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Home | Resources > Newsletter | Synergy - January, 2007
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Synergy January, 2007 -- Volume 18 Number 1 IN THIS ISSUE: A word from the Editor1. New Executive Director for the Alliance 2. Call to action: Contact your MP prior to the federal budget 3. New critic for Canadian Heritage 4. Canada Council to increase funding for artistic projects 5. Guidelines on children's fitness tax credit released 6. ArtsPOD receives support from BC Arts Council 7. Canada Council recruiting program officers for dance 8. Arts and culture programming changes at CBC 9. New arts advocacy committee for Abbotsford 10. Canadian Conference of the Arts releases annual report 11. Research and literature 12. In memoriam 13. Calls, grants and awards 14. Member news 15. Media spin 16. Endquote Alain Pineau, National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts met with members of the Alliance for Arts and Culture this week to share his passion for the new direction of the CCA and his insight on the current political climate in Ottawa. Just a few weeks earlier, MP Hedy Fry convened a roundtable with arts and culture representatives from the city to also discuss the current political climate in Ottawa. Both Hedy and Alain firmly emphasized that it is an important time for the arts and culture sector to be heard by politicians, and that the voices which are heard are united and acting together with a consistent message. It is this core principle that is at the foundation of the Alliance. Together with our supportive community in Greater Vancouver, with the newly created provincial coalition, Arts Future BC and with the Canadian Arts Coalition and the CCA, we advocate with a unified voice. On that note, the approaching months will be busy ones with budgets being released at the municipal, provincial and federal levels and the ever present possibility of a federal election. There is much that one individual, acting as part of a unified alliance, can do to impact budgets and political will. Please stay tuned to our communications and read our calls to action in the coming weeks and contact us at the Alliance if you have any input into the work we do. Laurie Guy The board of directors of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles to the position of Executive Director. Currently the National Director of the Creative City Network of Canada, an organization of people employed by municipalities across Canada working on arts, culture and heritage policy and planning, Andrew will be taking the helm at the Alliance at the end of February. Prior to joining the Creative City Network, Andrew was the Executive Director of the Winnipeg Arts Council from 2000 to 2005 and the Executive Director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet from 1997 to 2000. He has also worked with the Manitoba Opera, DanceArts Vancouver, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Yukon Arts Centre and the CBC at locations across Canada. Andrew has formal training in music and theatre and worked professionally as an actor, director, artistic director, coach, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and choral conductor (he currently conducts a choir in Maple Ridge). His expertise has also been shared through volunteer activities with a range of organizations and events including the Canadian Arts Summit, Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts, Three Choirs Festival, Dawson City Music Festival, Allied Artshop, Corner Brook Summer Festival of the Arts, Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg as well as various choirs, theatres, troupes and companies. Beyond the arts and culture sector, Andrew shared leadership in the founding of a provincial human rights association, a crisis intervention centre and a hospice program. 2. Call to action: Contact your MP prior to the federal budget It is anticipated that the federal government will deliver its next budget in the February – March period. In its pre-budget report to the Minister of Finance, the House of Commons Standing Committee recommended that: The federal government increase funds to the arts and cultural sector. In particular, funding increases should be considered for the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Television Fund and Telefilm Canada. Funding for the Canada Council for the Arts should reach $300 million over two years. During this pre-budget period, the Canadian Arts Coalition will continue to press the case to:
To be successful, we need to keep arts on the public agenda. We urge you to make your voice heard by contacting your MP to let them know about your work and the need for more federal investment in the arts. Go to www.canadianartscoalition.ca to access information and communication materials so that you can write or meet with your own MP. 3. New critic for Canadian Heritage
Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion has named Tina Keeper as the Canadian Heritage critic. Ms. Keeper was first elected as the Member of Parliament for the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill in the January 2006 election. Born in Norway House, Manitoba, she is a member of the Norway House Cree Nation. Ms. Keeper is currently a full-time member of the federal standing committees on health and Canadian heritage and is active on the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development committee as well. She served as the public health critic until being named heritage critic. 4. Canada Council to increase funding for artistic projects The Canada Council for the Arts announced in December that it will increase funding to arts organizations undertaking artistic production projects, including theatre, dance, opera and interdisciplinary productions, musical concerts, visual and media art exhibitions and literary publishing projects. At its quarterly meeting in December, the board of the Canada Council voted to increase the 2006-2007 budget for project grants by $1.5 million, bringing the total project grant budget to $12.5 million. This is in addition to a $1.2 million increase to the project grants budget in 2005-2006. Earlier in 2006, the Council announced that it would use the $50 million in new funding announced in last May’s federal budget to supplement operating grants for arts organizations, as well as grants for individual artists and initiatives aimed at increasing public access to the arts. However, production project grants were not included in that amount. The additional money will be divided among the various project grant programs in all artistic disciplines. As the competitions for this year have already taken place, the money will be used to support projects which were highly recommended by Canada Council juries but were not funded because there wasn’t enough money in the program budget to do so. 5. Guidelines on children’s fitness tax credit released
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, released guidelines on the Children's Fitness Tax Credit, which became effective on January 1, 2007. The tax credit will cover many sports, as well as other children’s recreational programs that also involve significant physical activity, such as dance lessons. An eligible program of prescribed physical activity, for the purposes of the credit, will be defined as: An ongoing, supervised program, suitable for children, in which substantially all of the activities undertaken include a significant amount of physical activity that contribute to cardio-respiratory endurance, plus one or more of:
For details, please visit http://www.fin.gc.ca/news06/06-084e.html 6. ArtsPOD receives support from BC Arts Council The BC Arts Council announced in December that it will provide $60,000 to support the 2006/2007 Arts Partners in Organizational Development Program (ArtsPOD), managed by the Centre for Sustainability. ArtsPOD offers assistance to arts and heritage organizations in BC in order to help build capacity and achieve long-term organizational sustainability. ArtsPOD's Spring 2007 grant application deadline is March 2, 2007. Program guidelines and application forms are available online at http://www.centreforsustainability.ca/programs/ArtsPOD.html 7. Canada Council recruiting program officers for dance The Canada Council for the Arts is presently recruiting for two Program Officers for the Dance Section. The posting can be viewed online at www.canadacouncil.ca. Applications should be submitted to Valérie Lamarque, Human Resources, no later than February 5, 2007 at competition1@canadacouncil.ca quoting competition number 3204. Please note that an employment application form must be completed and submitted in order to be considered for this position. 8. Arts and culture programming changes at CBC CBC will be making arts and culture programming changes to Radio One and Radio Two following an in-depth study on arts programming that began three years ago. The changes include moving music programming off CBC Radio One, the news and current affairs-focused main service, with some comedy, drama and other arts and entertainment programming continuing to be featured. Radio Two will become an adult-oriented music service, targeting an audience over age 35. Radio Two will retain classical music at its core, but also include more jazz and contemporary music. Boosting the service's Canadian content by about 20 per cent is also a priority. Radio Two will include the establishment of hosted, themed blocks each evening, seven days a week, with jazz featured from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., live performances following for two hours, and contemporary music showcased from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Radio One will have a new weekday arts magazine show hosted by Jian Ghomeshi. Reporters and producers across the country will contribute to the new afternoon show, which will be produced out of Toronto and replace the current pop culture show Freestyle. The new program will also be presented in a condensed version weekday evenings, replacing The Arts Tonight. It will encompass a broad range of arts, culture, music, and entertainment news and features. The first phase of the changes will be launched in mid-March, with the final slate scheduled to roll out in about a year. 9. New arts advocacy committee for AbbotsfordThere is a new arts advocacy group in Abbotsford. Created by the Abbotsford Parks, Recreation and Culture Department, the Abbotsford Arts and Heritage Committee was created to help members of the public get their ideas across to council. The committee is made up of nine volunteers: one from the museum society, one from the arts council, one elected official and six members from the community. It will meet monthly to discuss issues relevant to the local arts scene. The committee was created with the intent to come up with recommendations for the Parks, Recreation and Culture Department to discuss and bring to city council. The meetings are open to the public. 10. Canadian Conference of the Arts releases annual report The Canadian Conference of the Arts has released its 2005-2006 annual report and made it available online for the first time: http://ccarts.ca/en/about/mission/documents/annualreport200506_en.pdf Heritage institutions 2004 This is the first release of a new Statistics Canada heritage institutions survey, highlighting the operating finances of over 600 heritage organizations in 2004. The new survey data includes non-profit and for-profit heritage organizations, including art galleries, museums, historic sites, zoos and botanical gardens. The new methodology excludes heritage organizations that are part of a larger organization, such as university-affiliated art galleries. Volunteers in arts and culture organizations in Canada in 2004 Without volunteer support, many arts and culture organizations would be unable to achieve their mandates. In 2004, volunteers accounted for almost 75% of the overall workforce in not-for-profit heritage organizations and over 40% in non-profit performing arts companies. Given the importance of volunteers, a new report from Hill Strategies Research, entitled Volunteers in Arts and Culture Organizations in Canada in 2004, provides an important indicator of the health of the arts and culture sector and evidence of community engagement in arts and culture organizations. The report examines data from custom tabulations that Hill Strategies Research commissioned from Statistics Canada based on the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (CSGVP). The full report, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Ontario Arts Council, is available free of charge on the Hill Strategies Research website (http://www.hillstrategies.com) and the websites of the funding organizations.
Mavor Moore. March 1919 - December 18, 2006 Canada’s artistic community has bid farewell to playwright, actor, director, producer and educator Mavor Moore, who died in December at the age of 87. The author of more than 100 plays and musicals for stage, radio and television, Mr. Moore was founding chairman of the Canadian Theatre Centre and the Guild of Canadian Playwrights, as well as the founding artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival and the founding general director of the Toronto's St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. He later taught theatre history at York University and wrote a weekly culture column for the Globe and Mail. Mr. Moore was the first professional artist to chair the Canada Council, a position he held from 1979 to 1983. He later served as chair of the British Columbia Arts Council. 13. Calls, grants, awards and opportunities Free Financial Fitness series The Centre for Sustainability is assisting Vancity in the promotion and delivery of the Financial Fitness series: three, day-long workshops covering legal, finance and accounting issues that are critical to the health and sustainability of not-for-profit organizations. This first offering of the Financial Fitness series is being delivered as a pilot project. The Centre is seeking a diversity of participating organizations, with a range of challenges regarding their financial fitness, for the pilot and its evaluation. The workshops are free of charge, but participants will be required to participate in an extensive evaluation process. Submission of your application does not guarantee a place in the workshops. The Centre will confirm participation by the end of the first week of February 2006. For more information visit www.centreforsustainability.ca Museums Assistance Program Canadian Heritage has posted guidelines for the Museums Assistance Program (MAP) for 2007- 08. In 2007-08, organizations will be restricted to receiving funding for only one new project during the year. Deadline: Submissions must be postmarked no later than February 23, 2007. For Guidelines and Application Forms, visit http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/pam-map/index_e.cfm Emily Carr Institute officially opened the $4.3 million Intersections Digital Studio (IDS) for advanced art research and technology on January 23. IDS is a 10,000 square foot studio aimed at improving the digital infrastructure and resources at the Institute to facilitate the growth and development of research opportunities and projects for ECI students and educators. Vancouver Youth Theatre (VYT) has received support from the Vancouver Foundation for its pilot project Say Peace, created to give youth a unique “say” in choosing peace in the community and in the world. The foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Advisory Committee has approved a $12,000 grant to assist in the creation of their teen touring production, as well as scholarships for youth facing financial barriers. Say Peace is an original project about what it means to stand up for peace in a world of conflict. Directors will facilitate young actors in creating a play, using teen-authored poetry and fiction, historical and social research on peace, as well as drama, music, visual art and movement. Vancouver's heart up for grabs Downtown Vancouver is on the brink of a jaw-dropping transformation that few citizens know much about, but it will change life in the city forever. The city, province and a handful of alpha-players in the arts scene are hammering out a scheme for a high-budget, architecturally spectacular arts district. The question is: whose culture will it be? Read more... Booze cops blitz Ontario art shows Art show curators pushing the next big thing -- and some booze to go with it -- may want to read the fine print on their special occasion liquor permits. Photographer Chris Ablett didn't, and her recent show at Come as You Are got an unwanted visit from -- count 'em -- three officers from the Ontario Provincial Police. Turns out those special occasion permits handed out by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario aren't so special. They only allow alcohol to be served at by-invitation events. Publicly advertised events are another story, and pouring liquor at those could cost you a tidy sum in fines. Problem is, a permit that lets people who walk in off the street enjoy wine and cheese with their art doesn't exist. So how the hell is anyone supposed to sell art in this city? Read more... "A gentleman of my acquaintance runs a children's theatrical program. He offers age-appropriate drama classes to kids between three and fourteen, after school, on weekends and over every school holiday. My acquaintance called me late yesterday with the sad news that enrollment in his classes this semester is suddenly down by nearly He surveyed the families not returning this year and discovered that they've enrolled their kids into hockey, basketball, and ski lessons instead. The tax break was specifically mentioned. I understand the feds thought their tax credit plan for sports was a good idea. I understand that they saw a problem and attempted to fix it. But just like in plumbing, fixing one leak requires an examination of the entire system -- otherwise you run the risk of flooding the basement." --Marianne Lepa, Editor Arts News Canada www.artsnews.ca
Our thanks The Alliance for Arts and Culture gratefully acknowledges the support from the following: City of Vancouver, Service Canada, the British Columbia Arts Council and the British Columbia Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch. Comments? Send a message to: SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE You can subscribe to receive Synergy by emailing info@allianceforarts.com with the “Synergy Subscribe” in the subject line. To remove your name from this email list, please email info@allianceforarts.com with “Synergy Un-Subscribe” in the subject line. We do not rent, exchange, sell or give this email list to any other organization. Unless specifically stated, any part of this newsletter may be reproduced with appropriate credit given to the Alliance for Arts and Culture. If you have any questions about your privacy, please call 604-681-3535 or email privacy@allianceforarts.com. Last Updated:
Copyright © Alliance for Arts and Culture, 2006 |
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