Mandate

• ARCCO is a provincial arts service organization that serves artist-run (driven, led, centred) organizations that support the creation, production and presentation of contemporary living artistic culture in the visual arts;
• ARCCO collects, synthesizes and shares information relevant to its highly specialized labour force;
• ARCCO acts as a hub where peers of the artist-run network can meet, and share experiences and resources;
• ARCCO collaborates with provincial and national associations in the arts to advocate for increased funding to improve the wages and work conditions of the precarious labour force of artists and managers, for the long-term sustainability of the sector.

Values

• Artist-run centres play a specific role in the visual arts ecology and this role merits greater recognition
• Each artist-led organization has the right to determine its own structure and purpose
• Artists and workers in non-commercial contexts deserve professional and respectful workplaces
• Arts workers in the artist-run milieu have specialized knowledge and skills to respond to the needs of artists at every stage of their careers.

ARCCO acknowledges the ancestral and traditional territories and the 46 treaties that cover the territory now called Ontario. Acknowledging traditional Indigenous territories is one small way to recognize contemporary and historical Indigenous presence and land rights. Let this acknowledgement serve as a reminder of our ongoing efforts to recognize, honor, and reconcile with the Indigenous people, the land, and the water that we benefit from today. We are grateful to be able to work and live in these territories and we continue to reflect on our actions as we strive toward a respectfully shared future.