The Arts Council of the Central Okanagan is pleased to welcome Katie Brennan as the new Executive Director. Brennan is a professional artist, who has served the last four years at the Curator of the Lake Country Art Gallery. She holds an MFA in studio art from the University of Guelph and an BFA, also in studio art, from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She has taught in UBC Okanagan’s visual art department and maintains strong ties to UBC Okanagan – in 2013 she co-curated an off-campus showcase of student work in downtown Kelowna. This past summer, she was part of UBC Okanagan’s inaugural summer artist in residence program for June, July and August. Brennan is also the Founder and Editor in Chief of the OKanagan Art Review, an online magazine and hub for visual arts in the area.

This is not Brennan’s first association with ARTSCO. She served on the board of directors in 2013 during which she conceived the “60 Artists in 60 spaces to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of ARTSCO” for which she designed the accompanying exhibition / participant catalogue.

For the last number of years, ARTSCO has presented the Okanagan Arts Awards and the Mad Hatter pop-up / temporary exhibition, held last year at the Tree Fruits Packing house on Clement to much acclaim and huge attendance. ARTSCO also runs the Artscape exhibition program which places artwork by local artists in venues such as the downtown public library, Okanagan College Library and Cottonwoods Extended care, among others. New this past year is a collaboration between ARTSCO and the Uptown Rutland Business Association, called “Art in Empty Spaces” which has placed artwork by local artists in vacant retail spaces in Rutland.

Brennan has a great love and passion for the arts and has lots of ideas of what will be next for ARTSCO. “I’m want to see ARTSCO support and amplify the great work already being done by local artists, musicians, writers and dancers. Let’s build on what is already here”.

In Brennan’s open letter, currently up on the ARTSCO website, she positions ARTSCO as a service group for Art Makers and Art Lovers.

“To serve ART MAKERS by supporting and providing resources and opportunities that support all the extra things that artists, dancers, writers, musicians, etc. need to do get their work out there and make it as easy as possible for them to get that support and get them back into the studio, and making, as soon as possible.

And to serve ART LOVERS by making the finding out about the arts as easy as possible – so that you practically have to trip over it”, Brennan explains.

Also in this letter, Brennan invites anyone with ideas of how ARTSCO could be of even greater service to the Central Okanagan, to reach out to her with their ideas. To facilitate this, she will be holding open office hours on Mondays 1 – 6pm, Oct 19th & 26th, Nov 2nd & 9th, on a first come, first serve basic. She also welcomes others to make appointments with her at other times, if that is more suitable. Katie Brennan can be reached at 250-861-4123 / director@artsco.ca