Posted May 22, 2025

Behind the Scenes – CultureBrew.Art

Chris, for readers who may not be familiar with CultureBrew.Art, what can you tell us about the platform?

CultureBrew.Art is an initiative of Visceral Visions, a nonprofit performing arts company based in Vancouver that was founded in 2003 by Valerie Sing Turner. The mandate of Visceral Visions has always been the development, production, and presentation of Indigenous and racialized work. The CultureBrew.Art initiative was formally launched in Vancouver just before the pandemic, in late 2019. It’s a national digital platform for Indigenous and racialized artists to be seen by engagers and opportunity makers in the arts: theatre companies, galleries, curators, producers—people who generate job opportunities in the arts. The platform is multidisciplinary; it embraces all the arts. It’s also unique in that it is truly national. It’s also a community-building initiative; CultureBrew.Art allows artists to be seen by engagers, but it also allows Indigenous and racialized artists to form community with each other.

I’ve known Valerie Sing Turner for close to twenty years now, and from the beginning of our friendship she articulated her vision for a database that would essentially negate the excuse that a lot of gatekeepers in the arts use whenever they are called to task for not engaging in a diverse fashion—that excuse being: “We couldn’t find anyone.” But now, with this database in existence, they don’t have that excuse anymore. All they need to do is subscribe to it! Everyone on the team that runs CultureBrew.Art is a POC working artist, and we’ve all navigated challenges; we’ve all navigated the terrain of the Canadian arts ecosystem. At the moment, the database features more than 570 artist’s profiles from across the country, and we’re still growing.

How can artists join the platform?

You can publish your profile on the database, where engagers can see you and potentially correspond with you, hire you, etc. It’s also a way for artists from opposite sides of the country to get to know each another.

We try to erase barriers for joining. If you are an Indigenous or racialized artist in any discipline, you can join CBA. There is a nominal, one-time-only $25 fee to join; however, we don’t ever want finances to be a barrier. So if the fee is a barrier to joining, we have bursaries available and all you have to do is ask and you’ll almost certainly be approved.

As an engager, how can you interact with the platform?

Engagers pay a fee to access the database. It costs more to join as an engager, but again, it’s very affordable, and fees are based on the organization’s annual budget, so there are various pricing levels. We have engagers who pay as little as $6/month. Engagers can subscribe annually or by the month. If they subscribe annually, the first two months are free.

The platform is interdisciplinary, but it’s worth noting that theatre is very well represented. A number of major theatre companies subscribe to CultureBrew.Art. The Stratford Festival has been really, really supportive of us from the get-go. Other major supporters are the Arts Club in Vancouver, Musical Stage Company in Toronto, Young Peoples Theatre in Toronto, and Bard on the Beach in Vancouver; Alberta Theatre projects just signed up as well.

Can you tell us more about the benefits of belonging to CultureBrew.Art?

Number one: visibility. When you publish a profile, you are seen by engagers who can potentially hire you. You’ll also be seen by other artists, and that’s just as important.

Number two: if you’re a member, you get a monthly e-blast that lists opportunities from across the country. Those might include opportunities that are available to BIPOC artists, but they also include leadership jobs in the arts, professional development opportunities, and opportunities to gather in community.

The other special thing about CultureBrew.Art is our internal messaging system. The whole point of CBA is for people to connect with each other, and so we’ve built an internal messaging system that allows for engagers to connect with artists directly. For example, if a company like Stratford sees a playwright’s profile and they’re interested in corresponding with them, potentially hiring them, they can connect with this playwright directly through our internal messaging system. The playwright will receive an email alert. It’s completely private and secure; the artist doesn’t have to display their personal contact information on their profile. We are mindful about protecting the privacy of our artist members, and their safety. But it’s not just engagers connecting with artists; artists very often get work from each other, because artists are often looking for other artists to collaborate with. So that internal messaging system is a key part of our platform. And that’s one of the things that makes CBA unique from other databases: this ability to connect safely and directly with each other.