Women’s Enterprise Digital Art – WeDART – is a social enterprise aimed at economic empowerment of immigrant, newcomer and visible minority women artists. It will promote the work of female artists skilled at digital art forms to help them find customers who look for digital marketing solutions. In addition, the WeDART program will include mentorship opportunities and capacity building for the women artists to develop their business skills and turn their creativity into sustainable income.

The WeDART project will reach out to women artists (in digital photography/ painting/ video, web and graphic design) to create a network of 12 to 15 professionals who can offer a wide range of branding and visual marketing products for small and large companies and individuals.  The network and its services will be promoted through social media, print advertising, and event participation to increase its visibility and secure customers.

Women joining the network will receive training on business skills, digital advertising market, pricing strategies, and services that are in prime demand. Further mentorship support will be available to them on the ongoing basis. For effective communication with the members, WeDART will create and maintain a blog that will serve as a platform for registration, collaboration and mentorship.

WeDART will open new economic opportunities for women from immigrant and visible minority groups who often face various barriers on the job market. In addition to the barriers faced by many immigrant/minority artists – such as language, education and technology –  women artists often experience pressures from their personal life as well as poorer access to networks and resources that could help them turn their skills and talent into a gainful activity.

In fact, the Statistics Canada shows that the immigrant and visible minority women tend to have higher education attainments and a more diverse professional background than the Canadian-born women, yet they continuously fall behind in employment and income levels compared to men from the same immigrant or visible minority background or compared to other women.

The WeDART project has been conceptualized to help the women artists, who are already professionals in some form of digital art, to build a client base benefiting from the WeDART platform that will advertise their skills far beyond their personal network. We expect that this will open the opportunities for many of the women to start or strengthen their freelance careers or their own enterprises. Women artists will benefit from the free advertising and client-matching services offered as part of WeDART participation. Through their engagement with WeDART, they will be able to build up their portfolio and to expand their client base, which will lay foundation for their future employment and income generating opportunities. Helping women artists to prosper, we contribute to the overall well-being of the entire community.

To register or learn more contact: wedart@artistsandartisans.ca