The Centre

Mandate

Established in 1984, the Centre des arts actuels Skol presents free public events and exhibitions. As an artist-run centre, it prioritizes artistic freedom and dedicates itself to supporting artists. The centre adopts a critical and experimental approach, creating opportunities for reflections, encounters and intergenerational, intercultural and interdisciplinary exchanges. Risk-taking, performance, and committed unifying projects characterize its diverse programming.

Skol supports its members by nourishing their research, exhibiting and promoting their work and providing them with a community space. Driven by a spirit of self-management and social equity, Skol is an open and welcoming space reaching out to diverse audiences. Alongside its programming, its internal functioning is collegial: attentive to its members, artists and the artistic community’s evolution.

Structure

Skol’s adaptive framework enables the emergence and support of exploratory projects. It is structured by its mission, its traditions, its shared values, its programming processes, and by the continued conversations of its active members, including art professionals, volunteers, and students.

Geographic Location

Skol resides on the 3rd floor of the Belgo Building in downtown Montreal. Frequented by every kind of art-user and at the confluence of the Musée d’art contemporain and three Montreal universities, this location brings the Centre close to its audiences, with significant increases in use during large-scale public events and joint initiatives. The proximity of other contemporary art centres also allows us to share material and promotional resources.

Community Served

Focused on experimentation, Skol serves as a resource for the professionalization of emerging artists as well as for more established members seeking to connect and exchange through regular meetings of our «Skollège», an organisational-wide thinking body.
Much energy is dedicated to apply outreach strategies promoting our exhibition visits amongst college and university students as well as community groups. For more info, see our Apprendre/Learn section.

Processes

Skol’s programming in the gallery spaces is mainly based on projects received through its annual call for submissions, although it is also open to the creative initiatives of its active members, i.e., those who regularly take part in its various committees throughout the year. Skol also supports off-site initiatives and special events. Such projects require greater autonomy on the part of the artist in conceiving and producing the project, including financing. For more info, see call for proposals section.

Strategic Collaborations

In recent years, through small and large projects, we have partnered with groups in both the art scene and the community at large. Whether geared toward general audiences—festivals, for instance—or toward smaller, more intimate groups, these projects are intended for the initiated and the uninitiated alike. Not only does collaboration favour access to contemporary production, it also allows for the strategic pooling of resources, the exchange of ideas, and a sharing of knowledge.