The Arts form an essential part of all Mayworks celebrations. A key element of our overall concept for the annual Vancouver Island Mayworks Festival is a month long visual art exhibit to introduce and set the tone for the Festival as a whole.

Mayworks festivals traditionally open on May Day: May 1st. This date is recognized worldwide as a time to celebrate the struggles, accomplishments and culture of working class people.

May Day's roots in North America go back to Chicago, Illinois, in 1884, with the struggle of trade unions to establish an 8-hour work day. In Canada, Mayworks Festivals are held annually in Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, occasionally Vancouver, and -- for two consecutive years now -- on Vancouver Island.

They are built on the premise that both workers and artists are major contributors to society and share a common interest in decent wages and safe working conditions. Mayworks' goal is to promote these interests and bring an awareness of workers in all areas to public consciousness.

Our selection of artists for these exhibits is based upon a number of criteria. Participating artists share a long-standing interest in the issues involved, and all produce work of excellent quality. We attempt to include as wide a range as possible of media, in both two and three dimensions.

As artists, we feel strongly that the word "work" should be defined as broadly as possible, to include non-organized workers and the ongoing struggle for survival waged by marginalized persons and groups such as the poor, the homeless, domestic workers, migrant workers, women, minorities, and artists themselves.

The result we feel are provocative exhibits, full of energy and variety, expressing and celebrating the struggles, contributions and dignity of the working people who form the backbone of human communities.

= Curatorial Statement by Bill Friesen & Marci Katz

The organisers, participants and patrons of Mayworks would like to acknowledge the generous and continuing support of the Annual Mayworks Festival Sponsors:

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE); The BC Teachers Federation (BCTF); The BC Nurse's Union (BCNU), Pacific Region; The Hospital Employees Union.