Khyber Centre for the Arts

The Khyber Centre for the Arts (est. 1995) is a queer-led artist-run centre located in downtown Halifax NS, which is Kjipuktuk, unceded Mi’kmaq territory. The centre presents non-commercial artwork, offers a self-led platform for artists and their practices, and aims to disrupt systemic causes of exclusion, tokenism, and power imbalances in the arts. The Khyber’s mission is to foster critical thought, facilitate creative dialogue and support artistic experimentation through the public presentation of contemporary art. The Khyber will actively and continuously work to hold a pro-survivor framework and an intersectional, anti-oppressive, anti-racist analysis in its programming and operation. The Khyber’s mandate is to present contemporary visual art, which exists in a wide variety of disciplines. We challenge traditional gallery conventions and encourage public understanding and appreciation of contemporary art through responsive and relevant programming. The Khyber works to prioritize, centre, and promote the presentation of work by emerging local, national, and international artists. Additionally, we aim to recognize and disrupt systemic forms of oppression, which include but are not limited to racism, white supremacy, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism/transmisogyny, tokenism, ableism, ageism, sizeism, sexualized and all acts of violence and harassment. The Khyber provides a physical and flexible space for the support of socially engaged programming, as well as cultivating relationships with a variety of art communities that engage in artistic research, experimentation, production, education, and distribution.