Irwin Oostindie is Executive Director of W2, a community media and arts space in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Am Johal: W2 is one of the newest arts organizations in the city. It was one of the real hubs of activity during the 2010 Olympics. How has W2 been impacted by the cuts to arts? How do you view the Olympic funding for the arts — was the $40 million for the opening and closing ceremonies worth it?
Irwin Oostindie: W2 was criticized by a few for receiving 2010 arts funding, but as a new project with no core public funding to stand on we were vulnerable. Some of our critics already received core public funding and were of the opinion that Olympic funding was different. But we disagreed, considering all taxpayer’s money as the people’s money irregardless of what sign or logo or acknowledgement you need to stand beside. We did work that we were proud of, and the work was not compromised. We were at a moment in our organisational development (our W2 Woodward’s media centre was a year behind schedule) and we were delivering a very ambitious 13,000 sq ft W2 Culture & Media House that could have sunk our organisation. These were circumstances that led us to view the debate with a wider lens.
As election campaigning moves into hyperdrive across Canada, politicians from across the political spectrum are pulling media tricks to win coveted votes from coast to coast. Music speaks to the heart across cultures and political campaigners are certainly utilizing song, often cynically, to boost spirits on the campaign trail.
Next week (April 18-24) is Screen-Free Week in countries where screen time has surpassed almost all other forms of social time-spending. We know that most of you are familiar with the criticisms against things like “Buy Nothing Day” (notably that the majority of participants are likely those who do the least consuming) but Screen Free Week reaches across the political spectrum and is meant to raise awareness about how much media we consume in our daily lives. From the Media Education Foundation:
The Media Education Foundation is proud to endorse Screen-Free Week, sponsored by our friends at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. The intention of this week is to raise awareness about the amount of media that we use — and its impact on our lives — by “turning off screens and turning on life” for seven days. Learn more about how you can participate in Screen-Free Week.
So turn off the commercials but check in with Art Threat every day, every minute for updates. Just kidding…
A few weeks before artist Ai Weiwei disappeared into police custody in Beijing (see link below), he was scheduled to present at a TED Talks Conference. He couldn’t make it, but he had a video statement delivered to TED Talks where it was presented with a slide show of some of his art work. In the presentation, he talked about his treatment by the Chinese government, the power of art to make social change and his need to speak out against injustice. Here it is.
Despite a growing number of countries including the US, Britain and Germany calling for Weiwei’s release, there is still no word on Weiwei’s whereabouts or well-being.
Americans for the Arts is holding an “Arts Advocacy Day” this April 4 and 5, and to help you in your advocacy they’ve compiled briefs on many of the issues that arts and arts education will be facing this year in the USA.
Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event in the US that brings together America’s cultural and civic organizations along with grassroots advocates, and they’re working to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts.
A large roomful of incredible women converged at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University for two memorable days in October. Leaders of industry, government, and labour sat down with filmmakers, broadcasters, academics, new media designers, engineers and students to ask a question that seems to have fallen off the agenda: where are the women? For, while there is a clear female presence at the top of media organizations, government funding bodies, and labour unions, the employment numbers for women drop off precipitously in emerging new media industries and there is a disastrous — and wasteful — exodus at mid-career in most areas.
Art blogazine Hyperallergic is liveblogging developments relating to Weiwei’s disappearance. Visit them for the latest news on the situation.
Days after announcing his intention to build a new studio in Berlin, controversial artist Ai Weiwei has disappeared into Beijing police custody. Weiwei was apparently taken into custody sometime on Sunday after being prevented from boarding a plane to Hong Kong.
Also on Sunday, police detained eight people from his studio for questioning, and also his wife, who has yet to be released.
Weiwei’s detention and disappearance comes amidst what many observers are describing as one of the most severe crackdowns on dissidents in China in decades. The Chinese government has been detaining activists and critics of the government across the country in what is an apparently escalating fear about domestic unrest in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings in Tunesia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemeni, Oman, and Jordan.
Small Canadian literary magazines are facing catastrophic budget cuts because of changes made to how magazines are subsidized. Last year the Harper Government created the Canadian Periodical Fund, a streamlined approach to funding Canada’s ever-struggling periodical industry. But in its new and improved form it seems funding is only available for the big commercial fish in Canada’s small magazine pond.
The Canadian Periodical Fund, which merged together the Publishing Assistance Program and Canadian Magazine Fund, provides subsidies only for magazines with a minimum circulation of 5,000, which is no small feat in Canada’s great and sparsely populated expanse.
Here’s a short video called The Perfect Immigrant by Sastre Rogelio, which played as part of the Athens Video Art Festival in 2010. Submissions for 2011 are now closed and choices will be announced in April. We’re posting the video today in solidarity with the hundreds of North African migrants who have been hospitalized in Greece after over a month of hunger striking. From the Guardian:
Death to Knowledge is the striking title of a piece of work from Marina de Stacpoole, an innovative artist who combines strong images with political critique in her new exhibition opening in April. It is inspired by the UK government’s assault on arts and culture. A banking crisis caused by lack of regulation after decades of neo-liberal economics is being used to justify an even more market based system in the UK. £bns of spending cuts are being made, justified by government debt as a way of rolling back the state and introducing corporate control. The debt excuse is hollow, taxes are being cut for businesses and money can be found to bomb Libya and fund the banks. This weeks budget is to announce that Britain’s much loved National Health Service is to be dismantled with profit making corporations brought into run hospitals.
Contributors
Stefan Christoff, Colin Horgan, Julia Pyper
Michelle Siobhan Reid, Valerie Cardinal, Race Capet
Laurence Miall, Terry Fairman, Tyler Morgenstern
Small Canadian literary magazines are facing catastrophic budget cuts because of changes made to how magazines are subsidized. Last year the Harper Government created the Canadian Periodical Fund, a streamlined approach to funding Canada’s ever-struggling periodical industry. But in its new and improved form it seems funding is only available for the big commercial fish in Canada’s small magazine pond.
