Report to/Rapport au:

Arts Advisory Committee/

Comité consultatif sur les arts

 

15 August 2002/ le 15 août 2002

 

Submitted by/Soumis par: Dawn Whelan, Committee Coordinator/

Coordonnatrice de comité

Corporate Services Department/Services généraux

 

Contact/Personne-ressource:  Dawn Whelan, Committee Coordinator/

Coordonnatrice de comité.- 580-2424 x21837

Dawn.Whelan@ottawa.ca

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBJECT:
MEDIA ARTS ADVISORY SUB-COMMITTEE
 

OBJET:

SOUS-COMITÉ CONSULTATIF SUR LES ARTS MÉDIATIQUES

 

 

 

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

 

That the Arts Advisory Committee:

 

1.      Approve the minutes of the Media Arts Advisory Sub-Committee meetings of 22 April 2002 and 20 June 2002; and,

 

2.   Approve the following recommendations put forward by the Media Arts Advisory:

 

a)   That the Arts Advisory Committee invite Kelly Beaton to remain on the Media Arts Sub-Committee and continue to serve as the Chair.

 

b)   That the City provide and circulate information on the operations, mandate and employment opportunities of the Film Office to the local film/ television/ new media industry.

 

c)   That the City of Ottawa, in the planning and preparation of the next City Conference on the Arts, ensure that information on the media arts community be included in any promotion activities. 

 

d)   That the City of Ottawa, when preparing and drafting the speech/ opening remarks for the Mayor, include more references to the media arts community and organizations.

 

 

 

 

 

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

 

Que le Comité consultatif sur les arts :

 

1.   approuve le procès-verbal des réunions du Sous-comité consultatif sur les arts médiatiques du 22 avril 2002 et du 20 juin,

 

2.   approuve les recommandations suivantes mises de l’avant par le Comité consultatif sur les arts :

 

a)   Que le Comité consultatif sur les arts invite Kelly Beaton à demeurer au Sous-comité consultatif sur les arts médiatiques et à continuer de le présider.

 

b)   Que la Ville fournisse et fasse circuler l’information sur les opérations, le mandat et les occasions d’emploi du Bureau du film à l’industrie des nouveaux médias, de la télévision et du film.

 

c)   Que la Ville d’Ottawa, pendant la planification et la préparation de la prochaine Conférence sur les arts de la Ville, s’assure que les activités promotionnelles comprennent de l’information sur la communauté des arts médiatiques. 

 

d)   Que la Ville d’Ottawa, au moment de la préparation et de l’ébauche du discours d’ouverture du maire, fasse plus référence aux organisations et à la communauté des arts médiatiques.

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

The Media Arts Advisory Sub-Committee has submitted for approval, its minutes of meetings held 22 April 2002 and 20 June 2002.  In addition, the Media Arts Advisory Sub-Committee has submitted for the Committee’s consideration the above-noted motions approved by the sub-committee at its meeting of 20 June 2002.

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

1.                  Media Arts Advisory Sub-Committee minutes of 22 April 2002. 

2.                  Media Arts Advisory Sub-Committee minutes of 20 June 2002. 


MEDIA ARTS ADVISORY SUB-COMMITTEE

Minutes of the Monday, April 22,2002 - Final

4:30-6:00 p.m.

 

Centre Boardroom A

1st floor, 110 Laurier Avenue W.

Ottawa City Hall Building

 

In Attendance

Kelly Beaton,             Chair and Member of the Arts Advisory Committee

Max Berdowski         Canadian Screen Training Centre

Lois Siegel                Member of the Arts Advisory Committee

Rob Thompson          Media artist

 

Regrets

Dawolu Saul              IFCO

 

 

 

  1. Welcome and introductions

K. Beaton welcomed and introduced everyone to the meeting and thanked them for their participation on the Committee. 

 

2.   Committee's Terms of Reference

K. Beaton reviewed the Terms of Reference with the Committee.  The Committee approved the Terms of Reference.

 

  1. Identification of Priority Issues

The Committee had a wide-ranging discussion on the priority issues facing the media arts community.  The following is a summary of the key points raised:

 

    1. Funding

The Committee agreed that funding remains a major issue for media artists, particularly for beginning artists.

 

Recommendation:       Municipal Grants be redirected towards individual artists as opposed to groups.

 

    1. Facilities

The Committee expressed its concern over the lack of facilities available for media arts.  The Committee condoned the destruction of the Strand Theatre for the construction of a Tim Hortons Restaurant.

 

The Committee agreed that there should be a municipal space solely dedicated to media arts.

 

K. Beaton to find out the status of the NCC theatre facility in the market and ask the City for a list of all cultural spaces available for media arts presentation.

 

The Committee discussed the need for a downtown facility and the question was asked as to the status of the Bronson New Media Centre. 

 

M. Berdowski to confirm the status of the Bronson New Media Centre.

 

K. Beaton asked if the Committee knew what the status was of the proposed "art house" theatre that was to be developed on Rideau Street.  M. Berdowski said that the original plan was that Alliance Atlantis was suppose to develop an "art house" cinema complex, along with other commercial space e.g. Indigo.

 

M. Berdowski to confirm what the status of the proposed theatre complex.

 

    1. Training/ employment

 

The Committee applauded the Mayor's recent announcement of the creation of a Film Office but emphasized that the independent media arts community should be included in the promotion of all media arts services.  The Office should develop a "clearinghouse" of all media arts artists and organizations.

 

As part of the discussion, the Committee recommended that funding for training be made available to artists. The training funding should be tied to a direct benefit for the local artistic community e.g. that a local artistic/educational institution should offer the training to local artists.

 

R. Thompson said that the definitions of who is eligible for training funding must be expanded.  He said that the definition should also include commercial artists.  He emphasized that the overall training objective is to benefit the local artistic community.

 

M. Berdowski said that for example his organization offers, among many other training courses, a script development course.  The Summer Institute of Film and Television applied for funding from the City.

 

Recommendation:       Municipal funding be made available for training to local artists and artistic/ educational organizations and training funding should be directed to support local training initiatives.

 

 

    1. Other

 

Promotion

The Committee discussed that the City of Ottawa to actively promote the local media arts community.

 

M. Berdowski referred to the City of Halifax and the exceptional growth and development of their local media arts community.  He said that the City of Ottawa should look at Halifax as a model that could be adopted.

 

R. Thompson said that the City needs to actively promote the media arts activities and create an atmosphere where not only artists want to stay but that will attract more artists to the area.  He said that there has been a general lack of interest on the part of the City to promote media arts and said that the City needs a proactive marketing campaign to create interest.

 

Recommendations:     City of Ottawa needs to examine the City of Halifax Cultural plan and adopt its best practices to increase the profile of the media arts community.

 

                                          City of Ottawa needs to implement an aggressive marketing/ publicity campaign to promote the City's media arts organizations and activities.

 

City of Ottawa's Website

The Committee said that the City of Ottawa's website should include a separate page on the City's Media Arts organizations.  The Website should also include a "What's New" page to promote upcoming media arts screenings etc.

 

Recommendation:       City of Ottawa's website should include a separate page on the City's Media Arts organizations.  The Website should also include a "What's New" page to promote upcoming media arts screenings etc.

 

Media Arts Festival

L. Siegel said that the City should include and promote a Media Arts Festival as a separate festival to celebrate the City's media artists or should encourage that media art be included in one of the numerous festivals organized during the spring/ summer period.  This could take the form of film/ video festivals etc.

 

L. Siegel to see what would be the possibility to introducing media arts into existing festivals.

           

  1. Identification of Francophone Committee Member

K. Beaton said that unfortunately a representative of the Francophone media arts community has not been named to the Committee yet and asked the members to identify a possible member.

 

K. Beaton to contact Pier Rodier of the Arts Advisoyr Committee for recommendations.

 

  1. Identification of SAW Video representative

K. Beaton said that the SAW Video representative initially named to the Committee moved to Toronto to attend the Canadian Film Centre.

 

            R. Thompson to contact SAW Video and identify another representative.

 

  1. Other Business

M. Berdowski promoted the upcoming Summer Institute of Film & Television conference, held from May 28- June 2, 2002.

 

  1. Adjournment

Committee meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m. 

 

  1. Next Meeting

Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday June 6, 2002 from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

 

 

 

 

MEDIA ARTS ADVISORY SUB-COMMITTEE

 Minutes of June 20, 2002 Meeting

4:30-5:30 p.m.

 

Centre Boardroom A

1st Floor, 110 Laurier Avenue W.

Ottawa City Hall Building

 

In Attendance

Kelly Beaton,             Chair and Member of the Arts Advisory Committee

Max Berdowski         Canadian Screen Training Centre

Dawolu Saul              IFCO

Lois Siegel                Member of the Arts Advisory Committee

Rob Thompson          Media artist

 

 

1.                  Opening Remarks

 

Kelly thanked the Committee for their participation and advise the Committee that her appointment on the Arts Advisory Committee had expired and she was not renewed.  She said that Lois Siegel was approached to assume the Chair responsibilities but due to work commitments could not accept.  Kelly also advised the Chair of the Arts Advisory Committee, Pat Durr, that a Chair of the Media Arts Advisory Sub-committee will need to be named.

 

The Committee expressed their disappointment with the news and recommended that Kelly remain a member of the Media Arts sub-committee and continues to serve as Chair.

 

Recommendation:

That the Arts Advisory Committee invite Kelly Beaton to remain and on the Media Arts Sub-Committee and continue to serve as the Chair.

 

2.         Review and Approval of April 22nd Minutes

 

The Committee reviewed and approved the April 22nd minutes with minor changes.

 

Lois Siegel to table minutes and recommendations at the next meeting of the Arts Advisory Committee.

 

3.         Update on Follow-Up Items resulting from the April 22nd Minutes

 

·        NCC and City of Ottawa Facilities

Kelly left a message with the NCC and sent an email to Nicole Zuger for a list of facilities

·        Bronson New Media Centre

Max confirmed that the Bronson New Media Centre, located on Bronson (after the Queensway), no longer exists.

 

·        Rideau Street Art House Theatre Complex

Max said that there is no news on the status of this project.  An employee of the NewRO said that the most recent rumour is that the space is suppose to become a sports “fun” place.

 

·        Media Arts at Upcoming Festivals

Lois sent Nicole an email asking whether a media arts festival could be considered.  As of meeting, no answer received.

 

·        Francophone Committee Member

Kelly didn’t get a change to call Pier Rodier for his recommendations for a francophone media arts representative.  She will contact Pier this month.

 

·        SAW Video Committee Member

Rob said that SAW issued an email calling for any interested members to sit on the Media Arts sub-committee.  As of meeting,no response.

 

 

4.         Update on Priority Issues

 

Facilities

Dawolu asked if there was any information on the status of the Film Office.  He asked if anyone has been hired for the position and if there was a mandate for the Office.  He also asked if the Office was to attract film to Ottawa or to promote the local film/television/ new media industry. 

 

The members of the Committee also spoke to the fact that there is no information on this issue.

 

Lois said that she could provide information on the Film Office, from Ken Stewart of General Assembly.

 

Lois to forward background information on the Film Office to Media Arts Sub-committee members

 

Recommendation

That the City provide and circulate information on the operations, mandate and employment opportunities of the Film Office to the local film/ television/ new media industry.

 

Funding

Max confirmed that the Summer Institute of Film and Television received a training grant for this year’s session.   He attributed it to the broader eligibility criteria.

 

Training/ employment

No discussion on this item.

 

City Announcements

No discussion on this item.

 

June 7th City Conference on the Arts

Kelly said that it was an excellent conference and circulated the conference materials. She said that it was too bad that there were no promotion materials available/ or a booth with information on the media arts community.

 

Recommendations:

That the City of Ottawa, in the planning and preparation of the next City Conference on the Arts, ensures that there information on the media arts community be included in any promotion activities. 

 

That the City of Ottawa, when preparing and drafting the speech/ opening remarks for the Mayor, include more references to the media arts community and organizations.

 

Kelly to copy the attendance list and distribute to the Committee.

                               

5.         Identification of Francophone Representative as Committee Member

 

Kelly to contact Pier Rodier for representative recommendations.

 

6.         Identification of SAW Video Representative as Committee Member

 

Rob to follow up with SAW.

 

7.         Other Business

 

The Committee provided a summary of media arts community activities:

 

Summer Institute of Film and Television – 22nd Annual Session

Max said that this was a successful session.  Registration was up 23% from the previous year with a doubling of visible minority participants including 4 from Nunavut.  The Committee congratulated Max on a successful conference.

 

 

 

IFCO – 10th Anniversary Gala Premiere – July 25, 2002

Dawolu said that the 10th anniversary Gala Premiere is scheduled for Thursday July 25th at the Bytowne Cinema.  Invitations have been extended to a number of dignitaries including Minister Copps and Mayor Chiarrelli.  No responses back from the Mayor’s Office.

 

Dawolu said that IFCO has double the number of Hands On Training Workshops this year.

 

Fringe Festival June 21-30, 2002

Lois said that her band, The Lyon Street Celtic Band will be performing at the Fringe Festival.  In addition, her film, Lip Gloss will be screened and an exhibition of her photographs are on displayed throughout the Fringe Festival venues.

 

The Committee congratulated Lois on the success of all her artistic accomplishments.

 

Lois to report back the list of the activities and success of the Media Arts Community to the Arts Advisory Committee.

 

Centretown Movies

Lois asked the Committee if they knew anything about the Centretown Movies initiative and if it was associated with IFCO.

 

Dawolu said that IFCO films were being screened before the feature films, but IFCO was not associated with it.

 

Lois asked where it got its funding.  Committee did not know.

 

8.         Adjournment

 

The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

 

9.         Next Meeting

 

The next meeting of the Media Arts Sub-committee is tentatively scheduled for Thursday September 19, 2002 from 4:30-6:00 p.m.