“Managing Change”, the Catchphrase for the 21st Century?

Musician, writer and hi-tech wizard Paul Hoffert will kick off CCA’s March 2006 National Policy Conference, Mapping Canada’s Cultural Policy: Where Do We Go From Here?, with a provocative breakfast presentation that will scramble your eggs!

In an interview with National Director, Alain Pineau, Hoffert outlined a number of fundamental trends which he sees challenging the cultural sector. Here are some highlights from this interview:

"Globalization is a threat to local culture but it has passed its zenith and is on the decline everywhere except in infrastructure industries, such as banking and communications... The other important change is what I call the 'Bagel Effect', which means disintermediation. Disintermediation is getting rid of the middles (the hole in the bagel)... The Bagel Effect in the cultural industries is very formidable...The organizations in the middle — the heart of Canada’s cultural industries — are having an increasingly difficult time staying in business, and must rely on government in order to survive... The current Canadian support system for the cultural sector, designed in the 20th century, does not fit the 21st century model... The impossibility of regulating the Internet is a myth, patently debunked by the current Chinese government (and others)... Doubling the Canada Council budget is a good idea, but dictating how the money should be spent is a bad idea."

Read the complete - and thought-provoking - interview with Paul Hoffert in the next issue of Blizzart, landing on your desk in early February. His presentation on how new technologies are affecting and will continue to affect the cultural sector for the next 10 years takes place on Friday March 3, starting at 9:00am.

Taking place within weeks of the election of a new federal government, the CCA Conference will be a most opportune event to help shape the cultural policy agenda of the new Parliament. The objectives of the National Policy Conference (March 3 and 4 at the Sheraton Hotel Ottawa) are:

• To provide a forum for examination, discussion, and consensus building in the cultural sector on specific issues of concern and interest;
• To review specific policy components currently forming a loose knit federal cultural policy, to identify what is missing, what still needs to be done, and how existing policy can be strengthened (if necessary);
• To provide recommendations for consideration by CCA’s Board, to inform the organization’s agenda and action plans for the year(s) to come;
• In the post-election period, to ensure cultural issues are on the parliamentary agenda;
• Given the post-election climate, and the effects of globalization and new technologies, how best to manage the coming changes;
• To develop strategies to ensure the government (through the Department of Canadian Heritage) is aware of the issues of importance to the sector;
• To act as a first step in a two step consultative process, the culmination being the 2007 national policy conference in Montréal where we will plan our next cycle.

Discussion papers will be available for delegates in advance, ensuring an informed and proactive participation.

An up-dated agenda for the conference will be on the website shortly. Register today to ensure your place at the conference; forms are available at www.ccarts.ca. Take advantage of the Early Bird discount before the cut-off date of February 10!

NB: Organizations also wishing to participate in the Chalmers Conference which bookends the policy conference (Thursday afternoon, March 2, and again following the completion of the policy conference on Saturday afternoon), should complete both sections of the registration form. If you have any questions, please contact paul.galipeau@ccarts.ca.