The Canadian Conference of the Arts is pleased to present, in association with the Centre for Cultural Management, University of Waterloo, and the Alliance for a Grand Community and the Waterloo Regional Arts Council:
Cultural Policy 101 Workshop:
The Politics of Art and the Art of Politics
Wednesday November 18, 2009
7:00 – 10:00 pm
Council Chambers (3rd floor), Waterloo City Centre
100 Regina Street South (at William) in Waterloo
Cultural Policy 101: The Politics of Arts and the Art of Politics seeks to engage and inform arts professionals, students, and interested Canadians on how the arts, culture, and heritage sector in Canada has been, and continues to be, shaped by public policy. This exciting workshop, led by CCA’s National Director Alain Pineau, will give participants:
A brief background of Canadian cultural policy and the recent developments to our rich history
An overview of current practices in the workings of government and policy development
A toolkit for advocating for the arts
A practical case study exercise
To register, please contact Bill Poole at the Centre for Cultural Management
wpoole@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 x 35057
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.
I’m not girly and emotional very often, but I’ve been missing Toronto wildly in the past few months.
I consider myself to be a Torontonian ex-pat. I grew up in Scarborough before it was absorbed by the Greater Toronto Area; when the Sky Dome was still called the Sky Dome and the CN Tower was still called the CN Tower; when the Eaton Centre was still home to Eaton’s, and Simpson’s was still in the Scarborough Town Centre.
About five years ago, I moved to Waterloo, lured by the availability of a desk job to fund my passions, and a cost of living which is a fraction of Toronto’s. And, although I can now comfortably call Waterloo “home”, I still look longingly at Toronto. In the past year, I’ve been there so often that some acquaintances assume I live there.
But…somehow, the energy isn’t the same. The focus of the major institutions and cultural centres is different, as are the types of people feeding into and on them.
The Prosperity Council of the Waterloo Region and the stuff we’re doing at Globe Studios give me glimmers of hope that Waterloo might get shaken out of it’s sleepy-town mentality. But until that happens, I suspect I’ll still be spending many a weekend in the T-dot.
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!
-“…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
-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
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
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)
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:
Yesterday, there was an informal celebration of the arts at the Kitchener Market. We only had a week to rally the troops, and the turnout was decent.
The arts crowd gathered over the span of a half hour, after which we raised signs which read “ordinary Canadian who cares about the arts” (and other variations) and proceeded to wander through the market. I think a conga line would have been more fun, but not very easy with the signs!
Arun Pal was there to provide us with music, and speeches were later given by some members of the arts community:
We wandered through a bit more of Cabbagetown, stopping to listen to a reading of Cabbagetown by Hugh Garner. We also caught the end of a very cute short film featuring dancing notes juxtaposed with the soundtrack, and also watched as the giant outdoor screen came falling down. Luckily, no one was hurt because the closest row cleared the screen by a few feet and was vacant. Adriana and I rushed to help them right the screen, and hold it while they re-secured the frame to a tall, industrial tripod and brought in more sandbags to weigh it down. By the time we left, the hand for Red Door was already well along its way.
Amazingly, this year was my first time at Nuit Blanche. I hadn’t originally planned on going, because everyone I know who went the first and second years said that the first year was fantastic and the second year pretty much bit. But Gordon Hatt, the curator of Zone A and the new executive director of CAFKA, is now working in the same building as my studio and showed me all the stuff he was bringing in for the event. I was pretty much sold as soon as I found out Project Blinkenlights was coming, but was curious to see some of the other things too.
Nuit Blanche is also a particularly important event for the arts community this year, because its success brings art & culture to the forefront of peoples’ minds as election day approaches. And from the hordes of people who attended the event last night, I dare Harper to continue to claim that art doesn’t matter to “ordinary” Canadians (or, perhaps, that “ordinary” Canadians are in the majority, or that it’s desirable to be “ordinary”). Although probably not all Canadians, the estimated 1 million attendees clearly disagree with Harper.
The night started with my friend Teresa taping a glow-in-the-dark ART sign on the back of her vest in preparation for the 4:33 minutes sign of protest scheduled for midnight. With her dog in tow, we made a quick tour of Church street, seeing the beginnings of the ethereal forest and some performances happening on the closed street.
We returned Teresa’s dog to her apartment and, almost immediately after returning to the streets, were approached by a family who was attending Nuit Blanche for the first time. They had seen the ART sign on Teresa’s back, and decided to ask us for directions on how to get to some exhibitions. We directed them to the downtown core, near the Eaton Centre, where many of the events were centralized, and they seemed very enthusiastic about the event (and had even driven downtown and parked somewhere nearby).
