1.    aceartinc.
2.    Winnipeg Art Gallery
3.    Blinkers


aceart, located in Winnipeg’s Exchange District at 288 McDermot Ave., “is an artist-run centre dedicated to the support, exhibition and dissemination of contemporary art,” according to their website.

Helga Jakobson, the program director at aceart, says they are “so happy and honoured” to be voted Favourite Local Gallery or Artist Centre. Jakobson is a graduate of the BFA (Honours) program at the University of Manitoba.

“We feel the support from our community and from our membership,” she says, adding that they take it as a sign they’re moving in the right direction.

This centre focuses on eight objectives: space, art, professional development, resources, dissemination, dialogue, peer adjudication and community relations.

“Our organization is meant to provide opportunities, not just within (the) presentation of art, but also through things like education,” Jakobson says.

When asked about why she thinks aceart was voted as the winner by readers of The Uniter, Jakobson mentions “aceart’s commitment to programming excellent artists.”

“I think we were chosen because there is likely a need within the community for an organization like this.”

Membership at aceart can be obtained for an annual fee of $25 and provides numerous benefits, such as the use of some of their spaces, voting privileges at annual general meetings and receiving PaperWait, their publication of “critical writing on contemporary art.”

Currently, aceart is hosting two exhibitions. Firekeeper by Jordan Stranger runs until Dec. 6 in their main gallery. IGBA by Chukwudubem Ukaigwe runs until Dec. 8 in their Flux Gallery.

Published in Volume 74, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 28, 2019)