The GNO was Ontario’s first francophone artist-run centre. With an eye towards outreach and promotion, the GNO’ s first efforts were focused on bringing professional artists together around new creative projects. Rooted in Sudbury, where the centre has had a downtown exhibition space since 1996, the GNO has a yearly program of contemporary art exhibitions and coordinates a number of visual art events that bring together larger groups of artists. The Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario (GNO) embodies a vision that’s open to all practices in contemporary art, with a particular interest in site-specific creation, installation art, and performance. The GNO encourages and supports artists engaged in a creative process that welcomes risk. Through its innovative and collaborative projects, the GNO encourages interaction and dialogue between artists and with the public. Aware of its geographic location, the GNO favours projects where different ideas, languages, and cultures can come together. A collective of Northern Ontario artists determined to outfit their community with a contemporary arts organization created the Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario (GNO) in 1995.