Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba

Including artists and audiences with disabilities into all facets of the arts community.

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Important Announcement! The front door of the building at 329 Cumberland that house AANM has updated their front entry. To enter the space visitors will need to press #33 on the buzz system to enter. Alternatively, visitors and call Jenel Shaw at 1-204-336-2366 to enter.

Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba is a regional not-for-profit artist run charitable organization dedicated to the full inclusion of artists and audiences with disabilities into all facets of the arts community.

Artist Resources

AANM is your source for:

Calls for Artworks

Professional Development

Social Opportunities & Events

One-on-one Coaching

and more

Artist Resources

Supporter Resources

AANM is your source for:

Artist Profiles

Online Exhibitions

Accessibility Guidelines

Purchasing Artwork

and more

Supporter Resources

Congratulations to the 2023 AANM Grant winners!

This is a photograph of Adriana Alarcón. Adriana is a Guatemalan woman in her late 30s with beautiful curly black hair and clear caramel skin. Adriana is smiling and her dimples are shining through. She is wearing pink rimmed glasses, a dark shirt with a floral motif and a necklace with many stones.
Alarcón is an artist living on Treaty 1 territory. A first-generation immigrant from Guatemala of complex identities, Alarcón is Latine, cisgender, queer, sober and living with disability. As a mestiza woman, she recognizes Spanish and Maya K’ekchi’ ancestry (though no direct claim to Indigenous community). These identities guide her work to explore contradictions and connections. Alarcón incorporates cultural craft traditions and ancestral knowledge with contemporary narratives using fibre-based crafts, such as knitting, crochet, embroidery, beading and weaving. Alarcon relates her craft work to her relationship with the body. Specifically, the disabled body and how it must trudge through life’s circumstances with and despite additional snags. She has a bachelor’s degree from York University in Cultural Studies. Alarcón combines her art practice with arts administration in Toronto and Winnipeg working at artist-run centres such as A Space, CARFAC Ontario, Craft Action TO, Steps and MAWA. She enjoys speaking publicly about Craftivism and teaching craft based practices.
This is a photograph of Andi Leaf Pankratz during a performance. Andi is a white woman in her late 20s with long brown hair. The space is dark with a screen in the background which shows a projection of Andi wearing a white dress that is falling off her shoulders and chest. Her nipples are covered with red tape. In front of the screen Andi is on her knees and interacting with a metal circle with string attached like a net. Andi is wearing a wrap around her waist and is not wearing a top
Leaf Pankratz is an emerging nonbinary, HoH artist. Their work as an interdisciplinary creator and producer includes drag performance, contemporary dance, physical theatre, and circus arts. They first began training in theatre at the age of four, and have continued ever since expanding into improv comedy, physical theatre, and musical theatre. A recent graduate of the University of Winnipeg with a BAH degree in linguistics and theatre, and graduate of the previously offered Deaf Studies program through Red River College, Pankratz has also trained with SITI company, Prairie Circus Arts, and the National Ballet School of Canada. Pankratz’s short film, Adamah, has screened internationally as an official selection of the Circus International Film Festival, and in the Reel Pride Winnipeg shorts competition. Their live performance adaptation/continuation piece debuted at the Helmut Gallery in Leipzig, Germany.
This is a photograph of m. patchwork monoceros. mel is a black woman in her 40s or 50s and is smiling and looking directly at the viewer. mel is wearing a black hat with a rim, funky orange glasses, a black and white striped shirt and jewelry and piercings on ger ears and nose.
Currently based in Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg, MB), m. patchwork monoceros is a poet and interdisciplinary artist exploring polysensory creation and somatic grief. Engaging poetry, memoir, textiles, and film, their work considers a collective qrip (queer+crip) consciousness by connecting to marvelous bodies living with complexity as sick or disabled. monoceros lives and works in Treaty 1/Winnipeg, MB; home of the Métis First Nation and the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Dene, Cree, Dakota and Oji-Cree Nations with their menagerie of dogs, cats, plants, corvids and works in progress.
This is a photograph of Ryan Smoluk in his studio. Ryan is a white man in his 40s. He is smiling slightly at the camera and stands with his arms crossed. Ryan has a shaved head and clean shaved face. He is wearing a black button up top. Ryan is standing in front of his artwork which features many intricate details.
Ryan Smoluk is a powerful self-advocate and a seasoned spokesman for Autism Awareness. His art has been showcased internationally. Ryan’s art has been featured on several television interviews, magazine articles and books including two beautiful art books titled, “Artism, The Art of Autism” and “The Heart of Autism” by Debbie Hosseini. Ryan continues to exhibit his artwork in galleries. Ryan has a very unique style that is original to him. His artworks feature multi-layered detail which explores the way that Ryan sees the world. Ryan feels that Autism is both a blessing and a curse.

Latest News

Katrina Craig – SICK PARTY

This is a poster for a visual art show by Katrina Craig. The artist’s name and the show’s title (SICK PARTY) are written in thin black hand lettering atop a hand-drawn image in tones of peach, orange, and beige. In the image, two hands, each with fingers bowed and knotted like rubbery noodles, are raised up on long arms that are likewise woven and undulating. On a strip of dark brown at the bottom of the poster, the details of the event are written in beige: Opening March 1st, 2024, 6-9pm, Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba, 102-329 Cumberland Ave & aanm.ca/online-exhibitions, along with the logos for the Province of Manitoba and AANM.

ARTIST STATEMENT Sick Party explores invisible illness and the ongoing pressure to perform ‘wellness’ in everyday life while feeling anything but well. The figures in…

harper k. smith – EP Release

EP release show poster. The main image is a black and white photo of a young light-skinned woman with shoulder-length dark hair parted in the centre, large round glasses, and two small piercings near her bottom lip. She is seated before a birthday cake topped with unlit candles, wearing a party hat and her eyes are cast downwards to the cake with a depressed expression. Across the top of the image in red blackletter font reads “Harper K. Smith”, with the opening act Annaxis noted below in red blocky font. The show details appear in the bottom left corner in white sans serif font: February 9th, 2024, doors 7pm, show 7:20pm, The Output (Video Pool) 100 Arthur St (Artspace) 2nd floor, No cover! Access info: masks required, seats available, wheelchair accessible, email info@aanm.ca by 01/26 to request ASL or with questions. Below this text are Arts AccessAbility Network and Province of Manitoba logos.

BIO Harper K. Smith is a queer and mad/disabled, freakfolk-pop musician from Winnipeg (Treaty 1 Territory). Her songs ache over broken relationships, sickness, and death,…

Akayna- IS THIS REALITY?

This is a promo advertising AKAYNA’s show at AANM Gallery, opening Dec 1, 6-9pm, also at aanm.ca/online-exhibitions. This info, as well as the show title “Is this reality?” is written in plain white font across a stylized greyscale ‘landscape’ image. On closer inspection we see that the organic elements are created with fabric, and photographed with forced perspective to appear as a naturescape. The ‘sky’ is a dim purple, with a faint sci-fi grid superimposed. In large futuristic white font the artist’s name AKAYNA is emblazoned across the top. Along the bottom are the logos of AANM, the Province of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Arts Council, and Akayna’s website address.

BIO Akayna is a Métis, multidisciplinary conceptual emerging artist and Emily Carr University of Art & Design graduate who practices chemically mindful art. They are…

Kim Kitchen – HER VOICE THE WAVES LIKE SILK

This is an advertisement for a visual art show by Kim Kitchen opening November 3, 2023 at 102-329 Cumberland Avenue in Winnipeg and aanm.ca/online-exhibitions. The bottom half of the image is clean white, with simple dark blue text providing the show information and the title: HER VOICE THE WAVES LIKE SILK. Below are the logos for the Province of Manitoba and Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba, as well as the artist’s website www.kimkitcheninthestudio.com. At the top of the image are slim details from two photographs. In the upper photo, the artist, a light-skinned woman with brown tightly curly hair, lies naked with her back to us on a rocky beach, her feet wrapped in cobalt blue silk which flows over driftwood and exits the picture to the right. The lower image appears more abstract but is understood to be the blue silk floating partially submerged in lake-water, sunlight highlighting the rippling surface.

  BIO Kim Kitchen is a multidisciplinary artist working in audio and film as a result of a debilitating and transformative illness. She explores collective…

Jude Palace – I Do Not Make Art For Anyone; I Make Art For You.

This is a poster advertising Jude Palace’s digital drawing show at AANM Gallery102-329 Cumberland Avenue, opening October 6 from 6-9pm, and available online at aanm.ca/online-exhibitions. These details are displayed in lines of plain, bright high-contrast text, sandwiched between slices sampled from Palace’s work, along with the logos of the funder, Canada Council for the Arts, and AANM, as well as the title of the show, “I Do Not Make Art for Anyone; I Make Art for You.” Palace’s work is busy, exuberant, tragic, and appears as a chaotic jumble of bright colours, creating an intriguing narrative. Visible in the top image detail is a young, blonde boy with large blue eyes, calmly meeting our gaze, as the hands of someone in a white sweater studded with red hearts grasps his chin and hair as if preparing to wrench his head violently. The background is bright red with abstract lines snaking among orange and yellow star/explosions. In the image below that, we see a blue tiger sitting regally on a pink shabby sofa. A snake patterned with red, orange, and black is seen entering through a window and baring its fangs towards the tiger, who is sporting an award ribbon on his furry chest. The bottom image depicts a young Black boy in a yellow cap and green jacket, turning to meet our eye over his shoulder. On his collar in orange font is the word ‘lonely,’ in which the ‘o’ is denoted by a daisy. The boy is touching a wall calendar set to November, with a hand displaying bloody knuckles and multiple band-aids.

Bio My name is Jude Palace, and I am a Canadian digital artist. My practice involves a therapeutic approach to each piece, using complex personal…

AANM DISCUSSION SERIES PARTICIPANT APPLICATION

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Deadline to apply for Session #1 is November 10, 2023.  This registration intake is for SESSION #1: Monday, November 13, 6:30pm CST (7:30pm EST), 2023  “Coming Out…

Upcoming Events


 

Artist Focused

Art takes all sorts of shapes and forms. And the same can be said for Artists. In the AANM Artist Focus we introduce you to some of the amazing artists from our membership, their stories, and their art.

Membership

Join our vibrant community of artists, allies, and arts organizations and help us create a Manitoba where the arts are accessible for everyone! When you join you will be subscribed to our members-only monthly newsletter, where you will be the first to learn about new projects, calls for art, and other events held by AANM.

Donations

AANM depends on the generous support of our donors. Your contribution goes a long way to helping AANM support Manitoba Artists with Disabilities. Find out your donation can help.

AANM is in a multi-level building with a ramp on the east side of the building. We offer accessible washrooms. ASL is provided upon request, with one week notice. We request that all staff and members refrain from wearing scented products out of respect for those with sensitivities. Service animals are welcome (pets are not.)
For other accommodations, or if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact the office at 204-336-2366 or email info@aanm.ca

Disability Symbols,

AANM Would Like to Thank

Canada Council of the Arts Logo
Assiniboine Credit Union Logo
Manitoba Arts Council Logo
The Winnipeg Foundation Logo
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