The Burrard Arts Foundation (BAF) has recently announced the latest six recipients of their Artist Residency program, a cornerstone of their annual programming. This year, BAF has selected Jake Kimble, Aileen Bahmanipour, Manual Axel Strain, Jessie Sohpaul, Karice Mitchell, and Johnathan H Alfaro.
Throughout 2023, the Artist Residency program continues to honour BAF’s mission to enhance connection and reduce constraints within Vancouver’s art community, this year’s Residency program provides artists with the studio space, materials, and an honorarium needed to support their individual artistic processes.
It can be difficult for artists to find the space, time and financial resources, within the city of Vancouver to create their art, preventing the artists from reaching their full potential. The program aims to enhance the accessibility of these necessary resources to elevate the profile of these up-and-coming artists, ultimately facilitating work that may not have been realized otherwise.
The Residency program presents an extraordinary opportunity and highlights each artists’ work for a total of ten weeks. This offers the artists a direct line of communication to the Vancouver artistic community, including possible mentors, buyers, and dealers.
“It is truly an honour to be able to continue fostering the Foundation’s mission this year and a truly wonderful opportunity to highlight local talent,” said Kate Bellringer, Director of the Burrard Arts Foundation. The Residency program provides these upcoming artists with the space and resources to help encourage creativity and overall enrich Vancouver’s artistic community.”
BAF encourages Vancouverites to support local artists who are seeking exposure to new and/or local audiences by visiting the artists’ exhibitions at the gallery throughout the year.
“Similar to last years’ exhibition, visitors will be privy to a diverse selection of art displayed. We place a lot of value on inclusion and diversity, and it is a crucial element t our selection process. These exhibits will display various art forms from the selected artists, but it will also demonstrate diverse perspectives from the artists themselves,” Bellringer continued.
More information on the six artists and their exhibitions can be found at burrardarts.org. Exhibitions run throughout 2023 at Burrard Arts Foundation, #2 —258 East 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC