The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Ojibwe-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
Having previously engaged with my friends in ‘Creative Nights’- where we would engage in small, achievable art projects as a means to connect and create with one another- at each other’s homes, I found myself asking the question many have asked in the last year during the Covid-19 pandemic: How can I translate this sort of experience online? Similar to many galleries, artists, and event coordinators, I ended up turning to Instagram as a selected platform to connect and share with my friend group.
How do we keep integrity to the important features of events previously held in gallery and home spaces while embracing the features Instagram has to offer in terms of collaboration & audience engagement? An objective that I had when considering the infrastructure of what I wanted to create was that Instagram would not be a simple, sometimes weak substitute for previous in-person facilitations: I have been thinking through how to utilize its strengths to our advantage. The ‘our’ I speak to is a multiplicity of people & objectives I wanted to have integrity to, that I am personally engaged in: The needs and wants of my friends who miss our creating & sharing times, the power of Instagram’s connectivity, community-building & business exchange as it links with other resources, artist pages, galleries, museums, etc, as well as my personal interest in imbuing these spaces with a slightly-more-intentional sprinkling of art education. Rather than simply approaching Instagram as a vehicle that can implement strategies of outreach to connect with others, I hope to facilitate more meaningful exchanges in this online space.