"Protect the Cultural Village"

It seems to be the general consensus that culture needs to be developed in all sectors of society. This reminds me very much of Martha Piper's lecture for the 2002 Killam Annual Lecture, "Building a Civil Society". Piper, and most speakers this morning, seem to be of the same mind on this issue; there needs to be public awareness of the existence and importance of culture in Canadian citizens.

I feel like in order to discuss many of the policy issues we've come across at this conference, there needs to be an introductory lecture of policy. Dave Hasbury suggests that we develop models to bridge the gaps between producers, distributors and artists, with education and training, with policy and legislation and with funding. As a policy student, this seems a little redundant actually. The main topic in many of my classes are models just like this. I suppose what Dave was referring to was something greater than a simple policy model, for as artists and creators ourselves, we feel the gap between audience and production constantly, and feel a great disconnect - and sometimes models do not feel like enough.

I feel confident that these issues will be addressed, and the discussion will progress in a positive manner.