An open letter to Kevin Krueger from Headlines Theatre

Received from Headlines Theatre


An open letter to Kevin Krueger,
BC Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts

August 19, 2010

Art is the psyche of a society

Dear Minister Krueger:

I am a co-founder of Headlines Theatre (1981) and have been the Artistic Director since 1984, having worked in the professional theatre since 1975.

As I know you are aware, it has been a very difficult year: specifically for arts and culture in British Columbia, and for all social services. The devastation of current funding cuts is creating permanent damage in what used to be a healthy community. Very recently, however, the difficulty over funding cuts has escalated into a deep concern for our eroding democracy.

I am grateful to Jane Danzo, past Chair of the BC Arts Council for the courage, commitment, and integrity it took for her to resign, in order to be able to speak openly about the relationship between government and arts funding. The alarm bell she is ringing about lack of consultation, erosion of a sacred arms-length policy, and the inexplicable history of the government ignoring the advice of its own bipartisan Standing Committee on Finance to restore arts funding is essential. Her letter is available here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/36032945/Jane-Danzo-s-Letter-of-Resignation

There are, however, other things that need to be said:

Somehow, in the midst of deep cutting, you have found "new money" that equals $30 million dollars in Legacy Funding (over three years) to alleviate the effects of cuts to the arts. These funds must be given to the BC Arts Council with no strings attached so the Council can do its job: nurturing arts and culture in BC.

I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt, Minister Krueger. I hope that when you announced the "Arts Legacy" program "to celebrate and renew the pride and excitement British Columbians experienced during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games", with a timetable in which the programming must happen during the month of February 2011, the anniversary of the Olympics, that you somehow meant well. I am trusting that you do not fully understand the ramifications of these actions.

Government exists at arms length of the content of cultural expression across Canada for very important reasons. Cultural expression is the psyche of a society. When governments in other countries use culture for their own ideological agendas, people around the world have legitimate reasons for concern.

Freedom of thought and expression is crucial to a healthy individual and to a healthy society. Do we condone any level of government telling citizens what they can or should think in BC? I hope the answer to that question is an emphatic "no".

Humans think in metaphor. Art is a metaphoric language. Diversity of artistic expression is the manifestation of a society's psyche. When funding is available to arts and cultural groups with the caveat that the work must focus into a certain arena, as is the case with the Legacy funding, this is an attempt to control the content of artistic expression.

Throughout history, when governments have tried to control the content of cultural expression, whether from a left or a right ideology, societies have suffered terribly. All of us must be vigilant. It does not go unnoticed, for instance, that the logo of the BC Arts Council used to read "supported by the Province of British Columbia" and now reads, "an agency of the Province of British Columbia". Someone decided to change the letterhead and it must have happened as part of an ideological shift regarding the purpose of the BC Arts Council and the artistic expression it has facilitated.

We appear to have entered a frightening time in BC and all of us need to pay attention. This IS how the fragility of democracy erodes. It is a very slippery slope.

Minister Krueger, I urge you, having found $30 Million in the midst of deep and devastating cutting, to give the funds to the BC Arts Council, no strings attached, and let them do their job.

Sincerely,


David Diamond, Artistic and Managing Director
Headlines Theatre



Headlines Theatre
323 - 350 East 2nd Ave
Vancouver British Columbia V5T 4R8
Canada

ONN Releases Brief on Bill 65: Read & Submit your comments to the Government | Ontario Nonprofit Network

ONN Releases Brief on Bill 65: Read & Submit your comments to the Government
Bill 65, An Act to revise the law in respect of Not-for-Profit Corporations, will apply to all charities and nonprofits that are incorporated under the Province of Ontario and most Ontario organizations are provincially incorporated. This is important legislation that impacts you!

Does your nonprofit organization care about:

• Calling your organization a public benefit corporation so the public can easily know your intent is to provide for the public good?

• Limiting the liability of your volunteer Directors?

• Accessing Community Bonds with credible oversight to raise funds?

• Ensuring that the threshold for annual audits is not reduced to $100,000?

• Maintaining your organization’s choice on the use of proxies?

These issues are all important amendments to Bill 65, Ontario’s proposed Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. This Act has the potential to be precedent-setting legislation that will serve the sector’s future, but this is a critical point in time as the draft Act moves into a legislative Committee for review.

The sector knows what it needs in a new legislative framework – but we must ensure the Standing Committee on Social Policy, who is reviewing the Act, hears us loud and clear.

The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) has had our Expert Committee hard at work. Attached is the brief they have prepared which ONN has submitted to the Clerk of the Standing Committee on Social Policy. Please read it over and consider how Bill 65 will impact your organization.

PLEASE consider writing a letter identifying the issues you are concerned about or even to just say you support the work of ONN and agree with the contents of our brief. It is very important they know the sector cares.

Deadline: The Standing Committee is accepting written submissions regarding Bill 65 until Thursday, August 26th at 5pm. (see contact information below)

Questions? ONN and the Canadian Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) will co-sponsor a teleconference session on Wednesday, August 18th at 10am to address your questions and concerns on Bill 65 and the written submission process.

Please register for this event (http://bill65.eventbrite.com).

How to Submit a Written Submission:

1. E-mail your submission to:
Katch Koch, Committee Clerk (katch_koch@ontla.ola.org)
*The Clerk advises that while an e-copy is generally acceptable, they have in the past run into computer/network glitches where an e-mail does not reach the Committee by the deadline. Unfortunately this is the sender’s responsibility to ensure. If you send an e-copy, follow-up to ensure it was received.

2. Mail your submission to:
Katch Koch, Committee Clerk
Room 1405, Whitney Block
Queen’s Park, Toronto ON
M7A 1A2

Telephone: (416) 325-3526 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (416) 325-3526 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Facsimile: (416) 325-3505
TTY: (416) 325-3538

Upcoming Public Hearing: The Standing Committee on Social Policy will hold one public hearing for input on the current draft Act on Monday, August 23rd at 10am in Toronto. ONN recruited a number of organizations before the August 9th deadline from around the province to give 10 minute oral presentations (in person or by video conference).

Thank you for your support,

Ontario Nonprofit Network


ONN Releases Brief on Bill 65: Read & Submit your comments to the Government Ontario Nonprofit Network

Feed the Birds, Aug 12

Fire Parade on Ward's Island July 30/10

(received from Shadowland Puppet Theatre)

The annual Ward’s Island Fire Parade takes place this Friday July 30.
Assembly and pre-parade at 8.30pm at the Ward’s Island clubhouse (straight ahead from the Ward’s dock).
Parade sets off at 8.45pm

Cross the Water. Breathe the cool Island Air. Walk the earth. Feel the fire. Experience the unbroken circle.

Music, Lanterns, Stiltdancers, Hoola-Hoopers and Fire.

Feel free to bring instruments, candle-lit lanterns, your dancing selves and your friends and families.

Shadowland is running workshops each day 10am to 6pm, making costumes, shadow images and fire sculpture. A’Rythmics band practices are Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm.

Boats leave the city at 6.15, 7, 7.45 and 8.30. The Ward’s Island café (wonderfully resurrected by new owners) is right by the clubhouse and the Rectory café by the Algonquin Bridge, so come over early for dinner and then join us to celebrate the Dark and the Light.

Call 416 898 0946 for any more details. For further ferry information call 416 392 8193.

Muslim & American Extremists censoring Art

In the Time magazine article Indonesia's Artists vs. Muslim Extremists,by Jason Tedjasukmana, the author decries the "Talibanization" of Art in Indonesia. He recounts a story of religious fundamentalists defacing a statue of nude women with spray paint. Government officials and police did nothing to intervene in this and other incidents within Indonesia. There is a certain sanctimonious tone to the story. "Here in the democratic West we are so much better than that" is the assumption of the article. "Our secular society does not allow the religious nutty fringe to dictate our policies toward art".... but is that true?

Earlier this month, at a virtual worlds event, in the leading edge of 3D art, an installation by Rose Borchovski was summarily ejected by organizers because the art's nude figures were in violation of the zoning restrictions in the virtual world. Last fall, Linden Lab, the creators of the Second Life virtual world caved in to pressures from American social conservatives to push "adult" content into virtual red-light districts. One would expect openness and sophistication in the high tech international community of virtual reality residents and the arts community. Instead Linden Lab seems to have chosen to "Taliban-ize" expression within Second Life more effectively than the Indonesians with spray cans.

Is it the product or the process that makes for good art?

One time my husband and I took our daughter-in-law, a Chinese electrical engineer to an art show and she was frankly puzzled by the paintings. She asked, "why would you paint a landscape when you can have a much more accurate picture with a camera?" Neither the idea of preserving an artistic practice, nor any theories about the value of an individual's vision rendered in paint on canvas cut any ice with her. To her scientific mind, only the product was important, and the more efficient the process, the better.

That experience came back to me as I read an article by Ryan Blitzstein about software created by David Cope to compose music. David Cope has taken serial music to the next level, in which a computer program generates whole works based on the algorithms supplied. While there is a human factor deciding what to put in and what creations to save or accept, is this different than the decisions of a photographer? While we accept that photography can be an art, it is a very different art form from painting. Has David Cope developed a totally new art form with his "Emmy" software. Do we accept his contention that the impact of the composition on the listener is more important than the creative process of the composer; that it is "just dots on the page" and "there is no soul in the music" itself.

Is it the container or the thing contained that makes, art? Is Cope correct that a composition contains nothing but arithemetical progressions of notes and what is made of them is in the mind of the listener.

Art Spin June 30

Great Garden Search Contest

Contest started Monday, March 1st, 2010 and will be ending Friday, May 14 at 5pm.

Show the world that Toronto is a Community Gardening leader by helping us unearth our hidden gems!

The Toronto Community Garden Network (TCGN) is pleased to announce The Great Garden Search of 2010, a contest to find community gardens across the City of Toronto. The contest includes Etobicoke, Toronto, City of York, East York, North York and Scarborough, and it will appeal to scavenger hunters, neighborhood buffs, garden enthusiasts, and anyone who likes a challenge, while at the same time helping TCGN to document all of these hidden gems.

Why this contest?

TCGN wants to put Toronto on the map as one of the world’s leaders in community gardening. In order to do that we need to show how many community gardens we have covering this entire city: Etobicoke, Toronto, City of York, East York, North York and Scarborough.

What are community gardens?

Community gardens are places where people come together to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, families, and friendships. Community gardens are run by communities for communities, and can be organized in any way that the community decides.

Personal gardens are not eligible in this contest. Gardens must involve 3 or more households and cannot be in a residential backyard.

How to Participate:

To participate in the contest look at the Community Gardens Map listed on our TCGN website. Then, walk around, use Google maps, search high and low, to find community gardens that are NOT listed on the website.

When you find new gardens email your entries to Norma Dickinson: norma@foodshare.net or phone (416) 363-6441 ext. 279

In your email or phone call please include:

• Your Name:
  
• Your email or phone number:
  
• Name of Garden (if applicable):
  
• Location of Garden (including address if possible):
  
• Nearest Intersection
  
• Garden Contact Information.

How to win:

The grand prize will go to the participant who finds the largest number of gardens that are not on the TCGN website.
Bonus points will be awarded for gardens with garden contact information. i.e. garden coordinator’s name, email address, website or phone number but you must have gardener’s permission to give contact information to TCGN.

Contest Rules:

• Anyone and everyone are welcome to participate.
  
• The contest runs from March 1 - May 14, 2010.
  
• Gardens must be between Steeles Avenue and Lake Ontario, and between the Rouge River and Highway 27 to be eligible.
  
• If garden contact information is being provided, it must be either publicly available or the contest participant must have permission to provide it.
  
• Personal gardens are not eligible. Only community gardens are eligible. Gardens must involve 3 or more households and cannot be in residential backyards.

Prizes:

The contest winner, and the runners up, will be announced on Monday May 17, 2010.

• The Grand Prize is $150
  
• First Runner up: two Living Food Boxes
  And additional Runners up will also win fantastic prizes such as:
  
• Fiskars garden shears-titanium blade coating
  
• Books - Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail, autographed by the author - and - Real Food for a Change, by Wayne Roberts
  
• A Garden Essentials Gift basket - and a Book - Real Food For a Change, by Wayne Roberts
  
• Own Leafy Vegetables: Complete mini garden kit with seeds and peat pellets and planters
  
• A bag with Herbed Vinegars - and a Book - The Family Kitchen Garden: How to Plant, Grow and Cook Together - by Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner and Annette WendlandAnd
• More fabulous prizes to be announced!

Thank you to FoodShare, Live Green Toronto, Gayla Trail, Zora Ignjatovic, and Laura Berman for generously donating these prizes.

US survey shows grantmaking fell 8.4% in 2009

The Non-profit Times reports that during 2009 the amount of grants awarded by 75,000 foundations across the USA fell 8.4 % from the prior year. This despite foundations cutting costs of their own operations. The article predicts that US foundation giving will remain flat at the current level for the foreseeable future.

New Mind Space's Pillowfight May 8

Feathers fly and teddies soar as you converge for a giant urban pillow fight! Swing and whack as you evade pillow-wielding assailants. Bring a soft pillow at 3 PM and wait for the signal. Pillow fight!

Come say goodbye to Yonge-Eglinton Square - it is being bulldozed later this year so more stores can be built.

Costumes and funky pillows encouraged :)

Pillow Fight Toronto
Yonge-Eglinton Square @ 3:00 PM
Saturday, May 8th 2010
Rain or shine! Free and all ages!
facebook

Words on the Wall, Apr. 21

WORDS ON THE WALL: GEOFFREY REAUME IN CONVERSATION WITH RUTH RUTH
To celebrate the re-issue of his groundbreaking study, Remembrance Of Patients Past (University of Toronto Press), scholar and activist Geoffrey Reaume will conduct a walking tour of the wall surrounding the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH ) grounds at 1001 Queen St. West. He will then guide the group to the Gladstone Hotel, where he will have an on-stage conversation Ruth Ruth Stackhouse of Friendly Spike Theatre Band. Three of the installation pieces from The Story Behind The Wall, an exhibition by Workman Arts (WA) inspired by Reaume’s text, will be featured on-stage. There will be a silent auction of bricks painted by local artists. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Psychiatric Survivors Archives of Toronto (PSAT) for the purpose of purchasing commemorative plaques detailing the history of the 19th century patient-built wall and other aspects of unpaid patient labour. Marc Glassman, Executive Director of This Is Not A Reading Series, will host the evening event. – A TINARS event presented by University of Toronto Press, Gladstone Hotel, NOW Magazine, Torontoist.com, Take Five On CIUT, Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto and Workman Arts.
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St West, Toronto
Wed Apr 21: 8:00pm (Doors 7:30pm) $5 (Free With Book Purchase)

EVENT ITINERARY
Silent Auction Viewing Begins 4pm, Gladstone Hotel Ballroom,
Wall Walking Tour 6pm, Main Entrance, CAMH, 1001 Queen St West
Interview / Auction 8 pm (Doors 7:30pm), Gladstone Ballroom, Gladston Hotel, 1214 Queen St. West

REMEMBRANCE OF PATIENTS PAST Historian Geoffrey Reaume remembers previously forgotten psychiatric patients in his groundbreaking study, Remembrance Of Patients Past, by examining in rich detail their daily life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane (now called the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health - CAMH) from 1870-1940. Psychiatric patients endured abuse and could lead monotonous lives inside the asylum's walls, yet these same women and men worked hard at unpaid institutional jobs for years and decades on end, created their own entertainment, even in some cases made their own clothes, while forming meaningful relationships with other patients and some staff.

Using first person accounts by and about patients - including letters written by inmates which were confiscated by hospital staff - Reaume weaves together a tapestry of stories about the daily lives of people confined behind brick walls that patients themselves built.

GEOFFREY REAUME is an associate professor in the Critical Disability Studies Graduate Program at York University.

RUTH RUTH STACKHOUSE is a proud member of the psychiatric survivor community. She studied theater in New York City and is currently Theatre Director of the Friendly Spike Theatre Band. A long-standing activist, she has protested against institutional confinement and the exploitation of patient labour. www.friendlyspike.ca

THE PSYCHIATRIC SURVIVOR ARCHIVES OF TORONTO (PSAT) is dedicated to ensuring that the rich history of people who have experienced the psychiatric system is preserved for our community and the wider community as a resource from which everyone can share and learn. PSAT is a grass roots organization that is run for and by psychiatric survivors and seeks to reflect the broad diversity of views that are expressed by all people with a psychiatric history however they choose to self-identify. www.psychiatricsurvivorarchives.com

THE STORY BEHIND THE WALL is a mixed-media and cross-disciplinary project created by artists of the Workman Arts Project for Scotiabank Nuitblanche 2009. Six artists chose six former patients from the Toronto Hospital for the Insane as depicted in Geoffrey Reaume’s book Remembrance of Patients Past – Patient life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, 1870-1940. Their goal was to create figurative sculptures to creatively and expressively tell the stories of these individual patients from the past who have mostly been confined to a history of silence.

WORKMAN ARTS (WA) facilitates aspiring, emerging and established artists with mental illness and addiction issues to develop and refine their art form through its arts training programs, public performance/exhibit opportunities and partnering with other art organizations. As well, WA promotes a greater public understanding of mental illness and addiction through the creation, presentation and discussion of the artistic media.
www.workmanarts.com

For Media / Info
Geoffrey Reaume: Andrea Wilson, awilson@utpress.utoronto.ca
PSAT Silent Auction: Andrea White, psychsurvivorarchives@gmail.com
TINARS: Chris Reed, coordinator@tinars.ca

Arts Presentation Contracts

In the arts it sometimes seems that there are endless varieties and shades of collaboration, partnership and co-presentation agreements possible. But when I was first working in the concert department of a major orchestra, I was told that really there were only three types of presentation contracts:

1. Self-present
2. Contract of Services
3. Co-present

Most difficulties that occur, happen when the type of contract is misunderstood or all aspects of the arrangement are not defined and signed off on by both parties.

Self-presentation:
If my arts organization is "self-presenting", we are responsible for the artistic content, all the costs, raising the money for the project, marketing, and all the ticket revenues are ours. We may be presenting in a venue we own or we might be renting a venue. In a rental venue we might be subject to some house rules and we might have access to some inhouse marketing vehicles (a lobby lightbox or an e-newsletter). We need to sign a contract for the rental agreement but at no time should our self-presented concert be represented by the venue as a part of their series. If they wish to change the nature of the relationship to a co-presentation agreement, you should be looking for concessions on rent, etc.

Contract of services:
Your organization, company, church, or event is hiring the services of my arts organization. For example your church wishes my orchestra for an Easter concert. You can request specific repertoire if you are willing to pay the costs of the orchestra learning new repertoire or save money by taking our suggestions. You set the time of the concert, are responsible for all ticket sales, all revenue is yours if the event is ticketed. The orchestra is paid a flat fee that we have determined will cover our costs for the event. We will have to assure in our contract that we don't incur extra costs. The things we will need to assure in the contract are: the repertoire, start and finish times for the concert, where the orchestra can warm up and securely leave their belongings during the performance, when the orchestra can take the stage, meal arrangements for the orchestra (if applicable) and orchestra name/logo recognition on advertising and materials.

Co-presentation:
My orchestra and your choir decides to co-present an Easter concert . We will have to determine:

1. Who determines the repertoire and who pays for the rental sheet music?
2. Who pays for the hall?
3. Who is going to pay for and supervise the marketing campaign and what sign-off will be needed by the other organization?
4. How will ticket sales be divided? What about series subscribers? Are their seats included? Where will they sit?
5. How are we each going to make money? Split the sales 50/50 or some other arrangement that is equitable balanced against the cost sharing arrangement?
6. Who is responsible for rehearsal costs?
7. What spaces will each organization use in the hall and for what periods of time?


Is it really necessary to spell these things out in a contract? In my experience it is, especially in the complex arrangements of Co-presentation agreements. I have seen the following problems occur in co-presentations that were uncontracted or with a very vaguely worded agreement:

1. Misunderstandings about the amount of tickets available for sale by each organization.
2. Unhappy subscribers who thought the concert was included in their subscription but no seats for them had been negotiated.
3. One partner representing the concert as though it was theirs alone. (no agreement on sign off on marketing)
4. One partner holding up marketing with lengthy tweaks and changes, jeopardizing sales. (no time-lines for approval of marketing).
5. Last minute demands for one organization to pay the rehearsal costs of the other organization. (not clear that each was responsible for their own costs).
6. One organization changing the repertoire and/or time of concert without consultation, confusing artists, public, and rendering promotional campaign invalid. (repertoire and time of concert was not spelled out in contract, nor that such would be by mutual agreement only)
7. And frequent disputes about smaller issues: sheet music rental costs, lobby sales, sponsor signage.

While it is hard to think of everything, I hope this gets any new arts manager asking the right questions about presentation contracts. If you spell out all the obvious issues and finish with a clause that suggests how any new issues will be handled, "at the discretion of X" or "by mutual agreement" you should minimize conflict.

The worst situations have occurred when the parties totally fail to understand the nature of the contract. I once inherited a rather vague co-presentation agreement with a choir. Not too far into the process of planning the concert I discovered that the choir thought the contract was a "contract of services"in relation to what money they expected from us (all their rehearsal costs and music costs covered) and was a "self-present" in terms of their marketing and ticket sales. They had put the concert on their subscription season (exhausting most of their share of the tickets with no additional revenue for them) and had gone on to sell more tickets, double-dipping their ticket share and cutting into our potential revenues. Basically they wanted it both ways, and that's not how the world works.

If the fundamental nature of the agreement is clear, and the large issues are settled, it is not hard to negotiate solutions to smaller issues as they arise.

Puppetry Exploratory Laboratory Deadline Extended to Monday Feb. 1, 2010

Are you an artist, performance artist, animator, filmaker, multimedia artist, dancer, or choreographer who would like to be able to integrate puppetry into their art work but need some hands on skills?

Bring your project ideas to the Puppetry Exploratory Laboratory!

The deadline for this almost free learning opportunity (materials fee required) has been extended until Monday. This is the last chance to apply this season!

The online application is available at: http://www.puppetmongers.com/laboratory.html

New Mindspace Invitation to Make Snow Lanterns

ReinventWinter presents: Snow Lanterns

At Dufferin Grove park, an assembly of people will converge on the snowpile created by the skating rink for the purposes of sculpting/building lanterns for candle light. It should be a fun and creative time.

The act of snow lantern making takes advantage of the natural opportunities provided by a cold climate. Examples of this winter celebration can be seen in Northern regions of Finland, Japan and elsewhere.

Join us in establishing this fantastic tradition in Toronto by building your very own snow lanterns.

Dufferin Grove Park
Friday January 29th
7:00pm - 12:00am
Bring: gloves, sculpting tools (if desired), positive attitude.
Provided: Candles, Snow

See the beautiful potential on the Facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=239327560887

Would your arts "entry" job be a fit for those looking for an arts "exit" job?

When organizations are thinking about staffing an arts position on a tight budget, they often cast the position as an "entry-level" position because of the parttime nature, low salary, lack of job security and no-benefits nature of the position. Sometimes this judgement is made without consideration of the demands of the job description. In some cases the position IS a great fit for a newly graduated student. In other cases, although few hours are demanded, the skill set needed is varied and requires on-the-job experience for success.

If an organization needs experienced grantwriting, financial management/budgeting, and arts marketing savey, they are unlikely to find that in an entry level staff person. It takes a few years of working in an effective team setting to learn these highly specialized skills. A great fit for such an organization may be an arts worker at the other end of the spectrum, easing into retirement or exiting full time arts administration in order to work on their own artistic or entrepreneurial projects.

The Value of Sharing: Social Engagement

You know you are SUPPOSED to market your arts organization with Social Media, but the messages are confusing. What will work to reach your audience? Who shares what? Where?

No one is better placed to answer these questions than the people behind the "Share This" applet, that is most used to link social networking applications (for example post a link from a blog post to Twitter). Their articles and charts are invaluable in deciding which applications you should be focusing on in disseminating your message.

The Value of Sharing: Social Engagement

Posted using ShareThis

Arts Vote Toronto says, "I am an Artist and I Vote!"

If you are a Toronto artist, work for an arts organization or you directly or indirectly have business ties with artists & cultural attractions in Toronto (marketers, web designers, printers, hotels & restaurants etc.) then you'll want to assure that you know which candidates in the upcoming Toronto elections understand the importance of the arts to the quality of life in Toronto and to the tourist economy.

Sign up at Arts Vote today to keep in the picture.

Arts Vote launch rally. 5 pm Tues. Nov. 17 @ the Urbanspace Art Gallery, 401 Richmond

Tafelmusik launches "Sing-a-long Messiah Contest" on YouTube

The folks at Tafelmusik succeed year after year not only with great music (they are among the best that Toronto has to offer) but also with the novel ways that they come up with to connect the music of the past with what is happening here and now in our world. They have achieved this through collaborations with new composers; placing their work in the context of festivals of art like the Metamorphosis festival that draws from new and old works; and now with a fun contest that is powered by the popularity of YouTube and karaoke. Great marketing ideas like this should be celebrated. What makes this one great is that it isn't just about getting bums in the seats for Tafelmusik's Messiah this season (not that selling tickets isn't important) but we are all tired and burned out by clever marketing that is just about "buy, buy, consume, consume". This campaign is qualitatively different: it is about getting people singing and involved in the arts. That's important at so many different levels.

If you love to sing and aren't shy check out Tafelmusik's website for all the information on the contest.

Peter Stoll, clarinet, Nov. 5 @ noon, free lunchtime concert

If you are going to be anywhere near the University of Toronto, 's Faculty of Music building (just south of the Royal Ontario Museum, behind the old planetarium) you might like to catch what promises to be a lively concert with one of Toronto's most versatile and active clarinetest.

Peter writes in his email of today, "A quick email just for those in the T.O. area who might be interested, this Thursday November 5, I'm playing a free recital at UofT's Faculty of Music, the Edward Johnson Building, in Walter Hall, noon-1pm. Fun stuff, some classical, some jazz, some klezmer, 3 different sizes of clarinets, hope you can make it!"

By the way, Peter has a new website. If you are a music-lover in Toronto, you'll want to bookmark it.

Protesting Cuts to the Diversity in Music Program--Oct. 26 @ 6 pm

Cutting The Album
Monday October 26 2009
6PM - 8PM
CBC Front Street to Nathan Phillips Square

Hello Friends,

Heritage Minister, James Moore recently announced that 1.3 million
dollars from the Canada Music Fund’s annual budget would be
redirected away from the Canada Council. This has resulted in the
cancellation of the CCA’s Music Diversity Program, which, for the
past 20 years, has provided integral support for recording and
marketing to artists who are on the forefront of forging new,
innovative, and distinctly Canadian culture.

We've decided that a parade was in order. We will be meeting at CBC,
250 Front Street, on Monday October 26th at 6pm. Below you'll find
our routing. The parade will be interspersed with speeches at various
strategic locations. The parade will culminate at Nathan Phillips
Square, where Christine Duncan's Element Choir will perform and no
doubt create a stir.

The goal of this parade is to create awareness in our wake among the
public. We'll be soliciting the press and hope to get a lot of
coverage. Some of us will have clipboards in hand to offer the
general public a chance to sign our petition, and others will be
handing out pertinent literature.

All the while, our drummers and horn players will be propelling us
along the streets in a free-form New Orleans style funeral
procession. Bring your pots and pans, bells and other noise makers to
join in the fun. Bring your cameras too, we'd like to send the
Heritage Minister some photos of our event. Bring your thermoses to
stay warm, too!

At the end of the parade, before the Elements go on, Andrew Cash will
give a little talk on behalf of Charlie Angus' office, who are
currently leading an inquiry with the Heritage Committee. We then
invite you to present Andrew with your letters that he can deliver to
the committee in Ottawa, as well mix cds that you can make comprised
of music that was made with the assistance of the sound recording grant.

- We still need more clipboard volunteers and people to hand out flyers
- Please contact me if you plan on bringing drums and horns
- Write your letters and make your mix tapes that will be delivered
to the committee!!
- If we have already been in contact with you about speaking, please
write back to confirm your interest.

Here's the route:

6:00 meet at CBC
6:15 process on John to Roy Thompson Hall (speech)
6:40 King to Peter to Queen - Lush on Queen (speech)
7:05 Queen to Yonge to Dundas (speeches)
7:25 Dundas to Bay to Queen to Nathan Phillips Square
7:40 Speech and Element Choir
post-parade hot chocolate at a meeting place TBD