FFWD REW

All the arts news that’s fit to print

Big art goes public a new provincial committee for arts and how to get involved in the upcoming sea

Calgary Arts Development (CAD) recently launched its 2007 report to the community including a summary of the new funding programs for festivals and information about the new $165 million investment in arts spaces over the next 10 years.

Of particular interest is the listing of arts organizations and artists who received funding in 2007. These range from senior media artist Sandra Vida at $1500 to the Glenbow Museum’s $108000 and Alberta Theatre Projects’ $309000. The detailed listing shows that there are still great disparities in funding levels for visual and performing arts and that a number of our most exciting arts initiatives receive less than $10000 in annual operations funding. Isn’t it time that organizations like The Untitled Arts studio spaces Calgary Animated Objects Society and Emmedia Gallery and Production Society saw a rise in funding levels?

The CAD report also focuses heavily on the involvement of children in the arts and contains several spotlights and pictures of performing arts organizations but unfortunately fails to highlight any of our city’s fantastic visual media or literary arts organizations or artists. The CAD website continues to be a fantastic resource for information about arts events and the great work that CAD staff and committees are doing to increase funding and support infrastructures. A copy of the report is available to download at www.calgaryartsdevelopment.com.

For a more intensive look at recent activities in Calgary’s media arts community the summer issue of Emmedia’s handheld magazine offers a detailed listing of the artists who produced new works using the media centre’s facilities throughout 2007. Kari McQueen’s article on archiving new media is also a must-read and guest columns on media arts scenes in Germany and the Yukon give fantastic insights into the international community of media arts centres and artists.

The annual general meeting at Truck Contemporary Art in Calgary also aims to catch members up on recent gallery news and will offer an opportunity for the public to get involved with the behind-the-scenes operation of an artist-run centre. In addition to recognizing the efforts of the gallery’s dedicated membership and volunteer corps new gallery and board members are also welcome to become part of the action on July 2 at 7 p.m.

The announcement of a new 11-member Premier’s Council on Arts and Culture adds more momentum to the provincial government’s recent flurry of action within the arts. Falling under the “Spirit of Alberta” focus on arts culture natural environment and heritage in the province the committee is charged with championing culture advising on new projects and creating a legacy for the arts in Alberta. After many years of neglect on the part of our decision makers this new initiative points towards a genuinely exciting time for the arts in Alberta politics. Applications for positions on the council are being accepted from Albertans who “have their finger on the pulse” until July 4 says the call for participation at www.jobs.alberta.ca .

Finally public art is big on the agenda these days with the announcements of new projects by the City of Calgary and Torode’s ArriVa condo development in Victoria Park.

The City of Calgary is launching a comprehensive master planning process for public art in Calgary. Hopefully it will answer many lingering questions about what is happening with the civic art collection and the long-range planning for the Percent for Public Art program. Exciting spaces that are currently up for development are the Memorial Drive: Landscape of Memory project that will transform over nine kilometres of the busy roadway and the southeast Shepard Wetlands Legacy Park which might spark additional public interest for its designation of a “Ralph Klein Park” within its borders. The call for submissions for both projects ends on July 17 and more information can be found at www.calgary.ca/publicart .

The ArriVa commission awarded to Toronto artist Micah Lexier takes the form of a squiggly line constructed out of half a kilometre of twisted steel that will feature as a big part of the development. It’s designed to wind playfully around the historic Bungalow School (which is part of the condo site) in a clever riff on kids’ scribbled pencil drawings. Will it be as cool as the oversized objects that Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Buggen deposit in public parks or Chicago’s Cloudgate by Anish Kapoor? Cloudgate is a huge reflective sculpture polished to an incredible shine that mirrors the sky the city and its residents and has been affectionately dubbed “the bean” by Chicagoans. Contemporary public sculpture this big is never without controversy and the city’s reaction to the new Lexier will certainly be a hot topic of conversation when it is unveiled for all to see.

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