We are a work in progress

July.20.2011

Wouldn't you know it, it's summertime and this site is no closer to where we want it to be.
In our defense, we've been busy. We're a two person citizen run indie organization with a broad mandate and many active projects, so it's hard to get everything done without administrative support and sustainable funding. Think of us as philanthropists without the money.

Thus we have to make choices: Do we try to impact our city and take part in arts advocacy at the grassroots level at the very moment that history and graffiti policy is being made in Toronto OR do we master CSS and CMS to shape our website? Do we focus on only building and nourishing in-person relationships OR do we focus on cultivating new 'virtual' ones? They're unfair questions because we think we need to do both. And more.

So what have we been doing?

- Producing our new Blue Jays collectible plate by artist Eric Q to raise $2500 for the Mill Centre

- Completing the EPK for our mural initiative Brighten The Corners, the new name for our graffiti mural campaign June 2011. *Be sure to check out the logo that Peru143 designed for BTC too!

- Publishing our first book (!!!) A FACE A NAME: People Doing Well and Good June 2011 both digitally and in print!

- Continuing to work with the fine folks at Dixon Hall after helping out with their Rebuilding Lives Fundraiser in May 2011

- Coordinating, curating and producing the Fairbank Community Pool Mural as part of the Mayor's 20 Minute Makeover April 15, 2011 Yes, we did a graffiti mural for Rob Ford!

- Developing funding strategies for community murals in Toronto (and area) and starting pre production on a few more for 2012

- Getting involved in the creation of the new Graffiti Policy for City of Toronto with other community stakeholders, public and private organizations and the media

- Finalizing our Health Benefits Plan and building new policy around our membership

- Business consultation with the artists we serve, and the organizations, funding bodies, entrepreneurs we work with

- Preparing for the birth of our first child (kind of exciting, our greatest creative endeavor;) )

In the foreword to our book, A Face A Name: People Doing Well and Good, P Elaine Sharpe wrote about us:

"While they have worked and continue to work at promoting and selling the work of emerging talents they are not agents, but rather provide agency for those who are ordinarily positioned at the margins of a so-called polite society, the movers and shakers of a new avant-garde. They expend their considerable energies in disseminating the work of those who align themselves with a contemporary new-wave and multi-hyphenate practice of making art." Read More

Into the rest of the summer, we may not be as visible as we'd like to be as we cocoon with our baby and get to know each other, but rest assured we're always busy doing Well and Good.

You can follow our goings on via Twitter, our Brighten the Corners twitter and, of course, Facebook. And please, don't be shy. Reach out to us any time at info at wellandgood.ca.