An important part of your Capitol Centre, the WKP Kennedy Public Art Gallery presents the finest in historical and contemporary Northern, Canadian and International visual artists. In our two gallery spaces, through our public arts activities, through our programming with the Capitol Theatre and in our touring exhibition projects, we showcase art of all forms and media.

The WKP Kennedy Public Art Gallery is a gathering place for art and art ideas. We offer to the people of North Bay and Northeastern Ontario, a forum for artistic dialogue and development.

Mandate 

Our current mandate and vision for the Kennedy Gallery was ratified by the Gallery Advisory Committee in 2006. In 2010 the Gallery undertook to create a new Strategic Plan and that plan will be posted on this page in 2011.

At the W.K.P. Kennedy Public Art Gallery we are bringing people and the arts together, enriching the cultural life of the community through visual arts programming in all media, fostering artistic development, educating arts and cultural audiences, and promoting the art and artists of Northern Ontario. Our goal is to encourage an appreciation and understanding of the visual arts and arts related issues, providing context and a balanced view. We employ our exhibition spaces & facilities, community partnership initiatives, our Permanent Collection, our site-specific exhibition events and various educational programs to present a varied arts program that establishes a context for audience development and dialogue.

The artistic vision and direction for the Gallery is organic and flexible as it meets the changing demands of our community. The Gallery Director responds to immediate demands and requests from community groups, artists collectives, etc. and integrates these "ad hoc" (but extremely important and timely) events into our pre-determined and mandate-based program of exhibitions.

Our Programming Committee meets once annually to consider application packages, curatorial initiatives and to determine how well our program is reflecting the Gallery's vision. This committee, made up of local artists, educators, and curators, accepts exhibition proposals into the program and assists the Director/Curator with curating various exhibits.

An important part of the long-term vision of the gallery is to develop artistic programming in our community. The Board and Director/Curator continue to work on developing arts projects through the auspices of the Gallery. The Near North Mobile Media Lab, Ice Follies Incorported, North Bay Art Association are all groups that were created or nurtured by the Kennedy Gallery and are now creating programs of their own in our region.

Programming Policy

(To be added to Gallery by-laws, March, 2011) 

Article II of our bylaws states:

1.06 The Programming Sub-Committee will consist of artists, gallery members, advisory committee members and arts educators in the community who have NOT exhibited at the Kennedy Gallery in the past year (Before the date of the sub-committee meeting). Artists already confirmed for exhibitions at the Kennedy Gallery are ineligible to take part in this sub-committee. Gallery staff will be ineligible for participation in the activities of this Sub-committee. All members of this Sub-committee must declare any perceived Conflict of Interest to the Kennedy Gallery Advisory Committee. If such a declaration is deemed to be a conflict of interest, the person declaring the conflict will be asked to absent themselves from the meeting, until such time as the sub-committee has dealt with the issue/artist/proposal that created the conflict. No active Programming Sub-committee member will be considered for an exhibition at the Kennedy Gallery.

1.07 As the only public art gallery in our area, the Kennedy Gallery programs a wide variety of the best in contemporary Canadian art in all media and punctuates the programming season with historical exhibitions that provide a context for the contemporary work and an awareness of the importance of past cultural activities in the North. After consultation with the Programming Sub-committee of the Kennedy Gallery Advisory Committee, the Director/Curator chooses curatorial projects and artists from submissions solicited through our website or through the mail. Projects are chosen according to: artistic quality and the level of professionalism shown by the artist(s), how well the content/media fit the Gallery's mandate, the timeliness of the exhibition and the apparent or suggested connections to our community.