Looking back, 2018 marked another exciting year for Akin (our 10th birthday!) and, as we have done previously, we wanted to be open and share a bit of an update including the yearly financial results of our non-profit Akin Projects. As a very small artist staff and a volunteer board, we’re glad to share this information with you even though it’s later than we had hoped. We wanted to be sure that we put this all together as thoroughly and thoughtfully as possible.

Reviewing the charts below, you will see that the most significant cost incurred is the rent paid to Akin’s landlords. Other substantial costs include staffing to run both the studios and programming, utilities, insurance, studio supplies, repairs and maintenance. All of this amounts to 75% of the rent artists pay for their space going right back into facility costs. Our organization remains entirely artist run, with our seven staff (in 2018) and now eleven staff balancing their artistic practices with their work for Akin and for the artists we serve.

In 2018 Akin Projects was fortunate to receive one time support from the Metcalf Foundation’s Inclusive Local Economies Program- aimed at improving the economic livelihoods of Toronto’s working poor. These grant funds were used to work with NetGain Partners to assess and restructure Akin Projects with the aim of increasing our overall sustainability and ability to support the artists we work with, especially by building our partnership with MOCA Toronto (more below). With 40% of members at Akin identifying as working at or below the poverty line in our Demographics Report we strive not only to continue to provide low-cost studio space, but also professional opportunities for our member artists with $12,282 being paid out in 2018 as CARFAC and other artist fees.

Other major work that began in 2018 and remains ongoing has involved learning about and identifying the ways in which Akin Collective and Akin Projects work together. As of 2020 the collaborative relationship between the sister organizations will be detailed in a service agreement that will see Akin Collective principally facilitating space on behalf of Akin Projects which will allow both organizations to better support one another and the arts community on the whole.

Major 2018 milestones include renting half of the fourth floor of MOCA Toronto (our first space in a museum!) to launch the Akin Studio Program at MOCA- providing 32 artists around-the-clock access to studio space in the museum at the same rates as all of Akin’s other locations. The first year of this exciting program culminated in an exhibition showcasing many of the artists’ work in, ‘An Index’ that we hope you had a chance to see this past summer! Last year also saw Akin relocate over 100 artists facing the loss of their studio to a new space- Akin King- located in the center of the city near King & Spadina thanks to a unique partnership with Allied Properties REIT. Akin’s Co-Directors Oliver Pauk and Michael Vickers also headed to Ottawa to make an address to The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on the need for creating and preserving artistic space across our country.

In total, Akin Projects featured 133 artists in exhibitions, presentations, and artist markets in 2018, while offering over 70 events and programs to roughly 3,000 attendees including various creative and professional development workshops and lectures, museum collaborations, public mural projects, earth day community clean ups, a winter clothing drive and a series of free programs at multiple CAMH locations. We are also thrilled to have had Rania El Mugammar join our team last year as a consultant focused on our ongoing equity and inclusion work, the development of the inaugural Indigenous Elder Artist in Residence program with artist Catherine Tammaro (Taǫmęˀšreˀ) and the creation of a safe space policy, the results of which can be found here,

If you have any questions about our the information shared here or ideas for Akin as we move forward, please get in touch with us.

We’re so grateful to all of our studio members, attendees of our programmed events, partner organizations and supporters of Akin. The support of individuals like yourselves is incredibly important for Akin as we continue to grow and evolve in 2019 and 2020, now over 300 artists strong. With your help, we can continue to serve the artistic community and to impact artists directly in ways that increase the creative vitality of Toronto. Please click here to learn about ways in which you can contribute.

Thank you,
Your friends,
The Akin Projects’ Staff and Board

Notes:

Akin studio members pay an average rent of $26 per square foot per year, including the communal space within the studios.

Akin studio rental prices include: