Canadian Conference of the Arts Announces Details for National Policy Conference

Ottawa, ON (June 29, 2010) – The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) has announced details for its upcom­ing National Pol­icy Con­fer­ence, Artists: Pow­er­ing the Cre­ative Econ­omy?, tak­ing place Novem­ber
1–3, 2010 at the National Arts Cen­tre in Ottawa. The con­fer­ence will fea­ture pan­els, pre­sen­ta­tions and white­board ses­sions explor­ing poli­cies and issues affect­ing the arts, cul­ture and her­itage sec­tor within the
cre­ative econ­omy.
As Canada and other coun­tries move towards an increas­ingly flex­i­ble, digitally-based, mobile and cre­ative econ­omy, artists and pro­duc­ers of cul­tural con­tent are more impor­tant play­ers. This cli­mate also
makes artists and pro­duc­ers more vul­ner­a­ble. The 2010 National Pol­icy Con­fer­ence will focus on the poli­cies that will enable Canada to be a lead­ing player in this new ecol­ogy. Since the cre­ative econ­omy is
local, regional, national and global, the scope for dis­cus­sion is vast.

“It is impor­tant that the well-being of the cul­tural sec­tor is a promi­nent issue in the minds of all polit­i­cal lead­ers, pol­icy lead­ers and Cana­di­ans alike,” said Alain Pineau, National Direc­tor, CCA. “The con­fer­ence
will pro­vide a unique oppor­tu­nity to dis­cuss how Cana­dian artists, cul­tural insti­tu­tions and indus­tries can con­tinue to pros­per within a rapidly chang­ing econ­omy.”
The con­fer­ence will address themes such as the role of the artist in the cre­ative econ­omy, the role of the artist within com­mu­ni­ties and new busi­ness mod­els for artists. Con­firmed con­fer­ence pan­elists and
par­tic­i­pants include:

• René Cormier — Man­ager of Strat­egy and Regional Cul­tural Devel­op­ment, Asso­ci­a­tion aca­di­enne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick

• André Dude­maine, Direc­tor, Land InSights
• Annalee Adair, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, ArtsS­marts
• Jian Ghome­shi, host of Q, CBC Radio One and bold TV

• Tim Jones, Pres­i­dent and CEO, Artscape

• Gaé­tan Morency, Vice-President, Cit­i­zen­ship, Cirque du Soleil Kevin Sto­lar­ick, Research Direc­tor, Mar­tin Pros­per­ity Institute
• Dan Tay­lor, Eco­nomic Devel­op­ment Offi­cer, Prince Edward County

Garry Neil, Pres­i­dent, Neil Craig Associates

More speak­ers will be announced in the com­ing weeks.
Being for­ward think­ing, the con­fer­ence will also include inter­ac­tive and inno­v­a­tive com­po­nents. Fol­low­ers on Twit­ter may mon­i­tor the con­fer­ence using hash­tag #CCANPC and pose ques­tions through­out the
ses­sions. White­board con­tent mod­ules will allow atten­dees to dic­tate top­ics of dis­cus­sion and mod­er­ate ses­sions them­selves. Addi­tion­ally, dur­ing the Emerg­ing Thinkers Speed Speaker Series, young lead­ers in
the arts and cul­ture sec­tor will be able to com­mu­ni­cate their vision for the artist within the cre­ative econ­omy through a set of short pre­sen­ta­tions.
As 2010 marks the CCA’s 65th  anniver­sary, the con­fer­ence will kick off with a gala din­ner on Novem­ber 1 to cel­e­brate this mile­stone. Dur­ing the gala, the CCA will also present its annual awards, rec­og­niz­ing
indi­vid­u­als who have made sig­nif­i­cant and long-standing con­tri­bu­tions to Canada’s cul­tural com­mu­nity.
Con­fer­ence reg­is­tra­tion is now open. Early bird reg­is­tra­tion will be avail­able until Sep­tem­ber 17. Spe­cial rates are avail­able to CCA mem­bers and stu­dents. To reg­is­ter and learn more about the con­fer­ence, visit
www.ccarts.ca.
The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts is a national forum for the arts, her­itage and cul­tural com­mu­nity in Canada. It pro­vides research, analy­sis and con­sul­ta­tions on pub­lic poli­cies affect­ing the arts and Cana­dian
cul­tural insti­tu­tions and indus­tries. It fos­ters informed pub­lic debate and seeks to advance the cul­tural life of Cana­di­ans.
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