Since the mid 1990′s, Chinatown’s businesses and community centres have been involving artists in this neighbourhood, creating its own coterie of artists, musicians and writers, and admirers. The Remixed Collective (RC, formerly The Chinatown Remixed Collective CRC) was formed in November 2008 by local artists, business owners and residents, to spark interest in Chinatown’s art and culture. The RC grew from a need to strengthen Ottawa’s art scene in Chinatown. Mandate
The Remixed Collective promotes contemporary art in Ottawa’s Chinatown, a multicultural village with an Asian flavour. We provide alternative spaces to typical gallery venues, giving a platform to artists. Both established artists and emerging artists are encouraged to exhibit. We promote Chinatown’s singular community with its vibrant, eclectic mix of residents, businesses, churches, community centre, health centre and the university college. We adapt to our community’s ever-changing diversity of backgrounds, including Vietnamese, French, Chinese, Korean, Lebanese, Indian, Romanian, Italian, Ukrainian, Cambodian, Thai and South American. We also promote multiculturalism within the arts, embracing artists of various ethnic roots. Objectives and artistic goals
RC nurtures the arts by offering emerging and established artists, many of them local, a unique opportunity to engage with the Chinatown community. We collaborate with the artists, pairing them with alternative gallery spaces within Chinatown. In this way, we will generate a broader audience base for the artist and support community-based artistic activities. As well, we will introduce businesses to artists, fostering a sustainable and rewarding association for all parties. We not only want to spur the creation of original work, we’re interested in exhibiting and disseminating the art. We want to encourage artists in their confidence to explore new ideas and other media. While we certainly want to show highly innovative work, we also want to build trust between the business owners hosting the spaces and the artists producing the exhibits. RC involves community businesses, turning an entire street that is rich with history and culture into one continuous art gallery.
