Elkdonis Arts
Collective

Elkdonis Arts is a community organization dedicated to promoting and practicing objective arts, several forms of education, and cultural exchange for public benefit.

We provide accessible educational programs, workshops, lectures, and learning opportunities across diverse disciplines, including visual arts, theatre, philosophy, literature and cultural studies. We support artists, educators, thinkers, and creatives by offering opportunities to present, develop, and share artistic and intellectual work. We aim to engage and support emerging creatives through mentorship and community-based learning. Towards this end, we collaborate with individuals and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally in furtherance of these purposes.

Our original group was first formed in Newmarket Ontario, Canada, 1990. We opened the first internet cafe in town, and held concerts and raves, as well as other performative, theatrical and literary events. Our group has undergone many radical transformations since. We helped usher in digital community and new digital group work to the internet, and that involved many experiments attempting to adapt ever changing web and mobile apps to our work over the years. Remaining true to the essence of our celebrated “philosophical reading groups”, often spontaneously hosted, this collective is quintessentially nomadic, eclectic, reflexive and dedicated to seeking knowledge and passing on what we have met well. Our current international collaborations are focused in Paris, Los Angeles and Toronto and surrounds, where our founding members are respectively situated and engaged in a wide variety of creative acts & inquiries.