Archive for November, 2007British youth unaware of their digital footprintThursday, November 29th, 2007Although the report focuses on British youth aged 14-21, I doubt the results would be drastically different for a different demographic. VAS: Collective Agenda for the Visual ArtsThursday, November 29th, 2007Hot off the presses!: Collective Agenda for the Visual ArtsVisual Arts Summit, Ottawa, November 2007 We, as artists, curators, collectors, dealers, educators and supporters, are united to enhance the opportunities for Canadian art to be created, seen, understood and enjoyed. We came together in the largest gathering of the visual arts in our history, to proclaim the critical role of the visual arts in an innovative and compassionate society in the 21st century. We know what is needed: we call on the governments, nations and peoples of Canada to join us in realizing our potential. The visual arts community acts within an increasingly complex environment, with stagnant or shrinking resources. The growth in public engagement with the visual arts is not reflected in government policies or support. Canadian artists, galleries and museums have been starved for too long. Too many people work in the visual arts without an adequate livelihood or long-term security. The lack of vigorous and consistent policy, particularly from the federal government, is unacceptable. The visual arts provide a high level of service while receiving an unjustly low level of support from most government agencies and departments. In a time of global challenges calling for dialogue and understanding, the Canadian government has cut support for our international cultural profile. The unique and diverse character of Canada is under threat. The visual arts offer the best opportunity to counter this threat. It is time to recognize the place of visual arts at the centre of society. We commit ourselves to work together:
With a united voice, we advocate:
We envision a Canada that embraces creativity in all its dimensions. We believe in art that challenges us, deepens our understanding, and bridges our differences. Visual arts build a more tolerant, diverse and creative world. For more information: Summit Partners: Afterthoughts of the SummitWednesday, November 28th, 2007During and after the Summit, I talked to different persons (artists, curators, educators) about their feelings about the Summit and everyone seemed to have, as one person put it, a “lukewarm” feeling about the Summit. There was a general sense that there is much to be done and much which had not yet been discussed at the Summit. Because we, as a sector, so rarely meet and engage each other, there was much “what about me and my problems?” at the Summit. This attitude caused the lack of focus that so many found was the main disappointment of the Summit. What was good is that we all seemed to agree that the same issues were indeed issues. We also agreed that 40 years is much too long of a time to pass each time we meet. From my perspective, these were the needs we identified through the panel discussions and smaller discussion groups: I was extremely thankful that Tamara Winikoff was able to accept our invitation to not merely speak at the Summit but also to participate with us. What she and her peers in Australia has been able to achieve has been encouraging, and she provided us with a welcome perspective from the outside to remind us to keep focused and encouraged us to work collaboratively on the issues were very much joint issues. Before and after the closing remarks, we were reminded that the Summit is the beginning and not the end of the change which needs to be made. My only hope is that the persons who attended the Summit and those who wanted to but were unable to attend will follow through with the intent to keep the dialogue open and to do something with all of the discussions we had. Without that, there will be no change and we will simply be starting over again in 40 years when someone realizes that we have allowed so much time to pass once again. Visual Arts Summit – Day 3 – Closing RemarksWednesday, November 28th, 2007The closing remarks by the panelists in the afternoon were wonderfully powerful and reaffirming. Shawna Dempsey has become one of my new heroines. Her speech was not merely insightful and eloquent, but immensely powerful and provided artists with the much-needed voice for the Summit. She reminded us that one of the stark things missing from the Summit was any direct discussion of the position and concerns of the individual artist. She remarked on the fact that we were all struck by the low artist income figures from Kelly’s presentation but that it was never mentioned again—that we seemed to almost be in denial of the fact that artist wages are so low. She also noted that there was no discussion on the conditions under which artists produce and live, and asked why so many creators of culture live below the poverty line. She brought our attention to the fact that artists subsidize the creation of their own work, and that society perpetuates the concept that current living conditions of artists are acceptable. And she reminded us that there will be no true change if the needs of individual artist are not considered. Gerald Beaulieu, the President of CARFAC National, recapped some of the themes of the Summit and reminded us to think forwards from the Summit. He repeated the quote that “there is nothing creatively rewarding about not being paid”—a sad reality for some artists. He reminded us of the importance to maintain the momentum of the Summit and to build relationships. He also made specific reference to things we can do after leaving the Summit, such as work on realizing the Exhibition Right Fund and urging the Canada Council to have their artists’ grants refocussed on the research and creation of works rather than on the career stage of the artist because the Canada Council is not in the business of career development. Hank Bull presented his closing remarks in the form of a wish list, which he dubbed “Hank’s List”: Tony Luppino reinforced that there needs to be real action coming from the Summit. He urged us to remember the importance of putting numbers to the things we want—to not simply ask for “increases”, but to ask for the actual amount of increase that we need to achieve our goals. He hoped (and I, too, hope) that from this Summit will come the formation of committees and action groups. He indicated that we need a real strategy for what to do with the National Portrait Gallery, rather than pitting cities against each other. He said that collection agencies should not call themselves that if they do not have a collection budget, and reinforced the need for more work to be done on the issue of education. He also asked us whether it would be beneficial to take up the issue of artists’ rights as human rights issues. After these closing remarks by the panelists, many of the delegates also made pointed out items which still need to be addressed (my apologies to my fellow delegates: I was not able to capture names): Visual Arts Summit – Day 3 – MorningWednesday, November 28th, 2007The last day of the Summit was another day packed with information and enthusiasm. The day started with presentations from Tamara Winikoff, the Executive Director of NAVA (National Association for the Visual Arts, Australia). Very regrettably, she was only given about a half hour at the beginning of the day. I was lucky enough to have attended a presentation with her on Saturday, where she not merely gave a thorough overview of what they have done in Australia but also had time to take several questions (she was there for three hours in total on Saturday). I will have to remember to put together an entry on that presentation—I have the equivalent of four pages of notes on my computer from that! Following Tamara’s presentation was one from [Mr.] Kelly Hill, who provided us with a high-speed overview of the stats found in this presentation. What was both a surprise and not a surprise is that in 2001, the average income for an artist (from all revenue sources, including second and third jobs) was $18,700. This is compared to the average income of the Canadian worker at $31,800. What’s even bleaker is that there is no major increase in this income with an increase of education or age for artists, even though there is for people working in other sectors. These figures are terrifying for an emerging artist like myself. Although I am fortunate enough to be able to foster other skills to maintain a job outside of the arts to support myself financially, not all artists have or want that option. Indeed, I am often chilled by the thought of having to maintain a Day Job my entire life so that I can produce the artwork I am compelled to create. Even jobs within the art sector itself aren’t financially appealing. Many are not merely paying less than other jobs requiring the same level of work but also have less job security because of a reliance on government funding which is decreasing and because of fluctuations from other revenue sources. The morning’s panel discussion dealt with “the force of markets”. Being very new to the art world and one of the 20-30 artists at the Summit who was under 35 (remember, there were approx 450 total delegates and about a half to a third were self-identified artists), this portion of the Summit was very intriguing because I haven’t seen enough to have an innate understanding of the art market (aside from the understanding that artwork is valuable well after the death of the artist and living artists usually are Starving Artists). Again, as a young emerging artist, Paul Wong’s portion of the panel discussion was particularly meaningful for me. He spoke of being a self-taught video artist who was the “bastard child of the arts” who was not welcome in the art, film or educational worlds in the 1970s. He spoke of having both good and bad relationships with galleries, where shows had been cancelled and he was sometimes never paid. He spoke of having to diversify his sources of income from reproduction fees, commissions, private collectors, curating and creating advertisement. It was somewhat reassuring to know that other artists feel disengaged from the industry, even though I am working in one of the traditional media he feels has an advantage over new media such as video work. I have actually found it more difficult to find a gallery which shows work similar to mine because I work in a traditional medium (stone) and neither a style which is purely traditional (e.g. figurative work) or something “wild” and “out there”. Visual Arts Summit – Day 2 – Further ThoughtsMonday, November 26th, 2007(continued from VAS Day 2 Summary) More specifically, some of the main/reoccurring issues identified were: There was also some discussion about the possibility of using new digital media as a possible solution for some of the issues of accessibility, education and preservation of works. Although these opportunities are very exciting, there is much yet to be discussed around the administration of these issues, and how much we really are reaching out. Alternative venues such as Facebook, Second Life or an independent website are great. But they are still inaccessible to the Canadians living in rural areas without an internet service to support the amount of information to be transmitted (if they have any access to internet services at all), and without careful planning we would soon end up having to rethink the issues again, or to need to convert everything to another format. I also wonder, as did Jeffrey Matt, what other cultural industries face as issues of literacy and accessibility, and what they’re doing to address those challenges. Both composers of classical music and authors & writers certainly must face these issues to some degree–what are they doing about it? I’m very curious to see what comes out of tomorrow’s discussions and closing remarks, and what will happen with all of this discourse after the conclusion of the Summit. Visual Arts Summit – Day 2 – SummaryMonday, November 26th, 2007Today was very intensive, very condensed. As I type this, many of my peers are attending an informal tour of the galleries in Ottawa…and although I don’t normally have the chance to visit these galleries, I am in dear need of some downtime. Throughout today’s panel discussions and smaller discussion groups, it was very apparent that it is problematic for the Summit to be the first in over 40 years. If the Summit had a different agenda, it would have been extremely useful for simply gathering a list of There is certainly no lack of enthusiasm, interest or passion in what is happening right now. The resonating concern I’ve heard from my fellow delegates is on the lack of strong focus or clear direction. Although this lack of focus and direction is very unfortunate, I think it is a natural result of the fragmentation of the community which has occurred and which has been mirrored by the fragmentation of the network of support for arts and culture within the government. I’m really seeing a need for us to look at what other artist communities have done (and here I’m thinking primarily of NAVA) and bring into our community methods and perspectives which are useful and relevant to us. I can hardly believe that everything we discussed today did in fact happen within a single day. This morning, we discussed education, access, interpretation and audiences. Each one of these issues could be a summit discussion unto themselves—and this was merely the morning! In the afternoon, we discussed the myriad of issues related to collecting and exhibiting art (and, more specifically, Canadian art). My personal summary of the issues boil down to the matters of intellectual, physical and financial accessibility of art. Although I identified these constraints when we were discussing education and audiences, I think it applies equally from the perspective of galleries, curators and researchers (although some repositioning of the intellectual accessibility would have to be made to apply it from a research vantage, rather than one of direct interpretation of the work). (continued in VAS Day 2 Further Thoughts) Visual Arts Summit – Day 1Monday, November 26th, 2007Edit 8-Dec-2007: I feel like such an art newb. I was flipping through the pages of Canadian Art to see Michael Awad, the delegate who asked all of the artists to stand. The post below has been updated. Yesterday was Day 1 of the Visual Arts Summit. In the morning, I got my information package, which included the schedule, a list of the delegates, a name-tag (thankfully, it was on a lanyard and not a pin or requiring an adhesive) and a brochure about some of the arts destinations in Ottawa. The list of delegates has been very useful for a “newb” like me, because I simply haven’t been around (in every sense of the word) enough to know many people. I’m also horrible with names, so the name-tags have been very useful (although they always seem to get turned around when I actually need to make use of it). In the early afternoon, I was able to attend the tour (organized through the Summit) of vault 34 at the Gatineau Preservation Centre. The vault contains several of the portraits held by the Portrait Gallery of Canada, which is the first national portrait gallery to collect not merely works of the “important men in history books”, but works of and by all Canadians. The director, Lilly Koltun, was our guide to some of the works and was truly a wealth of information. She had intimate knowledge of the portraits’ history, both prior to being acquired by the Portrait Gallery and the acquisition itself. Everyone I talked to who had attended one of the tours agreed that they could just sit there and listen to her tell us about the portraits for hours, days, or more! The Summit began in the late afternoon with an open plenary session. The start of the conference was punctuated with the announcement that “a landmark agreement has been reached for the first time in over 40 years between the museum community and the artists’ organizations over fees for exhibition of artists’ works. The agreement puts an end to a long-standing impasse and will lead to a new era of cooperation.” The organizers announced that there were approx. 450 participants—200 more than they had anticipated. This is the first major gathering of the players in the arts community (in Canada) in over 40 years, and I think everyone agrees that it’s long overdue. During the introductory session, I could tell by the murmurs in the room and the questions following the panelist discussion that everyone was extremely eager to jump right into things. At the end of the question period, My hope is that we can use that meeting of the minds to direct the Summit and use this time to start and maintain a more open dialogue between the different aspects of the arts community. NAVA seems to have done a fantastic job at that type of cooperation, and shows that it is possible. Artists and Museums Reach Historic AgreementMonday, November 26th, 2007Ottawa, November 26, 2007 – A landmark agreement has been reached for the first time in over 40 years between the museum community and artists’ organizations over fees for exhibition of artists’ works. The agreement puts an end to a long-standing impasse and will lead to a new era of cooperation. “We are very pleased with this agreement,” said Gerald Beaulieu, President of CARFAC, on behalf of all organizations. “It means that museums and artists’ organizations will work closely together on many fronts, including the economic well-being of artists and for improved funding for Canada’s museums and galleries.” On November 19 and 20, 2007, representatives from CARFAC and RAAV met with CMA and CAMDO representatives to hammer out the new deal with a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario as mediator. Subsequently, the agreement has been formally approved by all organizations. The new streamlined fee schedule goes into effect on January 1, 2008 for a 5-year term and soon will be posted on the partners’ websites. It is simplified for ease of administration and provides useful definitions. It will be adjusted annually by a 3% increase. Most importantly, the parties agreed to pursue the establishment of a new Exhibition Right Fund, similar to the highly successful Public Lending Right Fund, which provides compensation to authors of books used in public libraries. When the new Exhibition Right Fund is established the fee schedule will be renegotiated at that time. The agreement establishes a joint committee that will advocate for the proposed Exhibition Right Fund, develop templates for standardized contracts for exhibition and acquisition, and address mutual interests which will move the visual arts forward. The announcement was made at the opening of the Visual Arts Summit, the largest meeting in Canadian history of the visual arts community. Over 450 artists, dealers, collectors and museum officials have gathered in Ottawa to explore new ideas to strengthen the sector and to improve the public appreciation of the visual arts. A statement and action plan will be finalized at the conclusion of the Summit on Tuesday, November 28, 2007. - 30 - For further information, contact: John McAvity Shawn Van Sluys April Britsky Christian Bédard |
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