Blog — BC Alliance for Arts + Culture

The latest news on BC's arts, culture and heritage sector.

Vancouver Arts Summit: Arts Advocacy

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This is my overview of the session Arts Advocacy: Building Bridges to Strengthen our Sector, which took place at the Vancouver Arts Summit in the afternoon of June 26. Again, apologies to anyone I misrepresented.

Amir Ali Alibhai, Moderator This session was moderated by the Alliance's Amir Ali Alibhai, who wanted to come away with new ideas by the end of the session. He started out by posing a question that had been nagging at him lately. Often, he said, at events like the Summit there is a lot of discussion about the "arts community" - but what is this really? Is there an arts community? Do we work together enough, communicate enough, and gather enough to even call ourselves a community?

The panel consisted of Alan Franey from the Vancouver International Film Festival, Vivienne Taylor from Fashion High, Paul Sontz from Tourism Vancouver,  Jean-François Packwood from Conseil culturel et artistique francophone de la C.-B., Janet Leduc from the Heritage Vancouver Society and Elka Yarlowe and Music BC. Everyone introduced themselves and discussed the advocacy challenges for their individual disciplines. Unsurprisingly, issues and challenges were very similar across the disciplines - all the more reason that we should be working more collaboratively. But more on that later.

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Vancouver Arts Summit: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences

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This is a guest post by the Alliance's summer student, Angela Friesen. It is reproduced from her blog, The New Is The True.

I was lucky enough to spend the past two days at the Vancouver Arts Summit (thanks to my great summer job at the Alliance for Arts and Culture). The entire thing was outstanding, but yesterday was especially so. I went to a super fantastic (super tense) panel discussion on "new media, new tools, new audiences".

I've come to be pretty disenchanted with the term new media - to my mind there is no longer any such thing; it's not something separate from the way we live our every day lives. Everything we do is through "new" media -- plus what comes next? Do we get new new media when what we have now becomes old new media? Newer media? Terminology aside, the panel discussion was fascinating, due to the range of voices. At one end of the spectrum was Jerry Wasserman, who seems to have gotten into the internet out of necessity more than excitement, and still seems a little skeptical about the whole thing, and at the other was Kris Krug, who had more than enough enthusiasm about and faith in the digital world to get most attendees really excited about the possibilities that come along with expanding your online presence.

I could really feel the tension between the two perspectives - the traditional media who don't trust the internet vs. the younger users/creators who seem to have integrated it into every part of their lives - but that tension made me feel so connected to my love for technology and media and newness, and the fact that at its core all media, new and old, is about connection and learning.

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Vancouver Arts Summit: Diane Ragdale's keynote address

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Below is a link to Diane Ragsdale's effervescent keynote address, Surviving the Culture Change:

Surviving the Culture Change by Diane Ragsdale

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Vancouver Arts Summit: New Directions panel

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This is my blow-by-blow of the morning panel discussion: New Directions for Advancing the Arts in BC: A Go Forward Strategy, moderated by Howard Jang, Executive Director of the Arts Club Theatre. I made every effort to duplicate the panelists’ comments exactly; however, I must still apologize to anyone who feels that they or their position was misrepresented.

Howard began the forum by quoting from Diane Ragsdale’s keynote address, in which she described a town hall meeting at a recent National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, Colorado, where the following issue was identified as the #1 challenge:

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James Moore's announcement

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The announcement by the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, was a pledge to maintain federal arts funding despite the recession.

The press release is available on Mr. Moore's website. The Alliance will follow up with a comment once the details have been analyzed, but Amir characterized the announcement as "good news" in his remarks from the podium.

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Vancouver Arts Summit: Thursday afternoon

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Unfortunately, I was so busy helping get things set up and running smoothly yesterday that there was no time to report on the afternoon of the Summit. I was helping out at the Facilities session moderated by the tireless Jacquie Gijssen from the City of Vancouver's Cultural Services department. There was an excellent sneak peak into the Woodward's project, including a lowdown on W2. There were also a few updates and discussion about the Coal Harbour Performing Arts Complex and the York Theatre on Commercial Drive.

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Vancouver Arts: Thursday morning

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We'll be doing some live blogging for the Vancouver Arts Summit. So far, things are humming along swimmingly (how's that for a mixed metaphor?). Diane Ragsdale, our keynote speaker, blew everyone’s mind with her latest version of Surviving the Culture Change. PDF of the speech should available Monday - if you weren't at the Summit, you should absolutely give it a read. It's basically a roadmap for the next fifty years in the cultural sector, and we're providing it to you for free.

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Vancouver's cultural sector during recession

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As most of you know, the Alliance has partnered with 2010 Legacies Now to host a Vancouver Arts Summit at the Vancouver Public Library tomorrow and Friday. Thanks to 2010 Legacies Now, the Summit was offered free of charge, but with the caveat that participants had to fill out a detailed survey on how they are reacting to current economic climate.

The results are still being collected and reviewed, but I thought I'd share a few of the key findings with you before the Summit begins:

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Creative Places + Spaces Bursary

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  We received the following bulletin from the City of Vancouver that may be of interest to you all: CREATIVE PLACES + SPACES BURSARY  Bursary Application Deadline: July 13, 2009  Conference Dates: October 28 – 30, 2009  The City of Vancouver and Vancouver City Savings Credit Union are pleased to announce a bursary opportunity for up to ten individuals to attend the Creative Places + Spaces: The Collaborative City conference, October 28 to 30, 2009 in Toronto, ON.  These bursaries are designed to enable participation in the Creative Places + Spaces conference by Vancouver-based, professional artist / creators, representatives from Vancouver arts / culture organizations and others involved in creative space development.

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New Culture Minister

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Kevin Krueger, the MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson, has been appointed Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts on June 10, 2009. We hope that Mr. Krueger will be a strong champion for the arts, and a mindful steward of our industry. It is our desperate wish that he will continue the work his predecessor began, to restore the devastating cuts to the BC Arts Council. Mr. Krueger had served as Minister of Community Development since January 19, 2009 and as Minister of Small Business and Revenue and Minister Responsible for Regulatory Reform since June 23, 2008.

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Annual General Meeting

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Notice is hereby given of the  23rd Annual General Meeting  to members and friends of the   Alliance for Arts and Culture  

Thursday, June 25, 2009  4:00 pm to 5:00 pm 

at the Vancouver Public Library -  Alice Mackay Room  350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver

The following business will be considered by the membership: 

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Koerner Foundation grant changes

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We received an important release for the The Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation announcing changes to their grant programs. As you know, foundations everywhere have taken a pounding by the economic downturn. The Koerner Foundation has been a stalwart supporter of the arts and we are greatly saddened by their current predicament.

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Vancouver Arts Summit almost full

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The Vancouver Arts Summit is almost full!

Register now for your chance to take part in this free event  taking place on June 25th and 26th at the Vancouver Public Library, Lower Concourse. The Summit will offer a platform for dialogue, professional development and networking opportunities to a diverse group of individual artists, arts administrators, arts organizations, presenters, facility managers, students, businesses and government representatives.

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