Canadian Art, the country's leading art magazine, has ceased publication permanently after "thoroughly exhausting all options" to survive financial woes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, its board of directors announced Monday.
The board of the 37-year-old magazine made what it called a "difficult decision" after laying off 12 employees and pausing both the summer issue and online publishing in April.
Canadian Art faced an immediate drop in revenue from in-person fundraising events, advertising and corporate sponsorships when the pandemic began in March 2020.
That led to austerity measures – cancellation of that summer's issue, a reduction in online publishing and the imposition of a four-day work week. The magazine survived by accessing emergency government funding in 2020, but was unable to achieve similar levels of federal support this year.
"The pandemic has disproportionately affected arts and culture institutions and organizations across Canada and we know that this will leave a hole in the Canadian arts landscape," the announcement said. It is signed by board co-chairs Lee Matheson and Dori Tunstall, as well as board member Gabe Gonda.
The three were acting as a skeleton transitional board following a June 15 announcement that all other board members were resigning "to allow space" for a new board of directors "in a spirit of staff self-determination and sovereignty."
The magazine had been engaged in an internal process to address structural racism and inequity at the urging of staff. The board said staff had transformed the magazine's content and voice, but acknowledged its failure to address in "a meaningful way" principles of decolonization, diversity, equity and inclusion in the magazine's operations.
In June, the outgoing board proposed that staff provide a list of individuals able to form a new board.
Canadian Art's latest statement did not indicate the outcome of that request.
The board said it is now pursuing a wind-up that will maintain the foundation's charitable status, protect the stewardship of its cultural assets and maximize recoveries to employees, landlords, trade creditors and other stakeholders.
It said one "pristine" copy of all magazines will be donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario, with "the aim to eventually provide digital public access for future generations."
Source: Canadian Art