Thinking Culture: Thinking Festivals
The CCA regrets to announce that this forum is cancelled. Alas!
Small Festivals, Their Successes and Their Challenges
In recent years, festivals have taken over large cities and small towns. Considered important economic drivers, festivals attract tourism and in some cases, help to cement the community. They also offer an attractive showcase for artists from here and elsewhere.
We know the major festivals in Montreal and Toronto. But what about small festivals that are developing in the shadow of these big events? Are they marginal or marginalized? Do they succeed in obtaining adequate funding from private industry and from governments? What challenges do they face? Our guests will discuss all these issues for festivals in Montreal, Ottawa and Gatineau.
Date: January 30, 2012
Time: 5:00 — 7:00 pm
Location: University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building, 12th floor
Registration: Return to Thinking Culture main page for registration details.
About the speakers
Will Straw: Professor at the Department of Art History & Communication Studies (McGill University) and director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. He is an observer and an experienced analyst of urban culture.
Anouk Bélanger: Professor in Sociology at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Her research is articulated around the following axes: the specularization of urban spaces and the post-industrial city, popular culture and urban transformations, the intersection of media and cultural formation and circulation within urban forms. Recently, she has been investigating the cultural history of the Faubourg Saint-Lauren and the Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal.
Elaina Martin: Elaina Martin is the Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of WESTFEST. Each year close to 150,00 people attend Westfest, a free multidisciplinary art festival dedicated to showcasing Canadian artists and their work in an accessible and inclusive setting.
Isabel Thériault and Emmanuel Savard Dimanche: Respectively General Director and President of the Festival Outaouais émergent. This young festival has become in a short time, a landmark event in Quebec. A multidisciplinary festival, the FOE places the population of the old-Hull and the surrounding area in contact with local artists operating in the fields of music, theatre, street arts, visual arts, comics and performance art.
“what about small festivals that are developing in the shadow of these big events?” — I understand the point you are making.
In Mumbai we have a street art festival which started in 1999 on a small scale. Today it is the largest street festival in Mumbai. It’s called the Kala Ghoda and it starts on Feb 4, 2012.