important. People say “oh, well it’s not like you don’t see black or brown artists showing” and it’s true, but a lot of times people are invited in and they’re tokenized, but it’s not on their terms or on their grounds and it’s not consistent. It’s like couch surfing as opposed to having your own home, you know? It’s like yeah, cool, I can sleep but is this on my terms? Am I comfortable? Am I growing? You know, all those things. I feel like this is a place where people can have that hub and call it a home.”
Beyond sharing links and posts on social media, how can we as a community help save the MOEG and spaces like it?
“Honestly, the way people can actually help is by organizing, in my opinion. Ultimately, at the end of the day, this is a policy problem and I feel like a lot of problems with society are based on the fact that the policy is not in line with the way people are actually living or the way things actually work. So I think the most immediate way is, like when your friends are having an event, support and pay if you’re able to. It is so helpful and important to support people when they are doing that work. So I think that’s a very immediate thing. And then I think on a larger scale, people organizing and collectively putting pressure on governing bodies — whether arts councils or the government — to really be like, “okay you need to re-examine these policies”. Because, say we were able to fundraise all the money we needed to keep the space open for 2020. That doesn’t change the fact that there could be someone else who then runs into this problem down the line, then runs into the exact same issue as being choked by those same structures.”
The Gallery is crowdsourcing funding over at www.savethemoeg.com.
