Forest City Gallery is excited to welcome Londoner Adi Berardini to the role of Gallery Executive Director.
Adi Berardini (she/they) is an artist, writer, and editor. She has an MA in Art History from Western University and a BFA in Cultural + Critical Practice from Emily Carr University. She is the founder and editor of the publication Femme Art Review, which provides space for women and LGBTQ2S+ writers to reflect on art and culture. You can find more of her writing through Femme Art Review, VANDOCUMENT, LIVE Biennale, and Issue Mag. Their illustrations have also been published in Free Lit Magazine and EVENT Magazine.
In the spirit of introducing them into this new role, Adi and departing ED Ruth Skinner recently carried out the following conversation.
RS: Hello Adi! I would like to say formally that it's truly exciting that you'll be taking the helm of FCG in the Executive Director role. Would you give us a little background about your relationship with London and the arts communities here, and your history with FCG?
AB: Thank you for the warm welcome, Ruth! I am from London, Ontario, and went to H.B. Beal Secondary. I moved back here around 6 years ago after studying in Vancouver at Emily Carr University of Art & Design. I was on the Board of Directors at Forest City Gallery from 2019-2021. I was a Member at Large and the Volunteer and Membership Coordinator. I learned a lot about Artist-Run Centres and enjoyed connecting with other artists in London and beyond through being involved with FCG. It was such a valuable experience! I also run a publication called Femme Art Review and we recently had our 5th anniversary party at Forest City Gallery this past August. I appreciate the space that Forest City Gallery provides for artists and creatives in the city.
You already juggle so many roles: artist, advocate, publisher, and community builder. From your publisher position, you’ve created in Femme Art Review an important publication for centering women and LGBTQ2S+ perspectives. This is an incredible achievement that blends art and culture, as well as theory and practice, into accessible conversations and texts. It’s a beacon of community building that reflects your day-to-day involvement in the community. Can you speak a bit as to why it felt like a good time to move into a leadership role with FCG? How do you see some of your existing roles and passions enfolded into this new position?
That’s a great question. Although I hope to continue Femme Art Review in the capacity I can, I felt a bit at a crossroads with it. I feel like by moving into this role at Forest City Gallery, I will be able to collaborate with artists and support their artistic practice in a different way which intrigues me. Although working on Femme Art Review is quite collaborative it’s often through either email or video chat. Also, a lot of the art writing and interviews I do are engaging with artists about an exhibition after or during their current show has been up. In this position, I look forward to supporting artists to help bring their artistic vision to life in the earlier stages of this process.
Thinking of the word “vision,” how would you describe your vision in the work you do, and in the work you hope to do in this role?
It’s important to my vision that Forest City Gallery can create space for a diverse range of emerging artists. Being an artist can take a lot of support and encouragement to spark the confidence to pursue art and put yourself out there. I think that comes into my work doing Femme Art Review since we work with equity-seeking groups, I work with writers to build their confidence and find their voice. I hope to bring this same energy and support to the artists at Forest City Gallery. I would like Forest City Gallery to feel accessible to anyone with an interest in art.
So much of the Director role is public facing. I would consider you a very familiar and friendly face in London already. Can you speak a bit about where you see your ongoing community engagement informing the way FCG will engage with its communities, and where you see that engagement potentially expanding?
I think there’s a lot of exciting potential to engage communities who might not be as familiar with Forest City Gallery. It’s important to me that emerging artists feel like Forest City Gallery is approachable and supports local artists, not only artists from outside London or with an academic background. I think there are exciting opportunities to create space for interdisciplinary community groups to introduce people to the gallery. Within the broader community, I’d like FCG to be a place where people feel safe to stop by and enjoy community gatherings and exhibitions and feel inspired.