“The future is not what it used to be” – Yogi Berra

People are retreating to the hallway now to get their caffeine fix. It’s 11 a.m. and we’ve just finished the first segment of the CCA conference.

After a hearty breakfast, bodies began to fill the Rideau Room at the Sheraton Hotel downtown. It was almost 9 a.m. and the room was abuzz with arts proponents from across the country. The conference, “Mapping Canada's Cultural Policy,” was kicked off by keynote speaker and “Renaissance man”, Paul Hoffert. His casual approach and diverse background made it easy for conference-goers to engage.

Hoffert’s presentation, “Rethinking Canadian Culture and Arts Policies”, tried to synthesize a wide array of topics. During his address, he debunked a few cultural myths, one of which I found particularly interesting. He mentioned how Marshall McLuhan’s widely-accepted idea of a global village was misunderstood. Hoffert posed a simple question to the audience: “Who cares about billions of people?” He continued by explaining that we only recognize 1,000 others, keep track of 150 and trust only 20. This seemed bleak, but true. This increasing apathy helped to explain why people need a local thread in order to relate – and more importantly, care.

Another tidbit that Hoffert illuminated: we use digital media 3,000 hours a year, which translates into 8 hours a day. We are a culture tanned green by the glow of our monitors.

He closed by asking, “Where do we go from here?” Provocative, indeed.

Keynote speaker Paul Hoffert

Discuss.