For as long as we remember, the art scene was always referred to in the context of “survival”. You hear the words “starving artist” more than you do “successful artist”. This gives art a bad rap, and turns young talent away from their artistic impulse. Why wouldn’t it? Community art is underfunded, it lacks opportunity for anyone who does not have built-in wealth, race, gender and other privilege. 

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Meanwhile, we’re seeing power structures and social constructs crumble, and people are looking for new ideas, someone to imagine a new world. Where do you think that comes from?

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There is power in numbers. DROM Artist Collective is a grassroots organization created to support artists with resources - tools, creative services, a network of mentors and advisors, and more, to help artists realize ideas that are radically challenging the status quo. As we build this collective from the ground up, we aim to uplift makers from underrepresented and marginalized communities who may have uneven access to these resources. 

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We, the creative team and contributors to Drom Artist Collective wish to acknowledge the land on which this project was imagined and developed. The land this is "Toronto" has been a site of human activity for over 15,000 years. This land was the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peacefully share and  care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory. We are mindful of broken covenants and the need to make right with all our relations.