The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of our creative community.

Since 1989, the Alternator has shown the work of emerging Canadian artists and helped develop the talents of local artists by providing a network of collaboration and sharing. We foster energetic, creative, critical discussion on art & culture. We believe in the greater positive potential of our creative community and value our role as key contributors to the cultural life of Kelowna and beyond.

The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art is run by the Okanagan Artists Alternative Association.

 

Vision & Mandate

We seek to foster a Centre, a community, and art practice that is:

Engaged

Art is produced, consumed, and interpreted within a social context and has a vital social and cultural role. We seek to foster art/new media practice that is engaged in contemporary social issues of importance to our community and, in particular, challenges normative constructions of art, identity, and value.

Experimental 

We value experimental forms of art production and exhibition and we seek to cultivate hybrid modes of expression with the goal of fostering a dynamic exchange between artist, art, and audience.

Collaborative

We value connection and exchange. We seek to transcend boundaries between artistic and intellectual disciplines by bringing together a diverse range of cultural workers. Further, we seek to integrate our work in our community by fostering formal and informal collaborations with other arts, education, non-profit, and social justice organizations.

We envision our artist run-centre as a welcoming site for radical art-making and community-building. We have two primary goals:

  • First, we seek to provide support and resources to emerging and alternative artists in the Okanagan region;

  • Second, we seek to inspire our members as well as the broader community by showcasing local, national, and international work that is engaged in its social context and that disturbs and transcends dominant constructions of art, identity, and value.

We recognize that our work takes place in a context, and so we seek to engage with our history and our community, and particularly our presence in unceded syilx territory. We are a collaborative and community-building centre that develops relationships to share knowledge and ideas.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At the Okanagan Artists Alternative Association, a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace is one where everyone feels valued and respected. 

The success of the Okanagan Artists Alternative Association, and our operations as the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, relies on our ability to create an equitable and accessible arts organization for all of our stakeholders; staff, volunteers, exhibiting artists, members and visitors, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education, diverse-ability or economic status.

Fulfilling our mandate as a welcoming site for art-making and community building is inextricably linked to the equity, respect and accessibility we foster in all of our relationships, and in the behaviour we exemplify to our regional, provincial and national community. We approach Diversity, Equity & Inclusion as we do all aspects of our organization - with a growth mindset and frequent critical self-reflection. 

 Our Commitment:

  • Through the lens of our mandate, we commit to ensuring an equitable environment with accessible and transparent hiring, volunteering and programming processes. We will refine our outreach strategies to help reduce barriers and broaden engagement.

  • We will act with transparency, authenticity and be accountable to our stakeholders. 

  • We will foster honest and open dialogue to refine our operations, policies and procedures to ensure equity. 

  • We will encourage and welcome stakeholder feedback to help identify ways we can be better. 

  • We are committed to the work that is required to become a more equitable and inclusive organization and allocate resources (human and financial) to help further this objective. 

Beyond a formal policy, this document is supported by an internal action plan outlining the first tier of changes to be implemented to move us closer to our goals. If you’d like to learn more about our work to improve Diversity, Equity & Inclusion within our organization, please reach out to Lorna McParland, Artistic & Administrative Director here.

We acknowledge that Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is a journey that will require continued investment. This policy is a living document to be adapted as we discover new areas for improvement to ensure equity within our organization. 

History

The Alternator is an independent organization with a history going back over 30 years. Since 2002, we have called the Rotary Centre for the Arts home, however we are different organizations with distinct visions, programming and spaces.  

The Alternator is actively working towards making the archives of our professional programming available to the public. If you would like to learn more about the archives or are interested in doing research with the archives, please contact the gallery at: info@alternatorcentre.com.

Supporters

The Alternator is supported by funding from the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government, private foundations, community organizations, sponsorships, donations, and earned revenues that include membership fees, voluntary admissions, and revenues from fundraising events.

Operational Support

Project Support

Community Support

Board of Directors

Patrick Lundeen

Patrick Lundeen is an artist, teacher and musician born in Lethbridge Alberta, currently based in Kelowna he teaches visual art at The UBC (Okanagan Campus). Past exhibitions include the Odd Gallery (Dawson City), the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art (Kelowna), L’Ecart (Rouyn-Noranda), Mike Weiss Gallery (NYC), ThreeWalls (Chicago), Confederation Centre (Charlottetown), Wetterling Gallery (Stockholm), Katherine Mulherin (Toronto), L’Oeil de Poisson, (Quebec) and AKA Gallery (Saskatoon). Lundeen has received research and creation grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council and The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Kelowna Art Gallery in 2022.


Bailey Ennig

Bailey Ennig creates art as a means of sharing his stories with the intention to help others see similar characteristics in themselves. His digital media practice is driven by subtle narratives that run through the viewing of the art. Bailey’s digital media practice specifically focuses on photography and animation. Using stories as a foundation for his work, Bailey explores ideas of childhood and memory. Consistently present in all his productions is the theme of vulnerability present through the personal narratives that are being shared. 


Judith Schwarz

Judith Schwarz is a practicing artist and art educator, nationally recognized for her sculpture, public works, and drawing. She has successfully completed large-scale public commissions in Toronto and Vancouver.

Schwarz is noted for her sculptural wall-works that have been exhibited across Canada and Internationally She has also contributed to the art community as a board member to various public art institutions such at Mercer Union Gallery, C Magazine, the AGO, Open Studio and the Koffler Center for the Arts.

As an Associate Professor at York University, Schwarz developed undergraduate curriculum and facilitated learning in a digital environment. Her roles included MFA Graduate Program Director, Chair of the Department of Visual Art and Art History and Associate Dean Academic for the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design.


Jacen Dennis

Jacen Dennis is a transgender (transmasculine) new media artist, currently working as a sessional instructor. He finished his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan in 2021 and BFA in 2015. He was the project coordinator and lead animator for both the live performance project Music of the Heavens and the forthcoming animated short film series and exhibition Celestial Bodies. Jacen’s current personal practice primarily involves compositing filmed and photographic media with digital animation, creating immersive multi-projector installations.


Nathan Zeitner

Nathan Zeitner grew up in Kelowna and recently relocated back to the city with his husband, after nearly 20 years living and working in Vancouver, BC. He has spent the past decade working in the arts and higher education, and serving on the boards of non-profit arts organizations. He studied acting and theatre arts at Studio 58, Langara College's prestigious theatre training program, and earned his Bachelor of Media Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. His art making has focused on film and video production, and he is an avid home cook and baker. With gratitude, he acknowledges that he lives and works on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan peoples.


Patty Leinemann

Patty Leinemann is an emerging interdisciplinary artist on the unceded and traditional territory of the Syilx people. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at UBCO in 2018. Her work explores themes of family, memory, repetition and space integrated into installations of varied mediums, including a sprinkling of performance. Leinemann hosted and curated This Girl Just Wants to Land(2018), a pop-up art installation integrating new and university-produced artworks at her family's homestead. She has exhibited solo shows at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art: little mother (2018) and I Just Don't ███████ Know (2021), and at the Kelowna Community Theatre with The Conversation (2022).


Connor Charlesworth

Connor Charlesworth is an artist and educator born and currently based in Kelowna on unceeded sylix territory. He received his MFA from The University of Victoria in 2018. Since then, he has taught studio courses at UVic (Victoria), TRU (Kamloops), and UBCO (Kelowna). Recent solo exhibitions include The Kelowna Community Theatre, The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, and The Audain Gallery at The University of Victoria. Charlesworth recently partook in a mentorship with artist Enrique Martinez Celaya out of his Los Angeles studio. He maintains an active studio and is passionate about contemporary approaches to painting, art education, and contributing to Kelowna’s vibrant developing cultural scene.


Tracey Jannusch

Tracey Jannusch brings a unique background spanning multiple industry sectors, and experience in both early stage, and Fortune 100 organizations.  Highly accomplished, she has worked in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and served in senior leadership roles, including General Management, Operations, Marketing, Sales and Business Development. 

Strategic and innovative, with a strong execution bias, Tracey enjoys assisting clients with Strategy and Market Development, New Business Development, Strategic Alliances and Channel Management.  An innovative problem solver, with strong conceptual skills, she excels in complex, unstructured situations by aligning people, resources and processes to achieve key performance goals.

Tracey holds an Executive MBA (EMBA), from the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program, a joint program with Northwestern University in the United States and York University in Canada.


Victoria Moore

Victoria Moore is an artist, curator and project manager who has recently returned to the Okanagan. Her art practice explores the concept of “Place” through the intersecting lenses of community, history, and identity. In her current career, Victoria works with international clients as a Management Consultant specializing in business transformation. Prior to 2020, Victoria was deeply involved in the Okanagan Arts community, holding positions with the Kelowna Art Gallery, ARTSCO, and as an employee of the Alternator. For the past three years, she has lived and collaborated with artists & curators in Vancouver & Victoria, BC in concert with her consulting career. She received her BFA from UBC Okanagan in 2018.

Staff

Lorna McParland Artistic & Administrative Director

Lorna McParland is a Canadian born photographic artist with a passion for community engaged arts projects. After spending her youth in Kelowna, Lorna relocated to Glasgow UK where she completed an Honours Degree in Visual Communication. While working full time at Glasgow School of Art, Lorna continued her studies and was awarded a Master’s Degree in Media Arts and Imaging from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design where her thesis focused on the possibilities for community based arts projects to fuel personal creative practice. In her ten years abroad, Lorna has facilitated creative projects with diverse audiences in both the UK and Canada, and has extensive experience in exhibitions, arts administration, education and workshop facilitation.

Moozhan Ahmadzadegan Exhibitions Coordinator

Moozhan Ahmadzadegan is an emerging artist based on the unceded and traditional territory of the Syilx people, also known as the Okanagan. He received a BFA from the University of British Columbia Okanagan with a Major in Visual Arts and a Minor in Art History and Visual Culture in 2019. In addition to his art practice, he is passionate about community-engaged projects. He is a co-founder of the Laundry Room Collective, an artist-run collective that works to provide accessible arts and culture programming, support emerging artists, and foster diversity and inclusion in an effort to meaningfully contribute to the community.

Arianne Tubman Outreach Coordinator

Arianne Tubman is an emerging artist, originally from Calgary, A.B. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Visual Arts from the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2021. She is a multidisciplinary artist whose main passion is photography. Arianne is interested in building community connections and making art accessible.

Our Heartfelt Thanks

Over the past few years, our staff have continued to work hard to establish exciting new programs to connect with our supporters within the Okanagan and across Canada. We have been able to do this with the generous support of you, our supporters, and our funders the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council (Resilience Supplement) and City of Kelowna. This assistance has been integral to our stability during this difficult period, and we extend our heartfelt appreciation!