Association of National Non-profit Artists Centres : The organization A.N.N.P.A.C./R.A.C.A. (Association of National Non-Profit Artists' Centres/Regroupement d'artistes des centres alternatifs) grew out of meetings held in 1976. Attending the meetings were representatives from several established, artist-run centres which fell outside of existing Canada Council funding programs. Some of the fifteen founding member centres were Eye Level Gallery, Véhicule Art, Optica, Media, SAW Gallery, A Space, Powerhouse Art Gallery, Clouds N Water, Photographers Gallery, Parachute Centre and Western Front. These alternate spaces provided an essential venue for newer forms of art activities, often interdisciplinary in nature, which crossed culturally-entrenched lines and could not or would not be accommodated by commercial galleries. Initial meetings, with Canada Council officers, were important first steps towards official/financial recognition of the crucial role alternative galleries played.
In order to further strengthen their voices and lessen their sense of isolation, representatives established a network of artist-run centres with a letters patent in August 1976; in March 1977, incorporation papers officially registered the group as the Association of National Non-Profit Artists' Centres/Regroupement d'artistes des centres alternatifs.
A.N.N.P.A.C.'s formative goals and principles of membership would remain virtually unchanged over a lifespan of close to twenty years. A 1993 handbook stated its aims (differing little from those of 1977) as the encouragement of co-operation and collaboration among artists and artists' centres in Canada; the facilitation of communication between artists' centres and governments; and the lobbying of various levels of governments that fund the arts and formulate cultural policy in its function as agent for artists in all disciplines. Criteria for membership required that each centre be non-profit, be artist-run, endeavour to pay artist's fees and support sexual and racial equality. Funding for A.N.N.P.A.C./R.A.C.A.'s operational activities came, primarily, from Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Department of Communications and the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
Membership fees and the sale of the Association's information publication on new art activity, Parallelogramme, were also sources of revenue.
In tandem with many of its member centres, A.N.N.P.A.C./R.A.C.A. became adept in its crucial advocacy role. Through its National Spokesperson, members also had a strong representative to voice concern for all matters affecting cultural funding and the free expression of artistic goals. Annual General Meetings provided a forum for the entire membership and several reports were produced which sought to ameliorate conditions in artist-run centres. Throughout the years, the Association's membership lists swelled as more and more alternate venues were established in Canada. From 1981-1984 alone, membership increased from 34 centres to 71; in 1990, member centres numbered close to 100.
By the early 1990s, with increasing cut-backs in cultural grants, alternate exhibition spaces were under critical strain. A pronounced movement towards increasing regional autonomy led many members to question the efficacy of a national group; member centres from Quebec pulled out to form their own provincial association. Questions also arose as to the Association's representation of minorities, despite the initiation of an outreach program. Finally, during the 1994 Annual General Meeting, A.N.N.P.A.C./R.A.C.A. was officially dissolved and replaced by a confederation of umbrella associations known as the Artist-Run Network.
