OXYGEN OPENS CALL FOR FREE ONLINE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR REMOTE ARTISTS
Hedge-rider: online mentorship program
Deadline to apply: April 29, 2026, at 12 AM Midnight PDT
Oxygen Art Centre announces an open call to emerging or early-career artists living and working in remote areas across British Columbia to participate in a free, online mentorship program.
Presented alongside the artist-run centre’s spring semester, “Hedge-rider” is an opportunity for artists to work one-on-one with artist-mentor Genevieve Robertson.
Hedge-rider is a free, online mentorship program designed to support emerging, remotely located contemporary artists. Presented by Oxygen Art Centre, it is open to artists working in all mediums across visual and interdisciplinary practices who live and work in remote, rural contexts across British Columbia.
Mentees will be paired with Nelson-based artist Genevieve Robertson. Meetings will take place online via Zoom. Meetings will be structured according to the mentee’s needs and specific directions.
Three artists will be selected to participate in three one-hour meetings taking place from June 1, 2026, to July 16, 2026.
The artist-mentor, Genevieve Robertson, will support artists in the areas of professional development, studio work, and writing. Robertson is specifically interested in the responsibilities, gifts and challenges of living outside an urban centre as an artist, and how place informs practice and profession.
In the spirit of liminality, the program is entitled “hedge-rider” to connect with the etymology of the hag, a woman or practitioner who lives in two realms simultaneously.
The hedge-rider’s artist-mentor, Genevieve Robertson, is interested in the idea of someone who occupies two places or realms at once, whether this is the hedge-rider who lives on the periphery of a town, an artist who bridges rural and urban contexts, or someone who has access to and knowledge of more-than-human spaces–bringing experience across one to the other. Information gained from hedge-rider journeys is used for healing, finding lost items, or gaining wisdom, which this program seeks to situate within artistic exchange.
This program is an extension of Robertson’s Fall 2025 residency at Oxygen Art Centre, where the artist developed a new body of work intended for exhibition this Spring in the Midlands, UK. Hedge-rider provides meaningful engagement in studio praxis and connection across distance.
The deadline to apply is April 29, 2026, by 12 AM Midnight PDT. Applications are to be submitted via the Google Form available on Oxygen’s website. More information about the selection criteria can be found on Oxygen’s website and on the Google Form.
Applications will be reviewed according to an equity-lens. Three artists will be chosen to participate in the mentorship program. Selected artists will be notified by May 8, 2026.
Oxygen Art Centre is an artist-run centre located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street. For more information about how to apply or what to expect, please contact us via e-mail.
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Image Credit: Geneveive Robertson, Monument Creek Wildfire, video still, October 2022; Courtesy the Artist (above); “Hedge-rider” promotional graphic, Oxygen Art Centre, 2026 (below)
Website link: https://oxygenartcentre.org/hedge-rider-online-mentorship-program/
Press Contact:
Julia Prudhomme
Executive Director
Oxygen Art Centre
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Julia Prudhomme (she/her)
Executive Director / oxygen art centre
My regular office hours are Tuesday – Thursday, 9:00am – 2:00pm PT. Responses will be slow outside of this window.
#3 – 320 Vernon St. Alley Entrance
Nelson, British Columbia, V1L 4E4
Oxygen Art Centre is is an artist-run centre located on the tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land) of the Sn̓ʕaýckstx (Sinixt), Syilx and Ktunaxa Nations colonially known as the West Kootenay in the southeastern interior region of British Columbia, Canada.
We strive to listen, learn and grow respectful relationships with all those who have deep connections with this land and its waterways, including Métis and many diverse Indigenous persons. We honour their ongoing presence as stewards and carriers of knowledge.
We make this statement to recognize our privilege as uninvited guests and to reflect on our own connections to this place. Our responsibility as an artist-run centre is to uplift voices of justice, move at the speed of trust, and deepen understanding and relationships.
We are grateful for the financial support we receive from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, BC Gaming, Province of BC, Government of Canada, Vancouver Foundation, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Columbia Basin Trust, Regional District of Central Kootenay’s ReDi program, Osprey Community Foundation, United Way, Nelson Lions Club, and Nelson and District Credit Union.
We offer thanks to the Polka Dot Dragon Festival, the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival and other key partners including Hall Printing, Speedpro Signs, and Selkirk College for their support.
We especially thank our collaborators, volunteers, donors, and members.