Whippersnapper Gallery provides emerging artists with resources and development opportunities to create public programming that starts conversations.
Gallery schematic rendered by Andreas Buchwaldt
Mandate
Whippersnapper Gallery is an artist-run centre committed to the cultivation of inclusive spaces for emerging visual and media arts, community arts, and experimental forms of exhibition making. We provide artists and cultural producers with a flexible platform and exhibition space to expand the parameters of their professional practice. Whippersnapper is structured to encourage peer-to-peer mentorship and promote success by the artists’ own standards. Through critical and diverse programming, Whippersnapper initiates new relationships and unexpected conversations. We facilitate exchange between artists and local communities, and between a spectrum of emerging and established art communities throughout Toronto and Canada.
Staff
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Anique Jordan
Executive Director
Anique Jordan
Executive Director
Anique Jordan is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, scholar and award winning social-entrepreneur. At 19 she founded one of the city of Toronto’s first for youth by youth social enterprises working with over 100 young entrepreneurs. As an artist, her artwork plays with the aesthetics found in traditional Trinidadian carnival and the theory of hauntology to challenging historical narratives and create, what she calls, impossible images. Her art creation processes are guided by the questions: What stories do we tell that go unchallenged? And in how many ways can we know a thing? Anique’s work has taken her to Jamaica, Costa Rica, South Africa, Ecuador, Trinidad and Barbados. She has been mentored by internationally recognized dub poet d’bi. young anitafrika, theatre artist and scholar Honor Ford-Smith and poet Christine Craig. Anique’s work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 44, Crossroads Artspace and The Watah Gallery. She is currently working on the manuscript for her first book, Possessed: Black Women, Hauntology and Art as Survival and is currently a curator at the AGO.
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Joshua Vettivelu
Director of Programming
Joshua Vettivelu
Director of Programming
Joshua Vettivelu is an artist working within sculpture, video, performance and installation. Their work seeks to explore how larger frameworks of power impact and manifest within intimate personal relationships. Recently, their practice has been looking at the relationships of labour and consumption that occurs when personal experiences are mined for the production of art. Vettivelu currently teaches at OCAD University within the faculty of Continuing Education and sits on the National Board of Directors for CARFAC.
History
Whippersnapper was founded in 2005 founded by Luke Correia-Damude and Patrick Struys when they found a warehouse on Front St. that would let them squat in exchange for a clean up and reno of the space. Their goal was to provide flexible spaces for emerging artists in Toronto.
Less than a year later, Whippersnapper relocated to 587 College St, where they ran as a DIY collective with support from many contributors. Over the coming three years, they supported the work of over 1500 artists in the form of art, music and performance events.
In 2010, as energy from the founding members was running out, newer contributors Joshua Barndt and Adrian DiLena applied for Ontario Arts Council funding. With this they oversaw an organizational transition to an Artist-Run Centre model, and a move to our current space at 594b Dundas West. The focus shifted to solo shows for emerging artists, alongside a tradition of off-site interdisciplinary festivals and series (RRRRR, ALL CAPS, New Traditions, Sheroes, Points of Access, Taking Place).
In 2013 the working collective transitioned to Maggie Flynn, Mohammad Rezaei, and Laurie MacInroy. Alvis Choi began working with Whippersnapper to establish stronger relationship with the Chinese community in the neighbourhood. Monica Gutierrez, Anneka Lynch, Danilo McCallum and many supporting artists led years of art programming in partnership with Concrete Roses and Alexandra Park Community Centre.
In 2014, Whippersnapper restructured from the working collective to Maggie Flynn and Mohammad Rezaei becoming the gallery’s co-directors.
Recent years have seen the establishment of major programs such as Sidewalk Screening (cross-Canada emerging video art survey) and PEERS (a peer mentorship program for emerging artists and curators).
This is the abbreviated version. See Programming for an archive of all past projects.
Support us
Whippersnapper is a non-profit artist-run centre that supports emerging artists through critical and incisive programming. If you see what we do, and you get it, please consider tossing us some coin.
Thank you to our funders and sponsors:
