October 19, 2022
The Mississauga Arts Council (MAC) is dedicated to enabling the growth of the arts by creating opportunity and connection between artists and residents in Mississauga and beyond. We are committed to accelerating progress toward the attainment of our Vision of Mississauga, as a vibrant cultural community where arts and culture thrive! Our Mission is to empower the Arts Economy by: Creating more opportunities & capacity; Connecting artists to audiences and each other; and Celebrating artist’s achievements.
On October 15, 2022, one of our leading members, MetalWorks, hosted a musical event in support of Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s re-election. The organizers of the event reached out to let us know of the event as we promote dozens of member events each week. They asked us to share the information with the Mississauga arts community as the Mayor has been a strong champion of the arts.
Without realizing the perception or consequences, an email was drafted and sent out using the MAC account to the arts community.
This was a mistake.
As a registered charity we understand that we need to be transparent and follow best practices, including refraining from involvement in partisan political activities. While we were trying to show our support for a champion of the arts, we failed to recognize the impact that doing so would cause for our organization. For this we are truly sorry.
As a result of this experience, we are drafting policies that will prevent any future reoccurrence. We did not intend for our actions to negatively impact the work or reputation of the Mississauga Arts Council or any of our funding partners. We unreservedly apologize for our actions and the harm that it may have caused.
We recognize our error and have taken steps to strengthen our policies to avoid this from happening again.
Sincerely,
Ken Jones, President
Mike Douglas, Executive Director