Re: [microsound] Re: funding in canada & cultural globalization

["tobias c. van Veen" <tobias@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

hey Ned,

You are right, of course, in pointing out the funding distribution that
exists in Canada and the rate at which various institutions respond to
changes in the sonic arts; and of course in noting that CC and other
"agents" are out-and-about at various events (Mutek, Elektra, etc). This
paragraph for me I completely agree with:

> BTW, I'm not out to defend the CAC or anything (more than it needs,
> anyhow). I just know that they're headed in a better direction, because
> some people there (like agents) are around Mutek, Elektra,  and other
> events (in Toronto? Vancouver?) - they're taking it in, asking questions. I
> _imagine_ there's a lot of pressure to keep things the way they've been, to
> keep 'new clients' out. But time is against those who resist new genres,
> new ways of making art.

Indeed, indeed. Thanks for stating the positive angle to all of this.

My frustration comes from being on the inside-track, as it were, to these
"agents," who have been perusing these various festivals since their
inception and "gathering feedback" for the past 10 or so years. It has come
to resonate as the mantra of the CC -- "still checking out the scene."
Perhaps the cynic in me hears a tired refrain .. ;)

Basically, I don't think it's too hard to ask of gov't employees that they
sit down and read the reports that many, many people have written, including
S1E over the past two years, and now, the Canadian Electronic Music
Directory. The data is in: time to demand change; Canada Heritage and even
the Dept. of Foreign Affairs are beginning to see the value, CC and FACTOR
are not. [Europe is, of course, a million years ahead in recognising art
forms.] The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, it seems.

As for a peer-review board, you are absolutely correct in stating that this
is necessary. This is exactly what was stated by the CC last year at Mutek
(2002). An essential role for Cdn artists is to contact the CC and sign-up
for their call-list.

Which comes down to the forces of change--us--pressuring the structures that
exist in Canada. That this pressure might result in a different form of the
CC and FACTOR is something we shouldn't be surprised .. word has it that
CanCon will be a thing of the past, for better or for worse [for example].
As contemporary electronic music bridges both popular [pitch] and
experimental  [glitch -- I dig this, although considering that there is
glitch in pop music, it doesn't hold, which is my point overall here--], we
should expect that FACTOR and CC will have to start actually (gasp!) working
together, if not formally amending their structures to accommodate these
changes in the sonic arts that, are, I believe, a profound shift from a high
art / low art distinction to one that embraces the generation of horizontal
arts .. & this is the legacy of Afro-American and other liminal / minority
arts ...

best, tV

tobias c. van Veen -----------
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org
http://www.thisistheonlyart.com
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