Art on the Edge
In 1967, a film crew arrived on a small island in the North Atlantic and changed the fate of a community.
The island was Fogo, located off the coast of Newfoundland, and the film crew was from the National Film Board of Canada, part of a "Challenge for Change" program to show how communities can use film as a catalyst for social change.
Fogo was chosen because of the work some community members were already doing to organize themselves against the collapse of the inshore cod fish industry that had been the backbone of their economy for generations.
The resulting 27 short films documenting life on Fogo during this dire time were screened for the residents of the island's dispersed and fractured outport communities. Seeing that they all faced similar challenges, fears and hopes brought residents together and resulted in the creation of a successful fishing cooperative that continues to this day.
That film could empower communities and change lives became known as the Fogo Process. For a whole generation of Fogo Island's children, it cemented the fact that art has power.
Watch The Children of Fogo Island below, one of the films by Colin Low. Provided by the National Film Board of Canada.
Fast-forward nearly 60 years, and today Fogo Island stands as a beacon of art and the power of social enterprise—all thanks to the vision of one of those children, Zita Cobb.
Zita, an 8th-generation Fogo Islander and former high-tech executive, returned to Fogo Island and helped revitalize the economy. In 2004, alongside two of her brothers, she created the Shorefast Foundation, a registered Canadian charity sponsoring a rich diversity of artistic, cultural and social business initiatives on Fogo Island. This includes the award-winning Fogo Island Inn and the world-renowned Fogo Island Arts program. Her vision has become a global model for sustainable tourism and cultural preservation.
And at the heart of it all is art, says Andria Hickey, the Head of Programs at Shorefast and the Fogo Island Arts.
"Zita is such a visionary. She also sees the potential of other visionaries and I think Fogo Island Arts is really founded on the idea that artists are the visionaries of our time," she said. "So the art program is very much in line with the DNA of the whole project. It's definitely in the veins of the earth here, which is really special."
Fogo Island Arts is an artist residency program. This means that artists come from around the world to live on Fogo Island and work on their art — this includes anything from painters and sculptors to writers and filmmakers. Artists each live in a restored heritage home within one of the island's communities and they are assigned one of the four studios in which to work.
"We really want them to use this time as they wish," Andria says. "And we are aware that coming here takes time and arriving and understanding the place takes time, and learning from it takes time. So we really try and have artists come for as long as that takes."
The studios in which the artists work were designed by the same architect who built the Fogo Island Inn, Todd Saunders. They are situated in various locations throughout the island and embedded into the landscape.
"Each studio is about a 10- to 15-minute walk from where you can park your car," Andria says. "So you have this kind of meditative time to lead you into your work zone."
The Long Studio is located near the community of Joe Batt's Arm. It hovers on stilts that lift the structure above the ground.
The Long Studio is located near the community of Joe Batt's Arm. It hovers on stilts that lift the structure above the ground.
The Bridge Studio is located on a hillside overlooking the calm waters of an inland pond in the community of Deep Bay. Photo: Alex Fradkin
The Bridge Studio is located on a hillside overlooking the calm waters of an inland pond in the community of Deep Bay. Photo: Alex Fradkin
The Squish Studio is located just outside the small town of Tilting on the eastern end of the island.
The Squish Studio is located just outside the small town of Tilting on the eastern end of the island.
The Tower Studio. It is dramatically situated on a stretch of rocky coastline in Shoal Bay.
The Tower Studio. It is dramatically situated on a stretch of rocky coastline in Shoal Bay.
The original idea was to build studios that would provide both work and living space for visiting artists, but it quickly became apparent that daily interaction with the community was the only way to create a connection between art and place.
"It's a very unique program globally," Andria says. "There's not a lot of residency programs where your studio is out in the landscape but your home, where you live during your residency, is in the community."
The connection is working, however. So many of the artists who have come through the program continue to visit Fogo regularly and some even buy homes here. They have developed important friendships.
Fogo, as a place and as a culture, has woven itself into their work in beautiful and unexpected ways.
The program is now in its 16th year and continues to be a beacon of light in Shorefast's mission to unleash the power of place so local communities can thrive in a global economy. It is also a nod to the power of art that Fogo's children — now grandparents — learned all those years ago.
2025 will be a full circle moment for many as one of the artists returning for a residency, Sharon Lockhart, is creating a film about children at play that harkens back to the original film by Colin Low.
"It's very special to have a contemporary artist look back at that moment through the perspective of what's happening on the island today," Andria says.
"She engaged with a number of families across the island in really meaningful ways over three years and has filmed again a series of incredibly beautiful, moving shots of children around the island doing different kinds of things, hanging out in the landscape and just being kids."
The film — still untitled — will first be shown inside the exhibition space at the Fogo Island Inn and will then move on to Toronto and Banff.
"It is a very special way for us to show not only the work we're doing with the art program but the holistic kind of work Shorefast is doing in the community," Andria said. "So I'm very excited about that."
Learn more about the Fogo Island Arts program and Shorefast
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