Abstract

This thesis takes Centre d’art daphne as its central case study to examine Indigenous involvement in artist-run centres (ARCs) in Canada. Co-founders Hannah Claus, Caroline Monnet, Nadia Myre, and Skawennati were drawn to the community-oriented nature of ARCs, and wanted to create a space by and for Indigenous artists in Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang/ Montréal. As the first Indigenous-led artist-run centre in the city, and the only one in Québec, daphne faces the challenge of adhering to hierarchical organizational structures required of ARCs that conflict with Indigenous governance principles. The co-founders therefore devised a method of governance based in Indigenous values that both subverts and adheres to existing systems, always with the aim to carve out space from a place of both artistic and Indigenous self-determination.

This thesis draws on Indigenous scholarship on decolonization and Indigenization. In it, I consider the origins and philosophies of ARCs, review the early days of Indigenous artist-run initiatives in Canada, and discuss the long-held desire for an Indigenous-led artist-run centre in Tiohtià:ke. I then analyze how daphne follows an Indigenous governance model centred on values of consensus, self-determination, and collaboration. I discuss the double marginalization of Indigenous artists in Québec and examine the disparity between support for Indigenous arts in comparison to the rest of Canada. Finally, I put daphne in conversation with BUSH Gallery, a BC-based Indigenous arts collective, to explore an alternative to the ARC model in response to the problem of bureaucracy within the network. By looking at the ways that Indigenous artists have been able to seep into the cracks of the ARC system, I argue that daphne ruptures internal boundaries and overcomes colonial impositions and limitations to create space for Indigenous autonomy and self-determination.