Art Brings Us Together 2020: Help Through The Holidays

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Undeniably, 2020 has been a tough year. As the pandemic’s taken hold, our world has changed, causing pain and suffering across our creative community. We continue to confront ongoing uncertainties, and our hearts go out to everyone, already finding things tough. This holiday season won’t be easy, and now more than ever, we need to support each other. There are three ways we are supporting art communities this holiday season.

Opus Together

At the moment, many local arts groups face a precarious future, so throughout November and December, we’re running a program called Together.

"For every Opus Essential product purchase you make until December 24th, Opus will contribute 5% of the proceeds to support local art communities."

Funds raised will be contributed to many of the organizations struggling most with Covid-related challenges, such as Coquitlam’s not-for-profit arts centre Place Des Arts and Cool Arts Society in Kelowna, which provides creative experience to adults living with developmental disabilities; Canada’s oldest artist-run centre, Xchanges, in Victoria; and Trail’s Sanctuary House, supporting children and their families.

Various tubes and jars of paint from our Opus Essential lines.

Each Opus location, as well as our national mail-order, has chosen associations to help. You can lend a hand and shop with heart while helping us raise money for gift cards to be donated to our community groups most in need.

You'll also be able to show your support for these organizations by purchasing an "Art Brings Us Together" button! They'll be in stores by mid-November, and 100% of the sales of these buttons will be donated!

Eastside Culture Crawl

It’s not just small organizations that are grappling with adversity. Many large, well-established creative institutions and events have to re-shift how they function, like the Eastside Culture Crawl. This much-loved highlight of Vancouver’s arts calendar is confronting new challenges. Still, as Esther Rausenberg, Artistic & Executive Director, explains, “While artists have faced unprecedented hardships this year, our mandate for the 24th annual Crawl remains the same - to celebrate the extraordinary talents of our visual artists and inspire a creative connection between artists and the greater community” To maximize everyone's safety and well-being, an enhanced festival experience delivered across multiple platforms has been developed.

Both long-time fans and first-time visitors all around the Pacific Northwest and beyond will gain unparalleled access to visual artists practising a bevy of different art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, photography, jewellery, glass art, furniture, and more. Opus is proud to be amongst the official sponsors and will be featuring a few of the incredible participants in our next Visual Podcast plus, throughout the month, you can see more work showcased in our online Eastside Culture Crawl Preview Gallery. No matter where you are, it’s never been easier to support and engage in this unique plethora of creativity!

Opus Holiday Makers Virtual Gallery

Finally, we know many creators and artisan merchants count on this season to sell their artwork. It’s already been a tough year, and the cancellation of many holiday markets, craft and gift shows must be weighing down hard. We want to help and have created a ‘Virtual Makers Holiday Gallery’ - a bespoke space to give these vendors a bit more exposure and offer you the chance to snap up some incredible, unique goodies whilst supporting local creatives and the creative community at large.

It’s important to remember that when times are hard, and many of us are hurting, art has the power to connect and unite. Eventually, things will get better, and in the meantime, we are here, you are here, and together, we make our creative community strong and vibrant. The Opus Holiday Makers Gallery is open for submissions until December 24, 2020, so if you are interested in participating, please visit the gallery page to find out how you can join in the gallery.