Art City Inc. and Edward Carriere Salon Partnership Summary

Art City is a community centre that offers high quality, free-of-charge arts programming to those who wish to express themselves creatively, and expand their cultural impact by meeting the unique needs of the community with help from artists all over the world. In 2011, Art City partnered with Edward Carriere Salon, a high-quality local business known for its community support and donations to neighbourhood organizations.

Art City secured sponsorships of $3,000 each from three local businesses that had never before partnered with an arts organization. Among them was Edward Carriere. Art City used the funds to purchase a van needed to run daily errands such as picking up supplies and donations – a purchase that helped turn the van into a branded flagship for Art City within the community. Carriere gained a number of benefits from the partnership, such as broadening brand recognition, volunteer and engagement opportunities for employees, VIP recognition and exposure at a high profile media event launch party.

Fittingly, Art City did not keep their new van on factory settings. Renowned Dutch artist Olaf Mooij agreed to travel from Rotterdam to Winnipeg to turn the vehicle into a larger than life sculpture on wheels.

Mooij’s career is largely based on his production of art cars, and his work is celebrated across Europe and in the Booijmans Museum’s permanent collection. Over the course of a month, Olaf used hundreds of re-purposed speakers from old stereos gathered from waste centres and thrift stores to create a virtual cityscape mounted on the van’s roof, echoing the urban context of Art City. Each speaker was wired into a custom stereo system, converting the Art City van into a musical event wherever it goes, pumping the organization’s positivity and creativity into each community it enters.