Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba

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

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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

AANM Is Hiring! Learn more by clicking here:

https://aanm.ca/job-posting-communications-and-volunteer-coordinator/

AANM 2024 Grant Winners

AANM’s grants are generously funded by the Manitoba Arts Council.

Congratulations to the winners!

Hailley Rhoda

This headshot is of Hailley Rhoda. Hailley is a young white woman with long red hair. She is wearing a green t-shirt with clear framed glasses hanging from the neck of her shirt. Her elfin face is smiling a crooked smile in a mischievous grin.

Hailley Rhoda Bio

Hailley Rhoda is a theatre artist based in Winnipeg Manitoba.  Diagnosed at a young age with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Von Willebrand’s Disease, Hailley’s work often explores what the perception of Disability is versus the lived reality. Since graduating from the University of Winnipeg’s Theatre and Film department, she’s become more interested in creating her own works. She creates under the company name Chronically Ch(ill) Productions, and has created pieces on invisible disability for Sarasvati Productions and Sick+Twisted Theatre. She is an active member of the Winnipeg Puppet Collective. When not working on pieces about invisible disabilities, she focuses on retelling Greek and Roman myths from a female perspective, and building puppets who die in spectacularly entertaining ways. 

Katrina Craig

This is a photo of Katrina Craig. In the foreground is a bush of orange and yellow flowers with green leaves. Katrina is standing behind the bush and in front of a brick porch of a building. Katrina is a young white woman with chin length brown red hair with bangs. She is wearing a white t-shirt and a beautiful headpiece made up of many flowers. Her eyes are closed and her face is serene.

Katrina Craig bio

Katrina Craig is a visual artist and craftsperson living in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Treaty 1 Territory. Originally from Prince Edward Island, Katrina Craig attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles and Fashion. 

Her background in textiles and fashion are found in her work through her use of fibre, three dimensional soft sculpture forms, and the use of textile techniques and needlework in her mixed media projects. While Craig’s work has a continuing thread of textiles, her work often engages with other modes of making including: photography, video, hand lettered text, drawing and writing. 

Craig uses an innate feature of craft based practice: time, labour and process, as a means to explore the intersection of the body and the mind. Her work often references or interacts with the body. It may be worn, referenced in the artwork’s form, or the work may be draped overtop of wire body forms. Craig utilizes her own body through recording herself working bit by bit on her projects, often transforming everyday objects into new structures using needlework, weaving, or other textile techniques.

Exploring topics such as chronic illness, grief, change and transformation, Craig uses visual metaphor to express the subtle changes and invisible labour of internal life. She gives particular focus to how these internal changes translate into and are encouraged by somatic experience in the body. 

Lindsey White

This is a headshot of Lindsey White. Lindsey is a white woman with dark auburn hair that brushes her shoulders. Her green eyes are smiling and looking directly at the camera. She is wearing a round, tigers eye pendant around her neck and a dark green tank top which shows off her nature inspired tattoos on her left shoulder, arm and collarbone.

Lindsey White Bio:

Connection is at the core of a groovy folk-rock sound that is the heartbeat of all music created by Lindsey White and her community. Her soulful compositions are complimented by earthy piano and guitar, powerful vocals and unmistakable passion. The result is an intersection of straight forward groove and complex balladry with a rich, informed lyrical landscape underpinned by hope. Her sound has been described as “the lovechild of Regina Spektor and Florence and The Machine”.

White established herself in the Winnipeg music scene early on as a passionate, expressive voice and an honest, thoughtful songwriter. She went on to create and facilitate community music programming that met people of all ages where they are at. This work landed her a nomination for a Winnipeg Arts Council “Making a Mark” award, five “Women of Influence” Canadian Women Entrepreneur award nominations and a designation as one of the CBC Manitoba Future 40.

It is White’s insightful and forthright approach that results in a sense of trust and relatedness for listeners, co-creators and observers of her work. Whether on stage or in session, she is able to weave memories and learnings in a way that turns adversity into awareness while leaving all feeling more understood.

Sacha Kopelow

This is a photo of Sacha Kopelow.  She is a white woman, with long dark blonde hair, wearing a grey sweater.  She is glancing up to the side and smiling.

Sacha Kopelow Bio:

achieves an ethereal, gemlike colour quality, contributing to an intimate and vulnerable sensibility in her work. Greatly influenced by the intersection of her experience as disabled and her interest in social justice, she explores loneliness, belonging, feminism, minutiae, animal sensitivities, and the nature and collection of life moments.

Born and raised in rural Manitoba, Sacha worked around the globe in environmentalism and social justice before returning to Canada to earn a BFA at NSCAD University. Neurodivergent since birth, she became physically disabled through chronic illness in 2003, and returned ‘home’ to Winnipeg for adaptive care. Having learned to navigate the world as a disabled artist, she has since built a comprehensive studio which allows her to work in metalsmithing, glass casting, painting, drawing, textiles, electronics and photography. Disability has both shrunk and expanded her world – living below the poverty line with limited physical and mental resources. This provides a more nuanced understanding of the struggles of others as well as the opportunity to deeply witness and express her experience of her own life and the world around her.

Latest News

Natalie Sluis – I/Am/I

This is a poster advertising the show of Natalie Sluis, dancer and choreographer. Two photos in cool dim tones make a backdrop for the show's title "I/Am/I," which is front and centre in plain bold white lettering. The two pictures capture Natalie in motion, her hair wild and flowing across her face with the force of her dance movements. She is pale and slim, wearing a plain drab t-shirt and pants. She is barefoot on a grey stone floor. Below the title in a chill blue font it reads "Choreography and dance by Natalie Sluis. Filmed on location at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights by Joey Forte, Music by Moodinies": Below, in tan text: “Opening August 5, 2022, 6-9pm, 102-329 Cumberland Ave, Winnipeg and http://aanm.ca/online-exhibitions.” Along the side of the poster are the logos for Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba and Canada Council For The Arts.

BIO Natalie Sluis is a performing artist based in Winnipeg, on Treaty 1 Land. She is currently in her fourth and final year in the……

Conversations with the Ocean – Kaitlyn Beugh

This is a poster advertising the show of visual artist Kaitlyn Beugh. An image of one of her prints is front and centre on a background of crisp white. The print is an organic shape in many delicate shades of grey and black on white paper. It is ephemeral, ambiguous, but reminiscent of the shape a wave creates lapping on a shore. The artist’s name is emblazoned at the top of the poster in magenta outlined block font, next to the small logos of Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba and Canada Council for the Arts. At the foot in black font is the show title: “Conversations with the Ocean,” followed by: “Opening July 8, 2022, 6-9pm, 102-329 Cumberland Ave, Winnipeg and aanm.ca/online-exhibitions.”

Bio Kaitlyn Beugh is an interdisciplinary visual artist. She lives, works, and plays on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish First Peoples. Beugh’s art……

Call for Submissions

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What is Crip Strength: Art + Body + Mind? Crip Strength: Art + Body + Mind is a one-day event held at the Canadian Museum……

body horror vignettes – lita b.

This is a poster advertising the show of drawing/painting artist lita b. In the center of the poster are the show details, written in lilac font on a peach background: “body horror vignettes” lita b. opening June 3, 2022. 102-329 cumberland ave. Winnipeg, and aanm.ca/online-exhibitions/.” Below this text are the logos for Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba and Canada Council for the Arts. The top half of the poster is occupied by a portion of one of lita b.’s paintings: the background is a pale peach, rose, and yellow sky, with chubby white clouds floating serenely. Contrasting with the serenity of the background is a figure, front and centre. The figure appears to be a doll-puppet, with light blue ‘flesh’ and visible sewing seams. The only facial features on the bald head are two eyes; a tear rolls down from each. From a defect in the skull, a family of spiders emerges and descends to the shoulder. The figure is wearing a plain teal corset and orange skirt. Ribbons from the top of the image are attached at the neck and wrists. In the bottom of the poster is a portion of another of their paintings: A yellow figure holds the small pink lifeless body of a baby faun, with three bloody arrows emerging from its torso.

bio lita b. (they/she) is a self-taught multimedia artist currently residing in Ontario’s Durham Region. lita is a self-ascribed Mad/disabled Black queer spoonie. lita uses……

we are not separate – kelly haydon

This is a poster advertising a show of artwork by kelly haydon. In plain black text in the top left corner is the show’s title: WE ARE NOT SEPARATE. Below, smaller lettering reads: “opens May 6, 2022, 102-329 Cumberland Ave, Winnipeg, and aanm.ca/online-exhibitions”. The poster’s aesthetic consists of layered slices from kelly haydon’s various prints. In the top image, the head and shoulders of a snowy owl is visible, white and black against a rose-coloured background. Directly below is a slim slice of another print consisting of some nonsensical typewritten text, and a short zipper. The third image ‘layer’ is the largest; against a dusty grey backdrop, a delicate white tree grows upwards from the stomach of a white figure prone on the ground. kelly haydon’s name in large black text is positioned against the tree trunk. The figure appears to be lying on the next image slice, a black and white brick office building against an azure sky. The final, bottom image, is a print of a black and white brick building against a yellow background, with a herd of black bison silhouettes ambling by in the foreground. The logos of Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba and Canada Council for the Arts are in the bottom corner.

bio I am a self-realized visual artist based on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ Lands (Vancouver) whose primary focus is painting and printmaking, with a……

The End of The End of Time – Marie LeBlanc

This is a poster advertising artist Marie LeBlanc’s show. The background photograph is monochromatic and abstract, in shades of gold, tan, and hazy rust. The focal point, slightly off-centre in the bottom left, is a glowing circle, possibly a sun. Reaching towards the light, or possibly radiating from it, are jumbled darker lines. These could be read as tree branches, but are too unfocussed to be defined for certain. The overall effect could also be read as an organic tunnel, with light at the end. Mid-level in bold two-tone contrasting text is Marie LeBlanc’s name. Below in bright yellow is the show title “The End of the End of Time”, and below that in white is the direction to “view show online at AANM.ca”. Along the right side of the poster in white print is the following: "LeBlanc's photography highlights humanity’s relationship to nature in a world threatened by pollution and climate change. As a person with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Marie explores the unnatural in the natural environment. Unable to tolerate the toxicities of indoor living, each winter she is compelled to relocate to the warmer climes of Southern USA… this work was inspired by the beautiful but threatened landscapes Marie experiences along the way.” On an olive-green banner spanning the lower portion of the poster, AANM’s mandate is written in cream text: “Arts AccessAbility Network hosts online shows each month exhibiting the work of Canadian artists with disabilities. AANM supports artistic excellence, promotes higher visibility these artists within all disciplines, and promotes policies and practices intended to make the arts more accessible to all.” Below that are the logos for AANM and Canada Council For The Arts.

Marie LeBlanc’s video “The End of the End of Time” has been launched here May 12, 2022 to mark Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Environmental Sensitivities Awareness Day:……

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

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AANM Would Like to Thank

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