Calling all emerging filmmakers and visual storytellers—applications are now open for the 2024 Response Program. Response is an opportunity to create a video work through exploratory workshops with contemporary Indigenous artists, then screen it at The Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver.

Inspired by the diverse approach to film and media across contemporary Indigenous art, Response: Remembering Our Futures broadly considers the generations who come before and after us, working to understand the ways that our actions are felt beyond where we are, here and now. Participants will examine the relationships that we hold with the futures and pasts of our land, people, and stories, inciting acts of care and continuance.

Workshops will take place primarily online during Summer 2024, helping participants to create an original film-based work that will be shown at The Polygon Gallery in early 2025.

The Response program is free, and participants receive a $500 honorarium upon completion of the program.

This program is open to artists of all ages and skill-levels, though a basic understanding of technology is an asset. If you’re a beginner, let us know! We want to hear from you about why you’re interested in this year’s theme Remembering Our Futures.

Participants must:
– Reside in B.C.
– Have an interest or practice in visual/media arts.
– Have a stable internet connection.
– Have a device that shoots video (smartphone cameras are welcome).
– Attend a minimum of four sessions.

Priority is reserved for emerging artists and Indigenous participants.

There are six workshops, which will take place on Saturday mornings, between the beginning of June until the end of August.

Deadline to apply is Sunday, June 2 at 5:00pm.

Click here to apply

If you have questions about the program or how to fill out the form, please contact response@thepolygon.ca.

We thank all who express interest in this opportunity.

Photo: Anova Hou

About The Response Program
In 2014, Response—an outreach program that lifts the voice of Indigenous Youth— was successfully piloted. Relaunched in 2020, Response is now an annual program involving a series of workshops led primarily by and for Indigenous people, culminating in an exhibition of participants’ work at The Polygon. The program invites ways of responding artistically to historical and contemporary images of Indigenous cultures.

Photo: Alison Boulier

About Response’s Curator
Serena Steel is a Secwépemc interdisciplinary artist from Simpcw First Nation whose practice takes the form of beadwork, sculpture, and storytelling. Her work revolves around acts of care, reciprocity, and belonging. Steel currently works on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She holds a BFA in Critical and Cultural Practice from Emily Carr University with a minor in Social Practice and Community Engagement.

Photo: Alison Boulier.

About The Polygon Gallery
Grounded in photography, The Polygon Gallery creates space to challenge how we see the world. Since opening its doors in 2017, this West Coast architectural marvel has presented the work of thousands of artists, from international stars to the country’s most exciting emerging talent.

The Polygon Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, and late on Thursdays to 9 pm. Admission to The Polygon is always by donation, courtesy of BMO Financial Group.

If you have questions about the program or how to fill out the application form, please contact response@thepolygon.ca.