vision
Chillin´ in Chile
- Posted by Holly Simon on November 13th, 2007
Writing on
location from Curico, Chile. It´s a small city two hours south of the capital, Santiago. Curico is not unlike the Okanagan, surrounded by vineyards and orchards. (The wine is cheap and delicious… and so is the fruit.) It´s spring here: the sun is shining and I´ve slathered
sunscreen all over my fair skin. I´m staying with a visual artist whom I met several years ago when studying art in Spain. She has regular exhibitions and teaches art and yoga by day (not at the same time). I´m here on vacation but our work at Calgary Arts Development never escapes me. There´s nothing like a trip to South America to offer some perspective on development in general… read more »
Re-Inventing TV
- Posted by Holly Simon on October 30th, 2007
Over and above back-to-back arts events for 11 weeks straight... I find myself in a particularly exciting week book ended by me in a bumble bee suit at the Grave Gala 
and a flight to Buenos Aires. In between, I had a flash adventure in Regina, Saskatchewan, for the 22nd Gemini Awards. (I hardly even watch television. When I do watch, I watch The Hour or Corner Gas.) I had a line on good seats through a friend and I couldn't say no... 
George was his usual attentive, humorous and provocative self. Somehow, a show about television, became about relevancy and response to the Canadian condition. The humour became a little more real. (I hope you saw the "Saskatchewan IS flat" skit - not the correct title - written by Paul Bates, I think.) This was the first Gemini Awards that was open to the public (which hopefully foreshadows the open and transparent future of Canada). The day ended with a party in the (haunted) Hotel Saskatchewan lobby with a crowd of young and smart Canadian television makers. Besides feeling a little star-struck, I'm reminded of the constructive threat our generation provides to the status quo. P.S. Many thanks to George and his friends for the hospitality.
read more »
Engaging Art
- Posted by Erica Mattson on June 19th, 2007
I've been reading the ArtsJournal series "Engaging Art" since last week. What a great conversation about how things happen between art and audiences. A few brief excerpts below, plus great reading on the blog, mp3s, and a future book, so dig in!
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Art Imitates Life
- Posted by Mike Scullen on June 14th, 2007
"Google search frequency for "art" and "life" from 2004 to 2006 are plotted against each other on a search-volume graph where the number searches for each term is shown in relation to the number of searches done on Google during a given time period. The two graphs synchronize a surprising amount and are generally very close in volume, At least on the web, Art and Life imitate each other." By Caleb Larsen.
Which makes more sense to you: art imitating life or life imitating art? I'm going to go with a both/and answer.
via VVORK read more »
Somehow... Branding Calgary's Arts Scene
- Posted by Erica Mattson on May 31st, 2007
Lots of feedback has come in on the Request for Proposals we put out for a partner to help us with a strategy for "Branding Calgary's Arts Scene." Agencies and firms have been contacting us with questions and ideas, marketers have expressed interest and there's been an interesting mix of enthusiasm, skepticism and even criticism within the arts community. read more »
New Blog: Urban Scrawl
- Posted by Erica Mattson on April 25th, 2007
Calgary Herald editorial writer Paula Arab has just launched a new blog called Urban Scrawl. Read her first post below and watch for more Urban Scrawl posts from Paula to come in the Creative Calgarians Journals. read more »
Sculpture Park a Combo of Art, Environmental Conservation, and Urban Planning
- Posted by Holly Simon on January 23rd, 2007
Check out this new major sculpture park project in downtown Seattle. The Seattle Art Museum purchased a 9-acre waterfront brownfield site 8 years ago when it was in the final stages of environmental cleanup and the neighborhood still pretty rough. The park has a unique architectural design (Weiss/Manfredi Architects) that surrounds and overpasses a major roadway and railroad track, exhibits almost 30 critically acclaimed sculptors (I'm a Richard Serra fan), and offers free entrance for all. read more »
Peter Sellars
- Posted by Mike Scullen on January 10th, 2007
The staff here had a listen to Peter Sellars' (no, not Peter Sellers) keynote for the American Symphony Orchestra League.
Certainly worth a listen; Sellars arugues that an important cultural link has been broken between the community and the typical American orchestra.
Listen to the audio here
Symphony Magazine scan here read more »
TCFKAC: The City Formerly Known as Cowtown
- Posted by Erica Mattson on October 25th, 2006
For those still wondering just what Calgary Arts Development is all about, check out this interview with Creative Generalist where our illustrious and insightful President & CEO, Terry Rock, elaborates on the goals and aspirations of the organization.
Terry uses an acronym sums it up well: “TCFKAC: The City Formerly Known as Cowtown.”
Which makes the marketer in me wonder, should we start taking orders for t-shirts?
The Calgary Long Tail
- Posted by Mike Scullen on July 25th, 2006
Michael Geist, Internet and intellectual property law expert, writes in the Toronto Star on how Canada's culture industries benefit from the Long Tail effect:
From a Canadian perspective, the importance of the Long Tail should resonate strongly with businesses and policy makers since we don't have to look very far for Long Tail markets - with few exceptions Canadian culture is in the Long Tail.
Where does this place civic culture? With markets opening up to niches how can Calgary leverage the Long Tail?
Geist goes on to explain how the Internet plays a major role in distributing the specialized content found in the Long Tail. This makes a lot of sense when looking at creative output of a city. If Calgary is a city for the world, there needs to be a repository of our civic culture that the world can easily access. Not only this, but Internet publishing makes Calgary culture available for Calgarians. I know that I personally would love to have more local content coming in on my RSS feeds.
