Julianna Yau’s blog

Geoffrey Crossick’s lecture, Knowledge Transfer without Widgets (without widgets? what?), was the second public lecture of the Canadian University Presidents’ Initiative in Cultural Sector Education and Research. Crossick had no slides and, honestly, my mind started to wander after a while because it was the second lecture in which I was being presented with much information I already had. But the lectures certainly had an impact, because I had many thoughts as a result of them!

Notes

-white paper –> “Creative Britain” (pdf)

-OCAD project on mobile use — Mobile Nation

-“…better able to own and protect their intellectual property” –> scary for Creative Commons types!
- “arts and culture” vs “humanities”

-cultural spaces in urban renewal processes
-increased interest in culture from public
-Britain’s creative export is twice that of the pharmaceuticals
-arts industry in universities <–> creative sector
-research and knowledge –> how to make the results useful?
-what happens when the results of research and knowledge are output as creative works?
-research in educational systems –> interplay with the community ==> knowledge transfer?
-assuming knowledge transfer is reliant on new technologies –> what happens when knowledge transfer needs to happen in an industry that isn’t the technological industry?
-Blast Theory –> technology’s potential; potential of pervasive gaming
-Location One
-governmental involvement –> create spaces for knowledge transfer to occur
-Open Source community model should be reviewed for their community base and how it relates to intellectual property
-redefine what needs to be protected and what can be freely shared
-we need to be able to share information! (Crossick’s comment, not mine)
-HP in Bristol –> prosumers –> getting users to define their needs and addressing them with Technology
-importance of user feedback and companies/organizations to respond!
-networks and networking!
-online social networking ==> coffee houses
-what is required is not the transfer of knowledge, but space to create
-New Zealand –> no funding available for a project to explore a 3D house; “Who is interested in the total package?”
-no widgets in the cultural industry (really? we have memes—isn’t that close enough?)
-art & culture constantly pulled back to the science and technology model, but this is not useful

My Thoughts
~~> is the problem with the arts & culture community’s comfort level with use of technology? the technology community, by using the internet, is using its own outputs to feed more community and innovation; or is it because of the age of the arts & culture community? how much is the younger part of the a&c community using “new technologies” as part of their everyday lives?
~~> space building –> how effective is it for space to be created for a community, rather than by a community?
~different levels of networks; bringing together the people within and between the networks; across the “five categories of the creative culture” (and the missing second slide) (and equivalent in other communities); between different communities (arts & culture, science & technology, law, etc, etc, etc, etc)

Michael Bloom‘s public lecture Canada’s Creative Economy was hosted by OCAD and is part of the Canadian University Presidents’ Initiative in Cultural Sector Education and Research. I was sending Twitter updates with pictures of the slides during the lecture, which was somewhat ironic when Bloom started to talk about how the internet is changing the way we interact. You can find my photos of most of the slides here. Sara Diamond mentioned that the lectures were being videotaped, and I hope they’ll be publicly available after they’re done with post.

Notes

-continued relevance of current era of social change –> started well before recent election
-economic restructuring –> how to get arts & culture in on the ground floor?
-arts and culture have an economic value beyond the aesthetic sphere

1.Direct impacts
2.Indirect impacts –> providers of goods and services for the sector (software, paint, etc)
3.Induced impacts

2007 – direct impact $46.1billion
over 3.8% of Canada’s real GDP

-some countries include sports in their cultural GDP

2007 – indirect impacts $26.3billion
over 2.3% of Canada’s real GDP

2007 – induced impacts 12.3billion
over 1% of Canada’s real GDP

over 1.1 million jobs in 2007
7% of total employment

-written media and broadcast highest for average household spending on culture, followed by film and music, then visual and performance

$21 billion/yr consumer spending on culture

Social benefits
-personal growth and learning
-improves social cohesion; reduces isolation
-enhances local image, pride
-stimulates well-being – by creating a more inclusive revealing atmosphere/environment

-immigration impact on culture –> what about the lecture on the knowledge economy
–> why aren’t these bring brought together??

-products created by Canadians will have high market value outside of the country because of the cultural diversity in Canada

-regulation on networks, etc and impact on cultural economy

-”prosumerism” refers to consumers’ desire to participate directly in generating value from products and services and their preference for interactive experiences
-prosumers like to customize an control their consumption experiences
-don’t like to ask permission

-prosumerisms –> do we need to go back to when pencils were invented to get something similar to what we have now?
-books were a strange new thing when they first made an an appearance

-much more connection and interaction, as producers and consumers co-drive the creative economy
-producers and consumers spark off each other in a creative, responsive cycle of demand and supply of culture goods and services

-innovation involves the relation and diffusion of new ideas
-it also embraces the transformation of ideas to use in new value-added products and services
-for culture sector, it involves developing links between: technology, content, creativity, business acumen

-skilled and knowledgeable creative people are essential to
produce creative content
develop, deploy delivery platforms
judge consumer demand; and
design creative responses to demand

several skill sets are required: business, IT, generic, creative, computer

-creative economy is characterized by a demand for diverse products delivered through diverse channels to diverse markets to meet needs

social capital is created through
collaboration

conclusions
-culture sector is an enhancer of economic performance, a magnet for talent, and a catalyst for economic prosperity
-it connects people locally, globally and virtually; bridges long instances creates communities of interest
-makes a major economic contribution
-stimulates creative activity and innovation across the economy
-attracts skilled and creative people to Canada
-supports city growth and prosperity – especially in large cities
-technology ill influence forms of artistic and cultural expression and alter how it is manifested as culture goods and services
-demographic changes, especially ageing and rise in diversity will alter type of demands for culture products
-culture sector will be more engaged in competition in global markets

-link to other major policies, including innovation, R&D, education
-culture policy-making, research, funding should be viewed as vital investments in the quality of our national future

Notes from Q&A

-business spending on culture?
-data speaks to individuals’ spending
-where is the data for business spending? –> commercial spending

-how many prosumer artists are actually making money? no stats yet
-these changes are ahead of the data curve

-amount of Canadian cultural content?

My Thoughts

~feels like organizations don’t know what to do with social networking
~asking permission and the prosumer –> need to work within the realm of permissions with older institutions, but also need to help them move towards a more open concept of knowledge sharing –> link with second lecture

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!

I went to show my support at the Progressive Coalition rally today, and it was much better organized than I expected.

There was a strong union presence, and although I could hear the artists in the crowd respond to Jack Layton’s reinforcement of the importance of the cultural industry, I was disappointed that we weren’t as organized or visible as the unions. My friend swears up and down that Sandra Oh walked past us, holding her hand to shield her face from my camera. I didn’t get a good look at her, and didn’t take a picture because I respect people’s desire for privacy—celebrity or not. We did, however, hear Broken Social Scene with Leslie Feist before we had to leave.

I was also shocked that, despite being active on Facebook and Twitter, I only heard about the rally last night from a DoC message. Although, I suppose it’s likely I had messages about it earlier, but deleted them because I’ve been bombarded by political bacn in the past few days. I also haven’t been keeping up with my blog reading, and don’t expect to return to it any time soon.

The Department of Culture notes that a mere 500 people showed up to support the Harper rally, picking up on the Globe’s article with the estimated numbers. The Facebook event shows over 2,600 confirmed guests to the Coalition rally, plus another 2,000+ maybes. Pretty good, considering that most of the RSVPs on Facebook don’t come with 100% comitment.

Despite what Harper says, the 1 million attendees of this year’s Nuit Blanche and the half-hour wait to get into the AGO yesterday, in the cold and rain, I would say that “ordinary Canadians” do care about the arts. Whatever “ordinary Canadian” means.

The AGO was open at 10am yesterday, and by 11:15, the line had already snaked three times directly infront of the building, then around to OCAD. Before joining the line, I had brunch at the Art Square cafe, and saw some stunning work by Jeff Margolin. After brunch, the line was still stretched out to OCAD, and I was in the company of people who Harper may not consider ordinary, but they represented the different walks of life that you hear about all the time.

The AGO was brimming with people—I’ve never seen so many people in the gallery, and was relieved that they were actually there to soak in some culture. There was so much to visit, I was glad for the little alcove they kept from the original gallery. It was the perfect hiding spot for a break, because most people passed through fairly quickly when they realized it didn’t house any art.

To no surprise of anyone who knows me well, my favourite work at the AGO was Mona Hatoum’s Socle du monde. When I first saw it, I thought it was made of hair or fur. But upon closer inspection, I noticed the material immediately: iron filings. How did I know? A few months ago, out of curiosity, I placed some rare earth magnets over an open can of magnetic paint.

The most frustrating part of the AGO visit was the no camera rule (which was as dificult to police as their no touching rule), in conjunction with the absense of an online cataloge of their collection. Although I was able to track down Socle du monde, there was a sculpture titled Stretch, and searching for “stretch sculpture perspective optical illusion” (and variations thereof) proved futile. I suppose it would help if I could remember names, but I hope the AGO follows the lead of the Textile Museum in putting their collection online.

After four or five hours at the AGO, I left to find that the line was still snaking around the corner.

Update 2008-11-17: Sometimes, people really do a better job than Google. My friend Sara Kelly (new Associate Director at Open Studio) was able to identify the artist of Stretch as Evan Penny from my description alone.

I woke up this morning to a sense of dread when seeing the tweets waiting for me on my Blackberry. Last night, I had decided to go to bed rather than watching the election results, because I couldn’t do much about it by then anyway. And although that saved me from a night of worry, I spent most of today feeling slightly naueous because the Waterloo Region is now completely represented by the Conservatives. That means I’ll have to work much harder to ensure that the person and party elected to represent me will actually do so. And everyone who knows me knows I have nothing but time between my day job, sculpting, being my own agent, running one of the region’s arts newsletters and my copious amounts of volunteer work in the arts community.

So, in the interest of not seeing the glass as completely empty:

• At least the Conservatives only have a minority government
• At least I’m not the only one who isn’t comforted by the statement that “at least the Conservatives only have a minority government”
• At least the Conservatives’ attempt to slip arts budget cuts under the radar failed miserably and, instead, brought the issue to the forefront as an election issue.
• At least the fear of a majority Conservative government has resulted in a wave of strategic voting from all fronts.
• At least people are becoming more aware of how broken our electoral system is, and continuing to work against it.
• At least we don’t have to put up with quite as much campaigning as our neighbours down south.
• At least I still have art, chocolate and scotch.

This year, I have been more engaged with the political malström than ever before, thanks mainly to the Conservatives’ multiple hits to the arts sector.

And while I have blogged on various issues, met with two of the candidates in my riding (and didn’t hear back from the Green candidate), I am still unswayed from my opinion that there is no party which full represents me. Even at the candidate level, I am completely confident that I can be heard and understood by Cindy Jacobsen and that Andrew Telegdi would know exactly how to navigate through the political system. My unrest lies in my confidence for those two qualities not being with a single candidate.

I doubt I am alone in not being a partisan voter. I have talked to many people about how they plan on voting, and see two types of voters: die-hard supporters of a particular party vs. people who want to vote for the party which they see as the lesser of the evils. It feels like our political and representational system has become so broken that we now have political equivalents of religious tendencies, spanning from the evangelical to the church-goers to the agnostic to the atheists to the non-religious.

What the internet has made possible for this election is the push for strategic voting. Websites like Pair Vote, Anyone But Harper and Vote For Environment are doing what they can to prevent the Conservatives from winning a majority government, because Canada is not a Conservative party. The response to this has been split at every level, with some parties and some candidates supporting anti-Conservative voting, while some are aghast by the very thought of it.

What boggles my mind is why some parties feel that it is okay for them to run ads or have debate responses which are essentially “vote for me because I’m not the other party”, but also discourage us from voting strategically. Or why some of the people I’ve talked to are so religiously supportive of their party of choice that they would actually prefer another party win in their riding and/or win a majority government than “give their vote to any other party”. And while that isn’t an issue in all ridings, there are some where you would be giving your vote to another party by voting for yours.

Is all of this activity going to initiate another push for proprotional representation already in use by over 70 other countries, or for the preferential voting system used by Australia? I hope so. But I’m not holding my breath.

I hadn’t noticed this until one of my friends updated his Facebook status to “get a magnifying lens and read the quote on the back-left of any $20 bill. “Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?”" about five times within the span of 10 minutes.

The quote, according to another friend, is from Gabrielle Roy‘s novel La Montagne secrète (The Hidden Mountain). The bill also features the artwork of Bill Reid.

Our last stop was the House of Leaves, which was a recreation of Katherine L. Lannin’s home in an alleyway at Ryerson. She had wallpapered her home with pages from books, and was evicted for the fire hazard it posed. On the way to see it, we passed by a chess board painted on the street, and I was disappointed that there weren’t enough of us to play a game. In retrospect, I could have called out to other Nuit Blanchers to try to start a game, but I was too tired to have thought of that option at the time.

House of Leaves was a great last exhibit to see, because it was a quiet, reflective installation. Its tone and presence was entirely different from the duck pond. And although the pages were more accessible to visitors, and there were many pages “for the taking”, the very nature of the display did not invite the same type of interaction as the duck pond. People were more interested in seeing and reading (and, in my case, smelling…from a distance) the pages than in taking pages off to bring home.

In retrospect, I wish I had taken many more pictures than I had (for example, I don’t have one of the coin-operated “robot”). But I think I had a much better time being a part of Nuit Blanche than merely documenting it.

As we were leaving to see House of Leaves, we were approaching a coin-operated “robot”, and I  couldn’t resist dropping all of my change into the bucket for a little performance.  I felt invigorated and like a child again, being given the chance to be playful and spontaneous in a way that we rarely allow ourselves (at least I, myself) to be. En route to to Queen Station, I saw one of my favourite unintentionally public art displays—an art-induced traffic jam. I do feel badly about the people trying to get through the intersection, but it was elating to see such an obvious impact to the way people move an interact because they were out to see art (and…also…I can’t believe there are some people crazy enough to drive through downtown Toronto during Nuit Blanche).

So, after passing more performance artists, we took the subway to Dundas Square. 15 Minutes was on intermission, so we headed for the House of Leaves. En route, we stopped to ask where people were getting rubber ducks, and were told that there was a duck pond at Gould Street. Teresa and Adriana almost ran for the pond, and I was delighted to see so many people crowded around the display and wading into the pond to play with the ducks, despite the ice-cold water. Justin was brave enough to wade into the pond, but his trip was cut short by an onlooker who was chastising everyone for “destroying the artist’s work”, claiming that the artist was just here and had been telling everyone to stop taking ducks. She refused to believe that the program said that people were encouraged to go into the pond, and continued to yell at people until her friends started to try to push her into the pond.

Honestly, even if the artist had not intended for people to take ducks home with them, I don’t have a problem with this type of activity. It was all in good fun (versus vandalism), where the public was simply wanting to interact with the display and take a piece of the work home with them. Is it still theft? Yes. And although good intentions doesn’t invalidate the act of theft, the coordinators of Light Up the Night did invite people to hunt the proverbial sitting ducks. After Steroscope, the duck pond was the most interactive and playful display we encountered last night.