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Not/For the Money: A celebratory book launch with Embassy Cultural House

April 30, 2026 - April 30, 2026

Critical Distance and the Embassy Cultural House are pleased to announce a celebratory book launch for Not/For the Money, an online exhibition featuring works by artists and cultural workers examining themes related to money, capital, and value.

Join us Thursday, April 30, 2026 from 6–9 pm in the gallery at Critical Distance, Suite 122 at 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto.
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Featuring contributions from Ron Benner, Karl Beveridge, Lily Cho, Matthew Dawkins, Holly English, Soheila Esfahani, Kelly Greene, Jamelie Hassan, SF Ho, Michael Maranda, Alistair MacKinnon, Patrick Mahon, David Merritt, Mohamed Monaiseer, Sheri Osden Nault, Wanda Nanibush, Shelley Niro, Claudia Sambo, Ruth Strebe, and Jeff Thomas, the Not/For the Money exhibition catalogue will be available for perusal and purchase, alongside artists’ multiples, postcards, and prints by Anahí González, Incé Husain, and others, and a full complement of past publications by ECH. 

Ron Benner, Jamelie Hassan and other ECH contributors will be in attendance, and refreshments will be served. As always, admission is free and all are welcome to join us for this celebratory and conversational reception at Critical Distance.

About Embassy Cultural House

In 1983, artists Jamelie Hassan, Ron Benner, and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990), which was located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. In 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as an online collective and arts community by Tariq Hassan Gordon. The virtual and in-person programming is a collaborative effort by contributors, editors, partners and volunteers to celebrate the art community in London, Ontario—its past and present, and its many connections across Canada and around the world.

The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.

Embassy Cultural House publications are generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the London Arts Council, the City of London, and the Embassy Cultural House community.

Publisher(s)

Embassy Cultural House
The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is non-hierarchical and inter-generational, which paves the way for inclusive and open opportunities for artists, writers, cultural workers and other cultural advocates. Our most recent publication is Not/For the Money, launched January 22nd, 2026, is an extension of our online exhibition of the same title. In 2024, the ECH published an anthology, An Alternative Cultural History of London, Ontario: Art & Activism. This anthology introduces important and essential cultural material to a generation that has not had access to such documents. Since January of 2021 the ECH has published 10 publications.
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