About ACWR

Our Purpose

The Arts Council Windsor & Region (ACWR) is a community arts council and art service organization that serves all disciplines of individual artists, arts organizations, and non-arts partners in promoting, developing, and realizing creative activity since 1980. The organization provides the Windsor-Essex Region with valuable services, like ArtSpeak Gallery, professional development workshops, the New Voices program, free space arts residencies, individual grant consultation, an in-office resource library, a website which hosts updated resources, a community arts calendar, and the weekly ArtsNotes newsletter.

Our Mission

The Arts Council Windsor & Region (ACWR) will strive to enhance the economic and social well-being of the community by:

• Strengthening the arts through leadership, education, advocacy and promotion;
• Creating and expanding opportunities for diverse activities that connect the community through participation in the arts
• Enrich the quality of life in our region by increasing awareness of the arts and its value.

We will achieve this Mission through:

• Education and programming focusing on professional development;
• Advocacy for arts and arts organizations;
• Building mutually beneficial partnerships;
• Facilitation of communication and awareness of arts and arts related activities;
• Increased accessibility and relevance of the arts and arts-related activities for/within our region

Our Vision

The Vision of the ACWR is to live in a community in which:

• All forms and expressions of art are valued and none are privileged over another;
• Artists and art-workers are valued, respected, and supported; and
• Barriers to art-making are identified and removed to ensure equitable access to resources and supports.

Our Values

The core values which guide and support the ACWR include:

Diversity: We believe that art making has no barriers based on the personal characteristics of the artist or the form of art

Inclusivity: We invite and embrace community voices

Accessibility: We remove barriers to art making and participation in artistic expression

Integrity: We operate with transparency and adopt high ethical standards in our conduct

Excellence: As ACWR we constantly seek to improve the quality and range of supports we offer to artists and the community

2025 Year in Review

View the document here:

The Arts Council Windsor & Region is very honoured to be working in this community and on this territory. The original caretakers of this land, the Indigenous peoples, lived and thrived prior to colonization – in that regard, we acknowledge the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the Potawatomie. As part of ongoing structures of allyship, we work to ensure that space is given to Indigenous cultural perspectives and that these perspectives are respected.

Le Conseil des arts de Windsor et de la région est très honoré de travailler dans cette communauté et sur ce territoire. Les premiers gardiens de cette terre, les peuples autochtones, ont vécu et prospéré avant la colonisation – à cet égard, nous reconnaissons la Confédération des Trois Feux des Premières Nations, composée des Ojibway, des Odawa et de la Potawatomie. Dans le cadre des structures permanentes d’alliance, nous travaillons pour assurer que l’espace est donné aux perspectives culturelles autochtones et que ces perspectives sont respectées.