INCARD
Welcome to INCARD’s Website, an encyclopedia of who’s doing what in the arts in
Northern Ontario. INCARD is an independent, incorporated not-for-profit
organization dedicated to collecting and publishing on this website, information
about Northern Ontario artists and artisans, clubs, groups, bands, art
galleries, publishers, festivals, societies, councils, guilds, choirs—those who
individually or collectively work in the arts sector.
INCARD wishes to show the rest of the world the rich diversity and high quality of Northern Ontario art. Its geographical focus is on “shield country” which lies between the dense urban areas to the south, and the northern tree line. This is the most unacknowledged area of the Canadian cultural scene.
INCARD wishes to provide information for future research in several areas. It wishes to provide information so that artists and artisans may communicate with one another. It wishes to encourage economic development and impact studies in the arts sector, stimulate tourism, and increase the north’s awareness and pride in its artistic communities. It is especially devoted to publishing information from smaller areas which do not have an arts council or other means to catalog and publish their local arts resources.
INCARD does not have “members” who pay a fee. It seeks to document the work of all published Northern Ontario artists, artisans, groups, galleries, etc.
INCARD does not sell anything, nor does it consider itself a retail sales
outlet. However, experience has already shown that artists and artisans on our
site have been contacted by potential customers and clients. Undoubtedly this
trend will continue to grow.
INCARD is entirely dependent on sponsors for its livelihood—federal, provincial, business, corporate, and educational.
INCARD attempts to update its website weekly, but at least twice a month.
INCARD has experienced a steady growth in browsers/users since its launch in April, 2002. As of January, 2003, it is receiving approximately 100 “hits” per week, worldwide, with each viewer spending approximately 14 minutes at the site, on average, up from approximately 85 hits per week in September, 02. (See www.incard.ca/stats). If Google is asked to search the word “incard,” www.incard.ca comes up on the first page as #4, out of 2,140 listings. If Google is asked to search for “Northern Ontario artists,” INCARD comes up #1 out of over 30,000 listings (as of Jan 03).
(NOTE: the following menu gives our ambitious listings for the eventual INCARD directory—always growing, never complete. In our start-up year, much is not yet collected and some menu items show a bare cupboard. Bear with us; neither Rome nor the INCARD Website was built in a day. Northeastern Ontario is a very large place. But don’t just sit there; if you have information on where and by whom we could collect more information, please let us know. See “How to join the website” below.)
About INCARD Click here to find out who we are, our telephone and fax numbers, mail and email addresses, our Board of Directors, our Managing Director and Assistants, our mandate, our history, our aims and objectives.
How To Join the Website Click here to access questionnaires, so that if you are a published artist or artisan, director of a group or organization, you too can be a part of the INCARD Website.
Our Sponsors Corporate sponsors are an important source of our funding, a crucial blood supply to our livelihood. Click here to see at a glance those government agencies, institutions, companies and corporations, large and small, who support the arts in the north via INCARD. These sponsors of INCARD’s total program contribute, in kind or cash, a minimum of $1,000 yearly.
Artists and Artisans: A-Z Click here if you know the last name of an artist or artisan and wish to read his or her entry in this basic data base. Scroll through the list to see some wonderful artwork and get a sense of the diversity and magnitude of northern artists and artisans.
Artists and Artisans: by activity, The artists and artisans in “A-Z” are here repackaged by what they do—writers, painters, musicians, photographers, etc. If you wanted to know who the painters are in our data base, for example, click here.
Artists and Artisans: by locality
The artists and
artisans in “A-Z” are here repackaged by locality. Who are the artists/artisans
(in our data base) in Temagami, for example, or Mattawa or South River?
Musical Groups/Bands, Click here for bands (rock, country, ethnic, marching), choirs, orchestras, barbershop, etc...
Associations, groups, councils, societies, etc. Click here to bring up an alphabetical list of associations and groups, formal and informal: arts councils; informal get-togethers for poetry readings, learning-to-write-draw-sculpt groups, etc.
Art Galleries Click here for a list of
art galleries in Northern Ontario, with information on their collection(s),
hours of operation, and contact information.
Temiskaming Art Gallery
Book/Art Publishers Click here for a list of book and magazine publishers in Northern Ontario, in both print and electronic media.
Highway Book Shop, Cobalt
Events, Activities This page is temporarily closed. Due to financial restraints, we regret the necessity of closing down this page as od September 20th, 2004. For a list of North Bay and area monthly events in the Arts, go to The North Bay Arts Council website (www.nbaac.com) and click on "Community Arts Calendar "
Message Board Click here to read about what our correspondents say about their successes, needs, challenges, information they think other artists/artisans might like to know.
Links Click here for a list of web links to other sites of interest to those interested in the arts and culture of Northern Ontario. Also, the websites of artists/artisans in the “A-Z” data base are relisted here, as well as in their individual entries.
Original Logo by Terry Dokis
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