About IMAA
Introduction
What is IMAA?
The Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) is a member-driven non-profit national organization working to advance and strengthen the media arts community in Canada. Representing over 100 independent film, video, audio, and new media production, distribution, and exhibition organizations in all parts of the country, the IMAA serves over 16,000 independent media artists and cultural workers.
What is independent media art?
The term media arts applies to all forms of time-related or interactive art works that are created by the recording of sounds, visual images, or use new technologies. These art works are creative expressions and encompass the fields of film, audio, video, digital, and electronic art.
Media arts are exhibited everywhere from art galleries to movie theatres, on the web and in public space. As technology progresses, artists are eager to use new tools to reflect the world around them. In the 1960’s, video technology was introduced and since then media art has grown to include digital and electronic media. Independent means that the artist initiates and is the driving force behind the work and maintains complete creative control over the work.
Mandate
Mission
IMAA is a national arts service organization that advocates for and supports independent media arts organizations and artists. Through research, resource development, and advocacy, IMAA sets standards, connects communities, and builds capacity within the media arts sector.
Vision
Through advocacy, resource sharing, and community engagement, IMAA envisions a thriving media arts sector that champions creativity, equity, and social change.
Core Principles
Community: IMAA holds that the independent Media Arts sector is the sum of the people who work together to create it: community is at the heart of who we are and what we do. IMAA connects people working in the sector and advocates for solidarity between organizations, artists, and arts administrators. Sustainability: IMAA works for the continued vitality of the media arts sector. It necessitates advocacy for resources and a conscious deepening of how we exist as a sector by fostering vigorous self-reflection and decolonial approaches, and continual engagement with the full diversity of the individuals who belong to the media arts community. Anti-Oppression: IMAA conducts its work through an anti-oppression lens that actively recognizes, celebrates, and holds space for difference. IMAA builds capacity within the sector by shifting and addressing the dynamics of power and oppression that exist within it. Accountability: IMAA holds itself accountable to our membership and the media arts community. IMAA is able to demonstrate the actions it takes to enact its stated mandate. IMAA is able to explain the reasoning behind its decision making.
Statement of Principle against Censorship
“In face of the legitimate threat of censure by media classification boards, as well as the potential for self-censure by artists as a result of the classification process, the IMAA affirms the right of media artists and organisations to present media art works to the public and the right of the public to experience that work. The requirement that works of film, video, and other media arts be approved before the public is allowed access to them can rarely, if ever, be justified: it denies the right of the artist on the one hand, and of the public on the other – the protection of which they are entitled within the laws and before the courts of this country; it obliterates that exercise of responsible judgement which is the right and duty of every citizen in a free society.”
History
In November of 1980, representatives from various film production, distribution, and exhibition groups from across so-called Canada met in Yorkton, Saskatchewan to found the Independent Film Alliance. Born from a collective desire to strengthen artist-run organizations and improve access to resources and equipment for independent media artists, the Alliance sought to connect the efforts of media arts organizations across the country.
Following its incorporation as a non-profit organization in 1981, the Alliance saw its mandate and membership grow. To better reflect these mutations, the organization changed its name in the mid-nineties to Independent Film & Video Alliance (IFVA). By the turn of the millennium, the Alliance’s membership expanded again to include audio art and new media groups. At the Annual General Meeting in 2002, members voted for a final name change for the organization: the Independent Media Arts Alliance / Alliance des arts médiatiques indépendants (IMAA/AAMI).
Today, the Alliance enacts its mandate of strengthening the media arts sector across the country directly by supporting its over 90 members. It does this through the IMAA Fee Schedule which is the cornerstone of all its activities, advocacy in the form of funders and government relations, by organizing conferences and events, and through research and special projects. IMAA works in close alignment with the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (NIMAC) which supports Indigenous media artists and arts organizations within the context of Canadian media arts practices.
In 2023, IMAA ratified its Basis of Unity which outlines the framework within which it does its work and its commitment to anti-oppression principles.
Founding Principles
Our groups are distinct from one another and we value these differences. Just as we, as individuals, are able to pool our resources to mutual advantage in organizations which protect and promote individual free expression, it is possible and desirable to unite film, video, audio and new media groups, each with its own character, in an alliance. The IMAA does not limit itself to one genre, ideology or aesthetic but furthers diversity of vision in artistic and social consciousness.
The IMAA members make a commitment to take anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic positions in terms of hiring, distribution, production and representation. Also they respect and support the autonomy of indigenous cultural representation.
The IMAA believes that independent film, video, audio and new media are valuable and vital forms of expression of our respective cultures, which can uncover the prevailing illusions and expose the formulas that underlie the vast majority of commercial and institutional messages.
In 2023, IMAA ratified its Basis of Unity which outlines the framework within which it does its work and its commitment to anti-oppression principles.
Annual reports
Committees
Committees are designed to support organizational development and growth, and to promote discussion and on-going communication between IMAA and the membership in a specific area. Committees may suggest actions to the Board of Directors. Committee members may represent the IMAA at meetings as deemed pertinent by the Chair of the committee. Committee members may not make any decisions that contravene the mandate of the organization or the by-laws of the corporation.
The committees below are the current standing committees at IMAA. This page is updated as more committees are formed and advocacy issues arise necessitating sticking working committees.
Membership Committee
This committee works jointly with Membership and Communications Manager Marilyne Parent in thinking through strategies and putting policies in place for membership outreach, engagement, and recruitment, as well as troubleshooting member issues.If you are interested in joining this committee, please contact Marilyne Parent at info@imaa.ca. It would be excellent to have representatives from multiple regions to ensure a multitude of voices and priorities.
EDI Committee
This committee works and thinks through IMAA’s commitment to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion and how to create actionable change at the organization and membership levels.If you are interested in joining this committee, please contact Barbora Racevičiūtė at dir@imaa.ca. We are always looking for new members and additional perspectives to support this work.
Advocacy Committee
This committee works to support IMAA’s initiatives to advocate for the media arts nationally.If you are interested in joining this committee, please contact Barbora Racevičiūtė at dir@imaa.ca. We are always looking for new members and additional perspectives to support this work.
Resource Access Network Committee
See here to learn more about the Resource Access Network. The committee is working to strengthen and activate the program.If you are interested in joining this committee, please contact Marilyne Parent at info@imaa.ca. The network is constantly growing!
Human Resources Committee
This committee works with the IMAA Executive in developing policies and procedures for the organization. In time, it is also intended to serve as a liaison for all IMAA team members for employee support, conflict resolution, and hiring processes.If you are interested in joining this committee, please contact Barbora Racevičiūtė at dir@imaa.ca.
Team
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Barbora Racevičiūtė grew up in Vilnius and Montréal. She lived in Toronto for a decade and has recently relocated back to Montréal. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and an MFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design. She is an independent curator and cultural worker, and has worked as an arts administrator at the8fest, Images Festival, and Workman Arts. She co-runs the curatorial collective shell.
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Marilyne is a cultural worker involved in the associative media arts and interdisciplinary arts communities. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Animation and Research at the Faculty of Communication at UQAM. She is also committed to the development of good practices and the creation of safer spaces through her involvement in night culture as an event and festival organizer. Composer/performer in electronic music, she had the chance to perform at the 2020 edition of the Festival de musique émergente en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FME) with her collective Tekon Acid Crew.
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Tessa is an emerging arts administrator and artist hailing from Toronto. She works primarily in film and literary arts, and her short films have screened internationally. In 2023, she graduated from the University of King’s College in Halifax with a Combined Honours in Contemporary Studies and English.
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Lindsey Wilson is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work engages with themes of embodiment, queerness, and interconnectivity at the intersection of craft, art, and science. Lindsey completed an MFA at the University of Ottawa and a BFA with a minor in Gender Studies at Queen’s University.