Julianna Yau’s blog

From managing Artifice and generally taking on way too much, I have a good idea of some of the major arts/tech/culture events coming up in the first half of 2009. Here are my choice picks (I am, of course, involved in most of these somehow):

Third Thursdays at Globe Studios
This is a new initiative of Globe Studios, where the building and many studios will be open to the public for demonstrations and other interactive activities. We will be bringing in some guests to fill the space too. Please take a look at the website if you want to participate.

Cinematheque Waterloo‘s screening of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jan 18 and 20
One of the best films I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a ton of films). I still have two free tickets to give away.

KW CultureCamp, Feb 7
Culture + BarCamps for Kitchener-Waterloo

Technology In The Arts Conference + Canada 3.0 Conference, May 10-12
This is in Stratford, and will be a wonderful mix of art and technology.

spOtlight 2009, June 5-7
The spOtlight festival will be returning to the Waterloo Region in 2009. Here is some information about how to participate.

Below are the handouts and my notes from the spOtlight 2009 info session. Thanks to the OAC for sending me the files!

Handouts

• Highlights from the Celebrate our Artists Weekend June 6-8, 2008 (doc, pdf)
• Celebrate our Artists Weekend: Participant Overview (doc, pdf)
• spOtlight: Proposal Tips (doc, pdf)

My Notes from the info session

General notes

• keeping 2009 as pilot, rather than moving to other cities
• weekend of 1st weekend in June is arbitrary; not sure why it was selected, but it’s in the Status of the Artist legislation; OAC still working on dates
• spOtlight is the beginning of “micro grants” –> OAC may develop new set of ongoing micro grants in the future
• growth of spOtlight –> can’t get the promotional support to move to other cities
• Globe Studios was bouncing off the walls, but other events were not as well attended
• application forms for the 2009 session should be available by mid-January

Application process

• 1-paragraph description of what you’re going to do; focus on audience participation; involvement builds appreciation
• viability; something that doesn’t take much time; 2-3 hours was too much; people want to go to many different studios and plan their day (note: some, such as Majestic Mud Studios, indicated that their longer sessions were fully booked)
• consider issues of safety
• exciting and fun
• summary should not be art-speak; something to interest people; clear explanation of what they will do and how they will interact with you; end results in brochure were from a lot of back-and-forth between OAC and artists; an ad for your event

• budget –> keep it simple
• artist fees –> suggested $200-$400 per day, depending on how much work was required for the event and the prep work and the expertise required
• materials –> how many people you can accommodate in total, multiplied by the cost of material per person
• equipment –> equipment rentals
• venue rental
• technician fees, etc
• balanced budget –> if you are getting money from other sources, must indicate to OAC where that’s coming from (e.g. donations, in kind service); can ask OAC for full amount
• can’t include advertising costs (flyers, posters, etc); OAC already funding advertising for the event and it is included in their overall budget; advertising will not be paid

• final report required
• get receipts! (for everything except artist fees)
• payment made out to the name on the grant; use a name that can be used for cashing the cheque!

• location! if it changes, let the OAC know if it changes
• ditto for time
• age range for events (can be all ages); include in brochure with location and times

• need to be available to discuss your proposal
• leave your first and last name and phone number if you’re calling!

• needs to be a special event just for spOtlight
• can’t be part of your regular programing; can start with spOtlight and keep as regular programing afterwards (can also apply for funding from OAC afterwards)

• if people need to register ahead of time, let the OAC know so they can publish the restriction
• ensure the OAC knows what information may be published (phone number, address, email address, etc)
• if your mailing address is not the same as the activity address, ensure the OAC is notified clearly of the two addresses and which is the activity address

Question period

• adult-only programing is okay, but needs to be clearly indicated
• can be for one day only, multiple days or the whole weekend
• your program info will also be on the OAC website
• all four mayors (Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph) were very supportive
• can do the same thing in 2009 as 2008
• very grey line on the issue of “regular programing”; e.g. KW Symphony‘s regular programing is an event, but allowing people to attend the rehearsal would be different (my recommendation: contact the OAC if unsure!)
• issues of sustainability for where to host spOtlight; already approached by potential sponsor; considering changes to the current model
• looking into creating Facebook account or other hub for people to facilitate finding space; problem is that some municipalities (e.g Cambridge) are firewalled from Facebook
• use municipalities! Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge are happy to help; will put info on website for OAC
• 2009 dates are set; looking at possibility of moving in 2010
• artist must be an Ontario resident to get funding from the OAC
• selection process –> viability; audience-participatory; must take place during spOtlight event; must be free to public; must be new and initiated for spOtlight; must be geographically to spOtlight event; must have artist fee paid; AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION; not juried the same way the grants are
• event must be local; will decline artists from outside of Waterloo, Kitchener, Stratford and Cambridge (can’t just rent space here)
• people are welcome to start spOlight in their own cities cities
• artists allowed to include spOtlight and other sponsors on their self-funded ads
• artists within the 4 cities can have event in other cities within 4 cities (e.g. artist in Waterloo can have their event in Cambridge)

More questions? Contact the OAC!

The next Department of Culture meeting is this Saturday, September 13 from 10am to noon at The Theatre Centre (1087 Queen St. West) in Toronto. The meeting is to organize swing teams for the Oakville and Oshawa ridings.

Facebook event here.

Media Release
Cultural Trade Advisory Team (CTAT)
Executive Board

St-Albert, 22 August 2008

Following the termination of the PromArt program by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the termination of the Trade Routes program by the Department of Canadian Heritage as well as announced cuts to various other programs benefiting the Arts Industry, the Private Sector Co-Chair of the Cultural Trade Advisory Team, Menno Plukker, has issued this statement.

“Since 2000 the private sector of the Canadian Cultural Industries have been engaged in a dialogue with the government through the Cultural Trade Advisory Team (CTAT), formerly known as Trade Team Canada – Cultural Goods and Services (TTC-CGS), and originally as the Cultural Trade Advisory Board. This dialogue has allowed Cultural Industries to advise the Department of Canadian Heritage and other funding bodies on how to increase Canada’s cultural trade.

Together, the Chairs of the working groups for each sector of the Cultural Industries, express dismay and disbelief that the Canadian government has decided to terminate the PromArt and Trade Routes contribution programs as of March 31, 2009. This unilateral decision clearly contradicts the government’s stated desire that the public and private sectors should work together in order to make more efficient use of the limited resources available to the Cultural Industries, given that no consultation took place prior to the cuts.

Throughout the history of Canada, the government has worked as an investment partner to practically every Canadian industrial sector, from agriculture to aerospace, with the understanding that that investment protects jobs and encourages growth by exporting Canadian goods and services around the world. The economic importance of Canada’s cultural industries makes them worthy of this kind of economic partnership.

According to a study by Statistics Canada released in 2007, the Canadian Arts and Cultural Sector contributed $43.2 billion to the Canadian economy, represented 4% of the national employment and accounted for 3.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (statistics for the year 2003). In 2005 (according to the same study) exports of Cultural Goods amounted to $2.37 billion and Cultural Services to $2.90 billion. These numbers have grown over the last few years, in part because of the continued investment by the Canadian government in Cultural Industries through funding programs such as PromArt and the Trade Routes contribution program. Through these funding programs, small investments have offered substantial returns of increased revenue from export activity. Increased trade revenue in turn makes cultural industries less dependent on Canadian government subsidies. In short, investment in culture is a good business decision for the government. With the help of these programmes to open the necessary doors, Canadian artists are critically acclaimed and commercially successful around the world. Furthermore, they demonstrate the variety and diversity of Canadian culture to our trading partners, fostering greater understanding.

The few examples of some of the grant recipients that have been mentioned in the media do not alone demonstrate the enormous scope of the cultural activity which benefits from programs such as Trade Routes and PromArt – in the Performing Arts, Crafts, Design, Film and Television, New Media, Publishing, Sound Recording and Visual Arts.

In the sector of the Performing Arts, beneficiaries of the programs in question have been major orchestras, ballet companies and some of the most renowned and prestigious artists in the field of theatre and dance. Export support programs have enabled Canadian book publishers to achieve an average annual growth rate of 15% for their total export sales since 1993. Over the history of the trade programme at the Western Canadian Music Awards, 29 Canadian artists have been signed to foreign labels, 45 artists have been booked to tour internationally, 40 have been booked to showcase internationally, 344 have been booked for international festivals, and 34 have had their music licensed in foreign territories. The list of successful investments is too long to itemise here in full. Without investment by the government in cultural trade, our ability to expand markets abroad and increase audiences and buyers will be severely compromised.

Our confidence in our working relationship with the Canadian government is shaken. However, we are prepared to enter into a new conversation with the government in order to ensure that our priorities and needs are known, and to find solutions to counter this ill-considered development.
We look forward to a renewed dialogue with the Government of Canada, via the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. ”

For further information:
Menno Plukker – Menno Plukker Theatre Agent, Inc. menno@mennoplukker.com
Tom McFall – Alberta Craft Council tmcfall@albertacraft.ab.ca
Carol Outram – Canadian Aboriginal Design Council outram@videotron.ca
Suzanne Bosse – Association for the Export of Canadian Books sbosse@aecb.org
Jean Bureau – Incendo Productions jbureau@incendomedia.com
Catharine Saxberg – Canadian Music Publishers Association csaxberg@musicpublishing.ca
James Lewis – Canadian Interactive Alliance james@ciaic.ca
Patricia Feheley – Feheley Fine Arts art@feheleyfinearts.com

Update: See the Canadian Conference of the Arts’ breakdown of the cuts, which are more accurate than the chart below.

I’m doing some prep work for my letter to my MP et al regarding the recent cuts to arts funding. Anyone out there willing to check my numbers for me? The chart I put together isn’t getting to the $40-million or $44-million number being quoted, even by the article from which I pulled the numbers (which quotes $44.8-million).

Also, The Globe & Mail indicates that the cut to Trade Routes is a $7.13m cut, while others (Canadian Conference of the Arts, DOC and CBC) indicate it’s $9m.

In response to the recent arts funding cuts, a Facebook group and event is being organized to stage a one-day online protest on September 15 (the first day of Parliament). This has been initiated by Keith Barker in association with Native Earth Performing Arts.

From the Facebook group:

This is a roll call to all people who believe that Arts and Culture is a part of their lives and is important outside of the political spectrum. This is for artists, families, parents, friends, co-workers, relatives, enemies, neighbors, acquaintances, to all people who enjoy the arts and culture of this country and feel that it must be nurtured and cultivated. We need to send out a message to our politicians to let them know that there are more of us than they think and congruently that we are not going to vote for any person or party that plans to cut funding to arts and culture in the impending election. This is for all of us; people from all sides of the political landscape. This is not about what party you belong to, but how you feel about arts and culture in this country.

So on Monday September 15th (the first day of Parliament) we want you to do one thing. It’s very simple. It will only take a small amount of your time. About the same amount of time it will take to cast your vote for the candidate you feel best represents what you want.

This is it: We would like you to leave your profile picture blank for the day. Use your faceless profile picture as a symbol of the loss of identity Canadians will experience if funding to the arts is cut.

Be a catalyst for change and put your best face forward on election day, but on Monday September 15th leave it blank and send a message so that we can count how many people have joined the fight.

I encourage netizens to not only leave their Facebook profile blank, but any other social networking site. It’s only one day, and you can exercise your creativity afterwards with a new profile picture!

The Canadian Alliance for the Visual Arts released a response to the budget cuts (PDF) and CARFAC National also has a response, urging artists to contact their MP. These were sent out on the 14th, but got lost in my sea of email.

Over the past few days, the reports of cuts to government funding for the arts has been alarming. This is after passing the Status of the Artist legislation, wherein:

The Government of Canada hereby recognizes
(a) the importance of the contribution of artists to the cultural, social, economic and political enrichment of Canada;
(b) the importance to Canadian society of conferring on artists a status that reflects their primary role in developing and enhancing Canada’s artistic and cultural life, and in sustaining Canada’s quality of life;
(c) the role of the artist, in particular to express the diverse nature of the Canadian way of life and the individual and collective aspirations of Canadians;
(d) that artistic creativity is the engine for the growth and prosperity of dynamic cultural industries in Canada; and
(e) the importance to artists that they be compensated for the use of their works, including the public lending of them.

The recent funding cuts have impacted the following programs:

• The Stabilization Projects – Stabilization Components – provides grants to Stabilization Projects. A Stabilization Project is administered by an independent non-profit group that represents the interests of the larger community through the make-up of its Board and through the diversity of its revenue base. Funding from this component is added to that raised by the Stabilization Project from other levels of government and the private sector. This broad revenue base in turn funds eligible arts and/or heritage organizations within a specific geographic area that are willing to undergo fundamental changes related to how they plan, organize, finance and govern themselves; to be closed April, 2009
• The Stabilization Projects – Capacity Building Components – provides contributions to arts and heritage organizations that do not benefit from participation in a Stabilization Project. For example, there will always be places in Canada where, due to smaller populations, it is impractical to establish a Stabilization Project. Also, Stabilization Projects may establish eligibility criteria which limit the participation of some organizations. The Capacity Building Component ensures a Canadian scope for the program by providing financial support through direct contributions to those arts and heritage organizations which want to undertake projects to improve their organizational capacity, but do not have access to a Stabilization Project; to be shut down in 2010.
• A-V Presentation Trust – dedicated to increasing Canadians’ awareness of their rich and distinctive heritage in moving images and sound; ending its annual contributions of $300,000
• Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund – private sector funding body which supports non-theatrical film, videos and new media projects created by Canadian independent producers to enable lifelong learning; ending its annual contributions of $1.5-million
• National Training Program in the Film and Video Sector – to foster the professional development of emerging Canadian creators and to renew the skills of professional Canadian creators to ensure a healthy and thriving film and video industry that Canadian audiences can benefit from now and in the future; ending its annual contributions of $2.5-million, with the program to be discontinued April 1, 2009
• Trade Routes – program helps profit and not-for-profit organizations in the arts and cultural sector prepare to export and sell in international markets; the Government of Canada will stop financing contributions under the Trade Routes program at the end of this fiscal year, March 31, 2009
• PromArt – grant program provides funding to Canadian artists and arts organizations for the promotion of Canadian culture abroad, in alignment with Canada’s foreign policy and trade priorities; grant to be ended March 31, 2009

And there is no shortage of coverage on these appalling cuts:

• The Gazette/Canada.com: Axe falls on arts program (August 8 )
• Edmonton Journal/Canada.com: Cancellation of cultural program makes us poorer (August 10)
• Ottawa Citizen/Canada.com: Grant cancellation wrong and dishonest (August 11)
• National Post: Conservatives may slash $50-million in cultural funding (August 14)
• Globe & Mail: Tories to axe five more arts and culture programs (August 14)
• National Post: Frustration builds over federal cultural cuts (August 15)
• CBC: Cultural groups blast additional federal arts cuts (August 15)
• Red Tory v. 3.0: Tory Art Appreciation (August 15)

Between these budget cuts and the rediculous things happening with copyright legislation, I can’t help but feel abandoned by my government as an artist.

I’ve been quiet on this blog for a while because I’ve been returning my focus to the production of new work. After selling all but one of the sculptures I completed last year, and one of the two I completed since, I need to replenish my supply of sculptures so that I can take care of the traditional tasks of compiling a portfolio and seeking representation and/or shows.

I have also moved all of my feeds from Akregator (which was randomly marking new feed items as read) to Google Reader so I can better control the amount of time I’m spending on trying to maintain something resembling a pristine inbox.

This break from the online conversation about copyright, technology and the other things that strike my interest was what I needed to be able to read C-61 with a fresh mind. I have not yet read any of the responses by the usual suspects, although I can imagine what they are. I doubt that any of my online peers are happy with C-61, and I’m mostly upset at myself for believing that it could be anything less than distasteful.

C-61 is obviously meant to help corporate rights-holders, and not consumers or the artists themselves. It reads more like a supplementary user guide for how you can technically use works than a set of guiding principles on the rights relating to acceptable usage of works. If the revisions in C-61 are made as they stand now, the Copyright Act will become more obscure and quickly obsolete than it is already. It shows a fundamental failure to understand either what the creators and consumers want and, more importantly, what is needed from a document which governs the rights relating to the use of works.

I’m not going to bother with an in-depth analysis of C-61, because I’m sure the blogosphere is already overflowing with those. Mostly, I am balking at how overly specific the wording is and that the legislators don’t understand technology, internet culture, creators, users or the creative arts industries.