Josh Schwebel <privatejosh@gmail.com>
To: Kirsty Robertson <████████████████ ███████ >
dear Kirsty,
how are you? I hope you are doing ok in this very broken world.
I am writing to pass along information about a project that I am doing with Forest City Gallery, and to ask if you can offer any recommendations.
The project addresses FCG's structural precarity, since it is currently severely underfunded, and only receives funding adequate to employ a single staff member.
I have developed a project, funded by the Canada Council, to hire a second staff member who will be paid by my (artist-)grant but will provide grant-writing services for the gallery. The work is a year-long part-time, 80 hrs/ month contract, and pays $21 / hour. Here is a link to the call for applicants. Can you recommend any of your recent grad students or local colleagues who might be looking for additional work? Assets are someone who is critical-minded, has excellent writing skills, and has an understanding of the mandate of artist-run culture.
I would additionally like to mention that fundamental seeds for understanding and criticizing neoliberalism came from your class at Western, and much of this particular project, which is premised on recognizing the inherent necessity for operating funding and adequate staffing for cultural work (contra the allure of one-time project-based funding), had its framework built out of the readings and conversations in your class. I am still grateful to you for opening my thoughts to this terrain.
all best,
Josh