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The National Director’s Blog – On the Red Arrow bus from Calgary to Edmonton

January 31 CALGARY – Ah Calgary! What a warm welcome, and I am not referring to the spring-like temperature or the radiant sunshine of the past two days! It began yesterday at the airport where Michael Green, Curator and Artistic Director for Calgary 2012 was waiting to take me to my hotel and it went on until Tom McCarthy, General Manager of Calgary Arts Development, dropped me at the Red Arrow bus terminal today. I was welcomed with open arms in this modern metropolis in expansion mode. Calgary is proud of being a 2012 Cultural...

From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau – Written from the tarmac in Winnipeg

January 27, 2012 WINNIPEG – The weather gods are no longer smiling upon me! Freezing rain in Toronto and Ottawa means that I have at least three hours of leisure time at the Winnipeg airport: who knows at what time I’ll get home today! I may as well take advantage of this delay to blog on my short visit in Manitoba’s capital. CCA Board member Nicole Matiation and Thom Sparling, Executive Director of the Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba (ACI) prepared a fully loaded agenda for me. Thursday morning started with...

What to expect with the return of the House in Ottawa?

CCA Bulletin 01/12 highlights federal legislation on the horizon: Bill C-11, new CRA guidelines for arts organizations and potential changes at the CRTC.

From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau – Latest news from Regina

January 24, 2012 REGINA – The weather gods have been good to me so far. While Saskatchewan was a frigid -40º C last week, today was a balmy –2º C and the sun was shining bright and warm, certainly more pleasant weather to deal with as Marnie Gladwell generously drove me from meeting to meeting. I must say that when it comes to making sure not a second of my stay here is wasted, Marnie has very few rivals. She had us booked from 8 in the morning to 6 at night, with barely a break for a soup and a sandwich at noon....

From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau – A full day in Saskatoon and off to Regina

January 23, 2012 REGINA – So here I am, finally settled into my hotel room after a three hour bus ride that took me from Saskatoon to Regina with my knees pressed against the seat in front of me. At least I had internet access along the way so I could catch up on the day’s e-mails and read an excellent interview by Greg O’Brien from cartt.ca with Konrad Von Finckenstein, the chairman of the CRTC whose term is finishing up in a few days. It was a long and busy day! I was up at 6 a.m. for a telephone interview with Radio-Canada in...

From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau – January 23, 2012

SASKATOON – Already time to head back to the airport. My only week in the office between January 9 and February 21 has gone by like a flash of lightning: so many things to do before returning to the on-the-road virtual office, hostage to technological hazards and human frailty! So, back to the national tour: after Victoria and Vancouver, BC, on to Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I knew my first stop, Saskatoon, was referred to as the City of Bridges. Last Friday, I learned on CBC’s National that it is “the most tunefully suggestive city...

From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau – January 13, 2012

VANCOUVER – After an excellent meeting Tuesday with the General Director of the BC Arts Council, Gillian Wood, I made my way to the port of Victoria to ride the seaplane to Vancouver. This was a first for me, and what an experience! It was sunny and the ride was smooth considering the small size of the plane. It was simply marvellous to see the islands dotting the strait separating the island of Vancouver from the mainland. The arrival in Vancouver was one of the best experiences I’ve had. Wednesday, I met the new director of the...

Quebec gets a move on!

In November 2011, we received two new reports examining the impact of digital technologies on Quebec. The first from SODEC, Porte grande ouverte sur le numérique, reports on a consultation undertaken in 2010. The second report comes from the Quebec Council of Arts and Letters (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec or CALQ) and a summary is provided below. SODEC: Doors Wide Open on Digital This report details the impact of the digital technologies on the cultural industries in Quebec: music, books, crafts, film, television, and digital...

Agenda 21

Minister Christine St-Pierre announced on December 5th that Quebec would be the first province to adopt its own Agenda 21 on Culture. Agenda 21 allows us to carve a place for culture in all political actions of the government; Quebec is the first province in the world to integrate this idea into their sustainable development plans. The move is a response to the Convention on the protection and promotion of diversity of cultural expression from UNESCO that pushes states to integrate culture into their sustainable development policies. “Agenda...

From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau – January 10, 2012

VICTORIA – Well, it’s on! After weeks of preparation, my cross-country consultation tour started yesterday in British Columbia where I am spending the week. I must confess that after the snow and cold we’ve had in Ottawa these past weeks, it is agreeably exotic to forego boots and scarf: it’s a pleasant 8° C in Victoria and the rain seems pleasantly spring-like to someone from the Eastern part of the country. Why this pan-Canadian tour which will take me to 14 cities between now and February 18? First and foremost to validate...

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