CCA Bulletin 29/11 FROM THE DESK of Alain Pineau: What is happening with the CCA?

I am back from pre-consultation sessions in Toronto and Montréal, with my head full of the several expressions of support and the constructive suggestions offered, and I realize that I have not communicated with you in a long time.  I can assure you that it is not because we have been idle at the CCA during the past month, far from it! I will come back to the consultation process at the end of this bulletin, but first, here is a quick wrap-up of highlights of what’s been happening in Parliament and at the CCA. [more]

Thinking Culture - Election 2011: What about arts and culture?

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) invites you to attend the next installment of our cultural forum series, Thinking Culture.

Election 2011: What about arts and culture?

Date: April 20, 2011

Time: 5 pm to 6:30 pm

Location: University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building, 55 Laurier Avenue East, 12th floor, Room 110

With the 2011 federal election set to take place on May 2, the political landscape in Canada will inevitably change. No matter the outcome, the arts, culture and heritage sector will be impacted in one way or another. As it now stands however, are the arts even a priority for the country’s leading political parties? 

Join us as we seek to answer this question and more during a bilingual debate with local election candidates. We have invited candidates from the political parties currently represented in the House of Commons to share their vision for the future of the arts in Canada, and address topics related to policy development and funding models for the cultural sector. This presents an important opportunity for anyone with a vested interest in the arts and all citizens to be better informed on the issues before heading to the polls.

Confirmed participants to date include*:

• Mauril Bélanger (Liberal candidate for Ottawa-Vanier)

• Paul Dewar (NDP candidate for Ottawa Centre)

• Richard Nadeau (Bloc Québécois candidate for Gatineau)

* We are awaiting confirmation from the Conservative Party. Continue to check our website for updated information.

This forum will be free of charge. Seating is very limited so please register by contacting Annie Caporicci at annie.caporicci@ccarts.ca.

For more information, visit www.ccarts.ca.

Can’t attend the forum? You can still participate in the discussion through social media!

• Follow the CCA on Twitter as we live tweet from the event. Over the course of the debate, you can tweet us your questions or comments using hashtag #ccartsvote

• We will also be pulling questions from our blog. Just leave us your question in the comment box at the bottom of this entry.

CCA Bulletin 01/11- From the Desk of Alain Pineau: A nice way to start the year!

I hope the holiday break was great for all of you! It sure was for the CCA secretariat and frankly, it’s a good thing because we have a very busy calendar ahead of us! On the policy front, Bill C-32 and copyright are major priorities, but there are also the upcoming CRTC hearings regarding the purchase of CTVglobemedia by BCE. We are in the final stages of preparation for our third Thinking Culture forum (on copyright on January 25). Internally, the secretariat is organizing the upcoming election of CCA board members and is in the process of planning the new board’s first strategic session in June. We have also launched a call for nominations for the 2010 CCA awards. And of course, there is the possibility of a federal election in the spring which could throw a wrench into the works!

I returned to work last week to a piece of good news. The Department of Canadian Heritage has published the results of the five-year summative evaluation of the Arts, Culture and Diversity Program under which the CCA and the Coalition for Cultural Diversity (CCD) are funded. Since we are the only two recipients of this program, its evaluation amounts to a third party appraisal reviewing not only how the program fits in with the government’s priorities, but also how well the two organizations deliver through their contribution agreements with Heritage. This report is therefore critical to the future funding of the CCA and the CCD. As you will see below, the report also includes conclusions of interest for the whole arts, culture and heritage sector. (more)