June 2021
Decolonizing the Museum ? with Chris Creighton-Kelly & France Trépanier from Primary Colours
The role of boards of directors in not-for-profits is a fundamental part of the museum/cultural sector, but also remains one of the least understood and explored parts of our profession. Organizations with robust boards and sound governance have the potential to revolutionize museum operations, while the opposite can ruin otherwise healthy organizations. Watch the recording from the workshops here.
These workshops were presented through BC Museums Association and funded by the Vancouver Foundation.
April 2021
Activating decolonial methodologies and creating bridges within IBPOC arts communities. In an interview with Humber College students, Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier talk about their vision and work with PC/Cp:
Mass Culture is working with students from Humber College’s Arts Administration and Cultural Management program to uncover the stories that make up the history of the arts sector through the eyes of Arts Service Organization leaders. Watch the video here.
December 2020
BIPOC: Can a term be too inclusive? Find out in this episode of Word Bomb:
The acronym BIPOC has been around for years-but in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and BLM protests across North America this summer, it's been thrust into the spotlight. Is this hot-button term inclusive or homogenizing? Does it signal solidarity or perpetuate erasure? Pippa and Karina of Word Bomb podcast break down BIPOC from a uniquely Canadian perspective with help from Paige Galette, a queer Black artist and organizer from Ontario, as well as France Trépanier, Kanien'kéha:ka artist and co-director of the arts initiative Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires. Listen to Word Bomb here.
September 2020
Listen to Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires on Radical Radio: Pushing Canada's Art System in Anti-Racist and Decolonial Directions:
"To those of us who are not ourselves artists, it is common to think of "the arts" as all of those practices through which people create the work that we look at, listen to, and otherwise experience as art. This is true, but it misses the fact that these practices, particularly when done by professional artists, are generally embedded in a system of institutions -- an "arts system,"..."
Scott Neigh of Radical Radio speaks with Co-Directors Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier about the work of PC/Cp, decolonizing knowledge, and the complexities of the Canadian art system. Listen to the podcast: here.
August 2019
Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires is featured in Rungh Magazine!
"It is true that IBPoC artists and cultural workers have to constantly straddle two worlds: they are grounded in their own racial/cultural traditions and yet at the same time, they have to navigate the Western framing of art. In other words, they often have to deal with clashing worldviews. How can their intellectual and artistic versatility be better recognized and valued? "
Zool Suleman of Rungh Magazine interviews Co-Directors Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier about centering Indigenous art practices. Read the full interview here.
July 2019
Listen to Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires in CFUV's All Access podcast "The New Paradigm Shift"
Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier discuss PC/Cp methodologies, the challenges of living in Victoria, and creating a new frame for the Canadian art system on CFUV's All Access podcast "The New Paradigm Shift". Listen to the full podcast here.
September 2018
Kablusiak is featured in SAY Magazine's Back 2 School 2018 issue!
PC/Cp Emerging Artist Award recipient, Kablusiak, is on pages 9 and 10 of the newest issue of SAY Magazine. Read about Kablusiak and the PC/Cp Emerging Artist Award here, or pick up your own hardcopy of SAY Magazine.
August 2018
Primary Colours/Couleurs Primaires and ArtsEverywhere Musagetes publish short essays reflective of the gathering that took place in September 2017 on Lekwungen territory.
Using the methodology of poly-vocality to reflect on the Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires gathering that took place in September 2017, PC/Cp and ArtsEverywhere Musagetes partnered together and asked participants of the gathering to write short texts that were reflective of their experiences as facilitators. Read the participant perspectives here.
Capital Regional District (CRD) 2018 Arts Champions Summit powered by Pecha Kucha event on Lekwungen Territory.
Speakers shared stories of arts champions in the capital region on the topic of collaboration.“There are no experts because everyone is an expert.” Directors, France Trépanier & Chris Creighton-Kelly, assert that art practices by people of colour play a critical role in any discussion that imagines the future(s) of Canada. Watch the video here.
July 2018
Radio-Canada: Cultural appropriation or freedom of creation?
This summer the Montreal International Jazz Festival decided to cancel all SLAV performances by director Robert Lepage. From the show's preview, presented in Montreal on June 26, 2018, protesters had denounced what they considered to be cultural appropriation of a black heritage by white creators.Arnaud Decroix discusses it with academic Ibrahima Diallo and artist France Trépanier here. Interview is in French.
June 2018
Buffalo Mountain Drum Magazine interviews France Trépanier about Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires
"I am profoundly convinced of the criticality of the work done by Indigenous artists. They are involved in preserving traditional knowledge, while creating new artworks that respond to the world we live in today". Read the interview here
April 2018
Primary Colours/Couleurs primires in InStudio Magazine Spring/Summer 2018
On pages 22-24 of InStudio Magazine, read Primary Colours: The Canadian art system needs a shake-up - is centering the work of Indigenous artists and artists of colour the key? by PC/Cp participant Aliya Pabani
Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires at the 21st annual Canadian Arts Summit Engage Now
April 19-22, 2018 arts leaders from across the country and across disciplines met to discuss the current trends and future opportunities for cultural engagement. Watch PC/Cp Directors Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier present Creating a New Narrative- Part three: Telling a Canadian Story.
March 2018
Primary Colours/Couleurs Primaires in Rungh Magazine
"Because that’s where we really came to an agreement: to reiterate and commit our strengths, whether it’s on the intellectual, aesthetic, activist and social levels, or on the levels of artistic practice, its transmission, and its distribution, beyond the usual definitions inherited from hegemonic practices which, for quite a long time already, have been granted the privilege of occupying space and producing concepts".
Read The Great Welcome: A PC/Cp Reflection by artist, philosopher, dance creation and teacher, and PC/Cp participant, Zab Maboungou in French and/or in English.
"I am here. I made it to the place of human spirit. I am in a circle with people from all directions of earth".
Read We Continue to Walk: A PC/Cp Reflection by artist and PC/Cp participant, Samaqani Cocahq, here.
"Artists are relied upon not just to picture and resemble but also to see, show, and tell what the dominant imaginary cannot yet admit to consciousness".
Read An Uncertain Lattitude: A PC/Cp Reflection by artist, educator, curator and PC/Cp participant, David Garneau, here.
"Marking, honouring, remembering and retelling stories were aspects of Deconstructing Comfort that exceeded the title chosen for the exhibition".
Read Deconstructing Comfort: A PC/Cp Review by artist, curator, writer, and PC/Cp participant, Tarah Hogue, here.
December 26, 2017
Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires makes First American Art Magazine's Top 10 Native Art Events of 2017
Read about the Top 10 here.
November 9, 2017
Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires in Canadian Art
"One of the things that I found really significant—and that I would like more gatherings to do—was that there was this process of determining four or five specific people in the group that would be named as witnesses"
Aliya Pabani, host of the podcast The Imposter, and PC/Cp participant, shares her experience of the Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires gathering in Reimagining the Art Symposium here
September 30, 2017
Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires on CBC Radio Canada
"How can art renew our vision of Canada? How to understand its political dimension?How can it not only create links between individuals but be a source of social demands and changes? What is the role of culture and the language of origin?"
Arnaud Decroix discusses this with the local artists France Trépanier, co-director of Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires, and Kathia Rock, author-composer-interpreter, as well as with multidisciplinary artist Anna Binta Diallo. Listen to the discussion here
Banner Image: photo by Amory Hall
