FROM THE DESK of Alain Pineau: Research at the Canadian Conference of the Arts

CCA Bul­letin 1/09

Jan­u­ary 16, 2009

Just the Facts

Con­tin­u­ing in our pur­suit of rig­or­ous research and inform­ing stake­hold­ers in the arts and cul­tural sec­tor, the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) has estab­lished a per­ma­nent Research Advi­sory Com­mit­tee. In con­sul­ta­tion with Canada’s arts and cul­tural sec­tor, this Com­mit­tee will guide the CCA’s direc­tion in pur­su­ing the most rel­e­vant research themes. The exper­tise of the com­mit­tee will allow the CCA to for­mal­ize a sys­tem­atic research pro­gram and iden­tify key areas of focus and direction.

This committee’s cur­rent mem­ber­ship com­prises the fol­low­ing per­sons who have gen­er­ously accepted to help the CCA in this matter:

Mon­ica Gat­tinger, Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor, School of Polit­i­cal Stud­ies, Uni­ver­sity of Ottawa

Kelly Hill, Pres­i­dent, Hill Strate­gies Research

Claire McCaughey, Research Man­ager, Strate­gic Ini­tia­tives Divi­sion, Canada Coun­cil for the Arts

Cather­ine Mur­ray, Pro­fes­sor and Co-Director of the Cen­tre for Pol­icy Stud­ies on Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ties, Simon Fraser University

D. Paul Schafer, Direc­tor, World Cul­ture Project

William Straw, Pro­fes­sor, Art His­tory and Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Stud­ies, McGill University

Other mem­bers will be asked to join the Com­mit­tee in the com­ing months.

The com­mit­tee is respon­si­ble for pro­vid­ing advice to the CCA both on the best prac­tices to sys­tem­atize and struc­ture its research pro­gram, and on the research themes that could be pri­or­i­ties in the com­ing years. Based on con­sul­ta­tions with CCA mem­bers and on the rec­om­men­da­tions of the Com­mit­tee, the Board of Gov­er­nors will deter­mine the projects to be pursued.

Tell me more

Since refo­cus­ing its man­date in 2006, the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) has inte­grated research activ­i­ties into its reg­u­lar oper­a­tions. The research activ­i­ties of the CCA offer arts and cul­ture analy­sis and stud­ies on mat­ters which inform the sec­tor about cur­rent issues and long-term trends. Dur­ing the last year and a half, part­ner­ships with Cana­dian and for­eign uni­ver­si­ties have led to the pub­li­ca­tion of four reports des­tined to inform the dis­cus­sions tak­ing place in the Cana­dian arts and cul­tural sector.

In the fall off 2007, the CCA pub­lished The Place of Arts and Cul­ture in Cana­dian For­eign Pol­icy, a research paper pre­pared by Rachael Maxwell of Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Dublin. The study served as the basis for a sym­po­sium orga­nized in Mon­treal by the CCA on Novem­ber 22, 2007. In early 2008, the CCA repeated the expe­ri­ence by pub­lish­ing the research paper From Econ­omy to Ecol­ogy: A Pol­icy Frame­work for Cre­ative Labour, pre­sented by Mir­jam Gollmitzer and Cather­ine Mur­ray of the Cen­tre for Pol­icy Stud­ies on Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ties at Simon Fraser Uni­ver­sity. The doc­u­ment was released in par­al­lel with the Inter­na­tional Forum on the Cre­ative Econ­omy orga­nized jointly by the Con­fer­ence Board of Canada and the Depart­ment of Cana­dian Heritage.

The wide­spread inter­est in these papers encour­aged the con­tin­ued research activ­i­ties of the CCA. Con­se­quently, the 2008 Regional Forum tour launch was accom­pa­nied by the pub­li­ca­tion of two stud­ies. These papers were used as dis­cus­sion papers for a national dis­cus­sion on the place of arts and cul­ture on the agenda of deci­sion mak­ers. The first paper, Mak­ing a Sin­gle Case for the Arts: An inter­na­tional Per­spec­tive, writ­ten by Alexan­dra Slaby, Uni­ver­sité de Caen, exam­ines best prac­tices of advo­cacy in cul­tural com­mu­ni­ties of the world. The sec­ond piece was pro­duced in coop­er­a­tion with the Cen­tre on Gov­er­nance of the Uni­ver­sity of Ottawa: The Effects of Admin­is­tra­tive Reforms on the Activ­i­ties of Advo­cacy Groups, writ­ten by Pierre-André Hudon, explores the cur­rent Cana­dian con­text for sec­tor mobi­liza­tion and cohesion.

Those stud­ies pub­lished by the CCA can be down­loaded for free, in Eng­lish and in French, on the CCA’s web­site.

The com­mit­tee will con­tinue to meet in the com­ing months to fur­ther struc­ture the CCA’s approach to research ini­tia­tives. We will keep you informed of the evo­lu­tion of their dis­cus­sions. Mean­while, if you have any sug­ges­tions about the research pro­gram of the CCA or if you wish to sub­mit ideas on research themes that should be dis­cussed by the com­mit­tee, please do not hes­i­tate to tell us by con­tact­ing Jes­sica Litwin, Cul­tural Pol­icy Advi­sor, at jessica.litwin@ccarts.ca or by phone at 613–238-3561 ext. 16.