CCA BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA
MINISTER OF CANADIAN HERITAGE TO MEET WITH CULTURAL COMMUNITY AT CHALMERS CONFERENCE
Keynote speakers confirmed
Ottawa, January 30, 2004 – The CCA has received confirmation that the new Minister of Canadian Heritage, Hélène Chalifour Scherrer, will be the keynote speaker at the Chalmers Conference breakfast on Friday 27 February 2004.
The breakfast begins at 8.30am and is open to all, individuals and representatives of organizations, at a cost of $25 for those who are not CCA members; there is no charge for CCA members, and those already registered for the conference. Those wishing to attend the breakfast portion of the day must register and pay (as required) ahead of time with the CCA secretariat. We regret that only those who have registered in advance will be admitted as seating is extremely limited for this event.
CCA is also pleased to announce that the second guest speaker at the conference will be John Hobday, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr Hobday addressed Chalmers participants at last year’s conference, outlining the Council’s new strategic objectives. This year, as the lunch time speaker, he will provide a progress report and an indication of some of the advocacy challenges which lie ahead for the Council in particular, and for the sector as a whole.
Final panellist announced
The final panellist for the Chalmers Conference will be Richard Messier, co-founder of the Montreal communications company La Boîte de Comm. stratégie et production. Mr Messier specializes in “needs-based marketing” (le marketing de la demande) and has also acted as a lobbyist for several cultural organizations, including the Mouvement pour les arts et les lettres (MAL), a coalition of eight Quebec arts service organizations. Mr Messier joins Max Wyman, Caroline Di Cocco, and Elizabeth May on a panel to be moderated by Nancy Juneau (see CCA bulletin 02/04 for further details).
CCA is extending the deadline for registration to the conference to Tuesday 10 February. There is still some space available, but registration is brisk and places will be filled on a first come, first served basis. The conference is intended for arts service organizations and is free of charge to the first representative of a CCA organizational member; there is a $150 fee for additional representatives and for non-members; the fee includes breakfast and lunch.
Election strategy material
Over the next couple of weeks, CCA will be putting background material on its website as an advocacy tool for use leading up to the federal election, and beyond. The material will comprise an election primer (an outline of what to do and how to do it), key statistics to help make the case, an updated Arts for Life section with brief descriptions of the arts at work in many different fields, and some useful, illustrative quotes.
Participants at the Chalmers Conference will define and refine the key messages from the sector. Immediately following the conference, CCA will make this information available on the website also, and will use it to develop a questionnaire for the major political parties on their cultural platforms. All material will be available in English and in French. (Just out of interest, the straw poll of key issues which CCA carried on its registration form for the Chalmers Conference indicates that the need for adequate, stable, multi-year funding is the most important issue for the sector, followed in joint second place by the need for increased funding and for core funding rather than project based funding.)
For further information on the Chalmers Conference, please contact Philippa Borgal at 613 238 3561, ext.19, or philippa.borgal@ccarts.ca.
For more information:
Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
07/04
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