Our Story
ecosystems is a project from the same team that brings Vines Art Festival to life every summer on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh territory. Since Vines’ beginning in 2015 as an annual presenting organization we have hosted countless healing events with our community. Over the years we have developed deep-seeded relationships with hundreds of artists, dozens of community partners, and many audience members. With ecosystems, we are embracing new growth as we expand to meet our community's needs.
To us, art is not just about the creative expression of individuals; art is community care and healing. Art is collective resistance from disconnection, displacement and colonization. Reimagining mainstream art turns a mirror on those who reside in our ecosystem, revealing growth or stagnancy, and the ways in which we are implicated in imbalance. When we all acknowledge our roles in our ecosystem, we can see the ways in which balance has been broken, the careful symbiotic relationships developed to ensure our survival disrupted by the perverse and violent nature of colonialism, capitalism and white supremacy.
In order to return to a symbiotic balance we must focus on the ways in which we enrich ourselves through being in relation to each other. What weeds need to be removed and how to nurture our conditions? ecosystems is a multi-pronged approach to strengthening artist relations.
Values
- Healing
- Liberation
- Generous honesty
- Anti-oppression
- Integrity
Gratitude
We honour and thank the people and teachings, communities and friends, and knowledge from many places that have shaped this service. Artists, healers, elders and creators have imagined and led transformative work that brings us space, hope and humanity. We thank those who have shaped our knowledge of Natural Law, Transformative Justice, Abolition and Mutual Aid, Intersectionality, Equity, Somatic Healing, Ceremony, Queering, Healing Justice, Disability Justice and more.