Ottawa Storytellers Events for July 2011
[Source: Ottawa Storytellers press release]
July 7
Ottawa StoryTellers Story Swap: Open Stage Night
7:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Room 156.
Free admission
Ottawa StoryTellers offers Story Swap, an open stage night, on the first Thursday of every month at Library and Archives Canada (Room 156). This is an opportunity to experience the art of storytelling for the first time or for new storytellers to practice before an audience. The evenings also include stories by experienced tellers so that new tellers can learn the art. People are welcome to come and listen, but anyone wishing to tell a story should register on arrival with the evening’s host, and s/he will be given a time slot. Stories should be no longer than ten minutes and must be told, not read. They may be traditional stories, folk tales, literary stories, or personal stories.
July 7 and July 21
Stories at the Bytown Museum
7pm-8pm
Bytown Museum, 1 Canal Lane Ottawa Ontario K1P 5P6
Ottawa has many stories to tell! The murder of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, the Stoney Monday riots and the fire at the Booth Lumberyard to name a few. The Bytown Museum hosts a Story Series by the Ottawa StoryTellers as part of their free Thursday night programming this summer.
July 7: Ruthanne Edward and Gail Anglin.
July 21: Ruth Stewart-Verger, Donna Stewart and Kim Kilpatrick
July 12
Live, Love, Laugh
Lisa Virtue, Ruthanne Edward, Katherine Hunt
Stories and Tea
The Tea Party, 119 York St.
7pm-8:45pm
Pay what you can
July 26
Summer Time! Super Tales!
Robert Collins, Christine Joyce
Stories and Tea
The Tea Party, 119 York St.
7pm-8:45pm
Pay what you can
For more information on our programming, visit www.ottawastorytellers.ca
Join the Ottawa Storytellers facebook group to get invites to our events, or follow us on Twitter @ottawastory.
OST programming is supported by the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council, Heritage Canada and Canada Council for the Arts.
CANADA’S CAPITAL SHOWCASES CANADIAN ART ON 2011 CONFEDERATION BOULEVARD BANNERS: NCC and Canada Council Art Bank highlight provinces and territories through public art partnership
The National Capital Commission (NCC), in collaboration with the Canada Council Art Bank, unveiled today the 2011 Provincial and Territorial Confederation Boulevard Banners. This year’s banners will feature works of art by Canadian artists from coast to coast to coast – each one evoking the scenery and sense of place of the featured region.
“The banners contribute to the vibrancy of Canada’s Capital Region and celebrate Canada’s culture, history and geography,” said Jean-François Trépanier, Executive Vice-President of Operations, NCC. “This first collaboration between the NCC and the Canada Council Art Bank allows us to showcase Canadian artistic excellence in a unique way, while enriching the Capital experience for residents and visitors.”
Thirteen works of art depicting each province and territory have been reproduced from the collection of the Canada Council Art Bank ─ promoting and supporting public art in the Capital through the NCC’s flagship banner program.
Featured are:
| Northwest Territories | Antoine Mountain |
| Yukon | Ava P.Christl | Nunavut | Kenojuak Ashevak |
| British Columbia | Kenneth Lochhead |
| Alberta | Barbara Milne | Saskatchewan | David Alexander |
| Manitoba | David Williams | Ontario | Alex Cameron |
| Québec | Pierre Gauvreau |
| New Brunswick | Molly Bobak | Nova Scotia | Joe Norris |
| Prince Edward Island | Verna Blanche Banks | Newfoundland and Labrador | Tara Bryan |
“This is an exciting partnership for the Canada Council,” noted Robert Sirman, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. “The banners along Confederation Boulevard reflect the diversity of our nation’s landscapes and the treasures of the Canada Council Art Bank. The unique setting enables Canadians to access the work of dynamic artists in a new and powerful way.”
In addition to the provincial and territorial banners, the NCC is working with Parks Canada to celebrate their centennial with special commemorative banners. Those banners will be unveiled in early May.
About the Confederation Boulevard Banners
The Confederation Boulevard Banners program was initiated by the NCC in 1992 to coincide with Canada’s 125th birthday. Every year since, more than 500 festive banners have adorned Confederation Boulevard, the official ceremonial route in Canada’s Capital, for the summer months.
These festive banners create symbolic links with Canada’s Capital and the provinces and territories and serve to commemorate important milestones in Canada’s history. Past provincial and territorial banners have showcased the flowers, flags, symbolic landmarks, and architecture unique to each region, while commemorative banners have recognized several important anniversaries and milestones in Canada’s history. Most recently, the banners commemorated the 400th anniversary of Québec City (2008) as well as the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (2009). In 2010, the special banners highlighted the Canadian Navy Centennial.
About the National Capital Commission
The NCC is a Crown corporation whose mandate is to create pride and unity by making the Capital a meeting place for all Canadians and by using the Capital to communicate Canada to Canadians. The NCC takes great pride in developing and planning a Capital for future generations and in organizing and delivering large-scale events such as the Canada Day celebrations in the Capital Region.
For more information about Confederation Boulevard or events and activities taking place in Canada’s Capital Region, the public may contact the NCC at 613-239-5000, 1-800-465-1867, 613-239-5090 (TTY) or 1-866-661-3530 (toll free TTY) or visit the NCC’s website at www.canadascapital.gc.ca.
About the Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957. The role of the Council is to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. To fulfill this mandate, the Council offers a broad range of grants and services to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations in dance, integrated arts, media arts, music, theatre, visual arts, and writing and publishing. It also promotes public awareness of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities. The Canada Council Art Bank, which has some 17,300 works of contemporary Canadian art in its collection, rents to the public and private sectors.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: The NCC will continue the installation of the Confederation Boulevard banners over the next few days. To obtain more information on the installation schedule, please contact NCC Media Relations.
Media Information:
| Denise LeBlanc NCC Media Relations 613-239-5750 (office) 613-851-9465 (cellular) denise.leblanc@ncc-ccn.ca |
April Yorke Canada Council — Public Relations 613-566-4414 x 4133 (office) 613-293-7831 (cellular) april.yorke@canadacouncil.ca |
| Charles Cardinal NCC Media Relations 613-239-5227 (office) 613-851-6924 (cellular) charles.cardinal@ncc-ccn.ca |
Victoria Henry Director, Canada Council Art Bank 613-566-4317 (office) 613-299-2232 (cellular) victoria.henry@canadacouncil.ca |
Festivals face funding cuts
Jared Fisk, Centretown News
The Canada Council for the Arts has angered festival organizers in Ottawa after informing them a popular grant program that has helped underwrite innovative musical projects has been put on hold for 2011.
In a letter dated Jan. 19, the federal funding body advised officials with the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and other groups that the fund for new program initiatives and artists’ collaborations was currently under review and that there would be no payouts in time for this summer’s festival season.
Russell Kelley, the head of the music section for the Canada Council for the Arts, says he regretted suspending the grant application process three weeks before the Feb. 15 deadline.
“We regret the timing,” says Kelly. “We understand it’s short notice.”
He (Julian Armour) says the short notice for cancelling the program is another indication of a downward spiral in government support for the entire Canadian arts community.
Full story from Centretown News Online: Festivals face funding cuts
Music festivals fear for Canada Council grants
Canadian festival programmers are disappointed that the Canada Council for the Arts is not accepting applications for a well-used grant program that provided funding for programming initiatives and artistic collaborations.
In a letter dated Jan. 19, the council informed festivals across the country that it had cancelled the Feb. 15 deadline for its music festival programming project grants, which have been offered for more than 10 years.
Russell Kelley, head of the Canada Council’s music section, says the program has not been cut, but it is under review. “We’re trying to make sure, as we always do, that what we offer with the dollars that we have available is absolutely the most effective thing that we can do,” Kelley said Tuesday. “What’s happening now in this quarter of the fiscal year is that we’re starting the programs that go forward into the next fiscal year, and we looked at everything, going ‘OK, if we spend all of our money, we won’t necessarily be able to make the program changes that we’re looking to do.’ ”
In recent years, the $300,000 program awarded grants ranging from about $8,000 to $20,000 to music festivals for special projects, such as the composers’ collective at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival and a cross-cultural collaboration at the Ottawa Folk Festival that brought diverse artists together to create music in the week leading up to the festival.
While Kelley said he is not yet able to comment on how the funding will change, he promised there will be an announcement on a “larger picture” program in the next two or three months.
But that’s too late for festival organizers planning events this summer.
Read more: www.ottawacitizen.com
Federal government could invest in innovation through visual artists
For immediate release
News release
Federal government could invest in innovation through visual artists
Ottawa, Thursday, March 4th, 2010 – Visual artists are encouraged to see that the 2010 federal budget will maintain support for the Canada Council for the Arts but are concerned about cuts to the Department of Canadian Heritage. Given the ability of the cultural sector to attract talent and investment at a low cost, the cultural industries should be an important part of the federal government’s plan to foster innovation and economic growth going forward.
According to a 2008 report from the Conference Board of Canada, “Arts and culture industries are magnets for talent.” Current economic theories suggest that advanced industrial nations are transforming to knowledge-based and creative economies. Economic success depends on the capacity to generate innovated business models and increase productivity. Creativity is the source of innovation.
“Investing in the Canada Council for the Arts is a good way for government to maximize the impact of their investments,” said April Britski, Executive Director of the national association of visual artists (CARFAC). “Creating jobs in the culture sector is nearly ten times cheaper than some sectors they are focussing investments on. It’s also interesting to see a focus on giving Canadians access to foreign markets only a year and a half after cancelling programs that did just that for the arts.”
CARFAC made the following recommendations to the House of Commons Finance Committee. The full budget submission is available on CARFAC’s website.
Bring the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $300 million
Increasing the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts would allow them to increase funding to individual artists. There is a capacity for artists to create value that is being wasted because the level of investment is too low. Every year there are projects put forward by visual artists that are highly recommended by Canada Council juries that are turned away because of a lack of funds. Increasing the level of investment would allow the Canada Council to support high quality projects that are currently being turned away.
Allow artists to pay tax based on their average income over five years
The income of a self-employed visual artist can fluctuate widely from year-to-year. Exhibition and sale opportunities often occur in clusters as artists complete a project or series of works and it generates interest. A good sales year can be followed by several years of little to no income as the artist works on new projects.
Artists are, therefore, at a tax disadvantage – paying tax at a higher rate in a good year, even though that income will support them in following years. Allowing artists to pay tax based on the average income they bring in over several years would rectify this unfairness and help to ease the financial pressure on visual artists.
Assign a zero tax rate to income from grants and awards
Many artists’ incomes are supplemented by grants from municipal and provincial arts councils, in addition to federal funding bodies such as the Canada Council for the Arts. Receiving a grant is a mark of success and demonstrates that an artists’ work is valuable and successful.
Grant and awards are currently subject to tax deductions. In most cases, the amounts awarded are already minimal, and any deduction makes a big difference. If grants and awards were not subject to tax, it is money that would otherwise be invested back into the artist’s work.
CARFAC (The Canadian Artists’ Representation/le Front des artists canadiens) is the national association of Canada’s professional visual and media artists. CARFAC defends artists’ rights through advocacy and professional development and produces a schedule of artists’ fees that is widely recognized as the national standard. The Status of the Artist Act empowers CARFAC to negotiate with national organizations on behalf of all visual artists in Canada.
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For more information contact:
Melissa Gruber
Communications Coordinator
CARFAC National
communications@carfac.ca
613-233-6161
For media inquiries outside business hours, call 613-791-6411.
