Julianna Yau’s blog

From the Canadian Conference of the Arts

Preoccupations about arts and culture have been very much in the press lately, but one cannot say that they are normally at the top of the public agenda. The latter has been a preoccupation of the CCA for quite some time and this is why, over the past six months, we have been working here at the Secretariat on planning a series of fourteen regional forums which will allow me to meet with members of the cultural sector and other Canadians who have a stake in arts and culture in our society and the place it occupies in public debate and the agendas of our decision-makers at all levels./p>

As luck would have it, the impending federal election and the arrival of a new government of whatever stripe provides an important backdrop for setting the agenda for short and longer term cultural policy development, for funding of the arts and culture and for promoting the Canadian creative economy. The forums will give participants in all ten provinces an opportunity to share their views and strategies with the CCA in advance of a national policy conference to be held in March 2009 in Ottawa.

The forums are open to anyone who cares about the arts and culture sector in Canada, from the various perspectives of the sector itself, from that of educators, municipal and provincial officials or the business community. Bringing the discussions to you is the best guarantee that the CCA can present a truly unified voice to government and to the Canadian public when it talks about the policy priorities concerning the sector.

The schedule for the regional forums is:

More details on each of the forums will be provided in the coming weeks, but mark your calendars now to participate in the discussion. All you will need to do will be to register in advance (no costs), and bring your enthusiasm and insight.

Please tell your friends and colleagues about these forums – the more views put forward the better. Canadians will by then have chosen their next government and the CCA wishes to renew its priorities for working with the federal government and the 40^th Parliament to advance the shared interests and objectives of the arts and culture sector.

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