Letter: Vote YES to QPIRG Concordia for Art, Community and Progressive Values on Campus
For the past three years, I’ve had the pleasure of working in close collaboration with volunteers, board members and staff involved with QPIRG Concordia, a group that proactively promotes progressive initiatives and values on campus.
I’ve had the chance to see how they find ways to make innovative links between the classroom and community through their projects.
As a fine arts student, I’ve been impressed by initiatives like Art In Action linked to Study In Action, which allows undergraduate research and art creation to be highlighted, and I’ve had the great opportunity to show my own artworks as part of Art in Action 2015.
I’ve enjoyed picking up aesthetically beautiful and informative publications like School Schmool and Convergence. And I’ve learned from QPIRG Concordia working groups like the Decolonizing Street Art Convergence and as a member of the Sidetracks Screenprinting Collective.
As a student in general, QPIRG’s key support in opposing the xenophobia and racism around the Charter of Quebec values, or co-organizing the yearly Anti-Colonial Dinner in support of Indigenous self-determination, are very important to me. As much as I’m a student and an artist, I’m also linked to a larger community, and I’m glad to be able to fight together for progressive values with campus allies.
QPIRG Concordia accomplishes so much with modest resources and financing. They are a group that values transparency and accountability to their student membership, and have helped to improve best practices among all campus-community groups. After almost a decade, they are asking students for a small fee-levy increase, so they can continue another decade of great work.
I urge my fellow fine arts students to learn more about QPIRG Concordia and, on Nov. 15 to 17, vote yes to their referendum question during the CSU by-elections.
