Concordia celebrates 25 years of the student-run festival, Art Matters

Concordia’s 25th annual Art Matters Festival will run February 27 to March 28. Hosted by the Faculty of Fine Arts, this year’s festival includes 11 events featuring more than 50 artworks by undergraduate artists from Concordia.

Art Matters is North America’s largest student-run arts festival. This year’s team is 14 people strong and includes an archivist, a graphic designer, a copy-editor/translator, a photographer, technicians, and social media and event managers. Steering the ship are coordinators Renée Edmona Mathews (communications), Isabela Markus (programming) and Inka Kennepohl (general).

“I think it’s very cool that everyone behind the scenes is also a student,” says Markus, who is currently pursuing a double major in studio arts and history.

This year’s theme, Adapted Visions, was designed to create a space for positivity.

“Renée, Inka and I wanted to propose a theme that addressed the environment that we’re in and everything that’s happening in the world — all the stresses on students — but without taking away from the celebratory spirit of Art Matters,” Markus adds.

“We wanted a space where we can envision something better instead of getting too bogged down by these worries.”

In this commemorative year, a call went out for submissions that reflected this hopeful perspective. Applicants were invited to consider Concordia’s collective past and future:

“As we face ever-mounting uncertainties, Art Matters invites you to consider imagining better futures as a radical act. By insisting upon the improved quality of our futures, we empower ourselves as agents of change.”