CCA Bulletin 31/06
FROM
THE DESK OF ALAIN PINEAU
National Director
Canadian Conference of the Arts
Ottawa,
August 3, 2006
Midsummer CCA Update (Part Two)
CCA
proudly launches "CCA' s @gora", its new interactive on- line
forum!
Well,
I am glad to say: here it is at last !
As announced at our March 2006 conferences held in Ottawa
, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is launching the
first issue of it new electronic magazine, CCA's
@gora!
CCA's
@gora is the latest communications
tool the CCA plans to use in the pursuit of our mission as
a national leader in creating informed debate about arts and
cultural policy issues in Canada. It is not intended to replace
the 60 bulletins or so we send to our members each year. This
new magazine will make more detailed information on issues
available for your consultation, consideration and live comments
- and for the general public. Each issue will concentrate
on one major file, presented along other material updated
more frequently. Our aim is to increase the number of major
files presented by CCA's @gora over the
next few years to about 8 per year, though for the moment
it will remain a quarterly publication, like its predecessor,
Blizzart. However, it will only be made available
online, members being free to print out segments of it for
distribution, subject to proper sourcing. The reason for this
is that we plan to use the medium of the Internet to its fullest
in order to create interactive spaces for knowledge dissemination
and for discussion in the area of cultural policy. All members
and stakeholders are hereby invited to comment on whatever
content of this magazine and to comment on comments! If blogging
intimidates you, you can as always send us your feedback at
info@ccarts.ca.
This
first issue of @GORA is slightly different from future ones
in that, as announced previously, it is dedicated primarily
to reports from the Chalmers and National Policy conferences
held in Ottawa at the beginning of March 2006 and to their
follow-ups. You will also find also an overview of our recent
publication of the 2006
federal budget analysis. But the pièce de résistance
of this first issue is the formal release of the
Canadian
Conference of the Arts' Policy and Advocacy Priorities Agenda
for the coming 18 to 24 months.
Coming out of the deliberations of delegates at the March
conferences, this action list has been developed by our Board
of Governors at its meetings in March and again in June. These
policy priorities will obviously have to be managed carefully
with regards to political and regulatory developments which
escape our control. One thing that springs to mind though
when one reads the list is that we certainly have our work
cut out for the foreseeable future!
A CCA fundraising
campaign!
Talking
about CCA's political action priorities leads naturally to
the second CCA launch of today: that of a fundraising campaign
amongst CCA members and supporters.
As
mentio ned above, the coming months will see fundamental debates
about arts and culture with an unprecedented convergence and
complexity of the issues at hand. Those issues include: adequate
and stable funding, through a more important than usual pre-budget
consultation; the reviews of DCH portfolio agencies, including
the CBC and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC); the same CRTC TV Policy review and the
study of new technologies' impact on broadcasting and distribution
undertakings; the tabling of new amendments to the Copyright
Act and maybe, to the Criminal Code concerning pornography;
a review of foreign ownership rules and, of course, the ever-present
possibility of a federal election where cultural issues had
better be on the agenda or else...
Given
the importance of what is at stake for all of us in these
matters, it is crucial that the CCA express the collective
voice of Canada's artists and cultural sector before Parliament
and the regulatory bodies in an authoritative and efficient
manner. The CCA is therefore embarking on a funding drive
and turning to its membership and to stakeholders for donations
in order to build adequate resources to face so many simultaneous
challenges to the existing Canadian cultural framework. This
fundraising campaign is part of a much broader funding strategy
being developed to ensure for the CCA the same adequate and
stable funding it keeps demanding for the cultural sector
at large. You will hear more about this strategy as the weeks
and months go by.
You
can contribute by filling a contribution
form and returning it to the CCA by fax or mail.
Please help us deliver on the priorities you have
set for the CCA: every dollar counts!
On
behalf of all, I thank you in advance for your support in
what promises to be interesting and challenging times! Please
circulate this to your members and to anyone interested in
defending art, artists and culture in this country!
Alain
Pineau
National
Director
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