Influential Canadians in the Art World - Louise T. Blouin

As much as I tend to minimize the influence of Canadians in the art world, there are, of course, some exceptions, including some people of indisputable international standing.

One is Louise Blouin, a Montrealer living in London, who controls a virtual empire of art information properties and carries on an impressive agenda of philanthropic activities.

In the '80s and '90s Blouin and her second husband built the huge network of Auto Trader and "Auto Hebdo" publications and leveraged the internet at the earliest opportunity to seize a commanding position in the dedicated classified publications biz. [on reflection, as the "Hebdo" family was started and first flourished in Quebec, this could be one reason why local newspapers and weeklies are so pathetic in that province]

Blouin's properties now include: Art-Info, Art+Auction, Modern Painters, Culture and Travel, Gordon's Art Sales Index, Gordon's Print Price Annual, Gordon's Photography Price Annual, Davenport's Art Reference & Price Guide, the Hislop Pocket Price Guide and The Art of Buying Art reference book.

She has also established the Louise T Blouin Foundation, a non-profit art-related organization in London, which has a 45,000 sq. ft. flagship headquarters building in west London, to serve as a head office, as well as a showcase for both established and emerging contemporary artists, think-tanks and artistic performances of all forms. The building is impressive, as it should be for having around $40 M worth of renovations.

Among the Foundation's activities are a Global Creative Leadership Summit held annually in New York whose attendees are as illustrious as the foundation's objectives are ambitious.

Canada's influence in art waning by the day

Unfortunately, yet another example of Canada's lack of influence in the art world has arrived on my screen.

This one is from the venerable Web 1.0 site, Olga's Gallery, that has been one of the most consulted art reference sites for nearly a decade, according to them picking up a million pages views a day.

Popular site Olga's Gallery ignores Canada

This is a great free reference that you don't have to sign in to, which is why it continues to be a stand-by and get great rankings on Alexa. There are near-comprehensive lists of artists, with plenty of visuals, from most countries in Europe, up until the early part of the 20th Century.

You know what I'm going to say next. That's right. There is not one single artist listed from Canada.

Here is the breakdown by country:

Austria 2
Belgium 37

Czechia 1

France 61
Germany 22
Georgia 1
Italy 56
Mexico 3
Netherlands 18
Norway 1
Poland 2
Russia 76
Spain 9
Sweden 1
Switzerland 2
UK 19
USA 6

OK, it is true that the U.S. is also given short shrift, with only six artists mentioned. Which is fine. You can call sour grapes all you want - this site is Euro-centric blah blah blah. There is no avoiding the facts, though. Massive, influential visual art reference ignores Canada - again.

As long as this situation is allowed to prevail, Canada's influence will continue to wane on a daily basis.

John Powell's 50 Most Powerful People in the Art World - Canada gets a whiff of a mention

John Powell, a Jamaican artist, has considerately published his take on who the 50 most powerful people in the art world are. The list was published November 24, 2009, so is quite up to date.

My intention here is not to go into the selections in too great a detail. Suffice it to say that there are dealers, artists, gallery personages, collectors and I believe one or two critics. No bloggers.

For now, I would just like to put down, for the record, the locations of these 50 people:

New York - 22
London - 10
Los Angeles - 5
Paris - 3
Frankfurt - 2
Basel - 1
Philadelphia - 1
San Francisco - 1
Amsterdam - 1
Tokyo - 1
Germany - 1
Washington - 1
Cologne - 1

So, how does Canada "get a whiff" out of this list?

For one, from the ephemeral presence of Glenn D. Lowry, the Director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was formerly the director of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, where he oversaw a major expansion.

Could be that some of the others also spent time in Canada or even are Canadian. I do not have that information.

The point of this exercise, though, is simply to get it out in the open, once again, the dire absence of influence that Canada holds in the art world.

Of course, this list is only one artist's opinion, using bios/info obtained from Artnews. The point is it is real, it is out there and, as time goes by, each succeeding list or report of this nature will do nothing but reinforce Canada art's already sadly lacking international profile.

Arts Writers Awards Ignore Bloggers

Is this a general comment on the status of art blogging?

The Artist Writers Grant Program, sponsored by the Warhol Foundation and Creative Capital, announced its awards for 2009. Arts bloggers only received one of the 26 awards, which range from $5,000 - $50,000.

Most of the winning writers are located in New York.

Wildrose Alliance at 39% in Alberta - now read the party's policies

In the news today: a report that an Angus Reid poll has the upstart Wildrose Alliance Party in the popularity lead in Alberta with 39%.

Since the media-savvy and photogenic Danielle Smith won the Wildrose Alliance leadership a matter of weeks ago, there seems to be a love-fest goin' on with this new, extra-right version of conservative.

According to the Calgary Herald, the party's leader openly denies global warming and does not support the public health care system.

For everyone's information and simply as a matter of record, I reproduce the Wildrose Alliance's policies, as taken from their website today:

BTW - don't miss the Wildrose Alliance's exciting policy item on Human Rights! (That is, they intend to "strike section 3 of the Human Rights and Multiculturalism Act".

Fun, fun, fun!

Quiz - What gets shorter shrift in the Wildrose Alliance's party platform: arts & culture or social assistance? Have fun!

---

• All Policies are preceded by: “A Wildrose Government will….”

DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Federalism

• defend Alberta against intrusions by the federal government by protecting the property, legal, constitutional and democratic rights of Albertans.
• work to remove inter-provincial trade and professional certification barriers by the expansion of the Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement to other Provinces.

Electoral Reform

• institute fixed election dates for Provincial Election every 4 years. The Legislative Assembly will be able to call a vote of non-confidence at any time.
• be accountable to the people of Alberta by having free votes with the exception of the budget and votes of non-confidence.
• institute the right of recall of elected officials if 20% of the electorate sign a petition calling for such an action and 25% if the electorate is less than 1000.
• hold elections for Alberta Senators at the same time as Provincial Elections.

Government Reform

• establish an independent agency to determine the compensation, pension, and severance packages of elected governmental officials.
• limit the Provincial Cabinet to 16 members.
• institute strict conflict of interest guidelines facilitated through the Provincial Ethics Commissioner’s office.
• establish set dates for Throne Speeches, Budget Announcements, and Legislative Sessions.
• institute an open and comprehensive Freedom of Information Act.

Municipal Government

• follow any downloading of services from the province to municipalities with the appropriate amount of funding.
• extend greater autonomy and better planning tools to local governments to reduce pressure on property taxes.
• ensure that crown corporations are subject to local zoning and land-use by-laws.

Property Rights

• entrench individual property rights within an Alberta Bill of Rights.

Human Rights

• strike section 3 of the Human Rights and Multiculturalism Act.

Referenda

• institute legislation allowing the citizens of Alberta to call for a binding referendum on a matter of significant public concern upon the presentation of a petition signed by at least 10% of the total voters of the last Provincial election in Alberta.
• only use Section 33 (the Notwithstanding Clause) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the consent of the Alberta people in a referendum.

ECONOMY

Agriculture

• support the elimination of all indirect taxes and tariffs on farm inputs and the reduction of provincially controlled input costs.
• support marketing programs for Alberta agricultural products, nationally and internationally.
• support research and education into enhancing agricultural productivity and value added production for agriculture.
• oppose international agriculture subsides.
• develop an effective and financially viable long-term agriculture safety-net program.
• encourage private sector value added opportunities for Alberta’s agriculture sector.
• support Alberta producer market choice to sell grain independent of the Canadian Wheat Board or to sell through the Canadian Wheat Board voluntarily.
• take on the responsibility to negotiate commercially competitive access to international markets with respect to beef marketing.
• base government regulations of the beef industry on appropriate management of real risks and an accurate analysis of the costs and benefits of these regulations.
• leave investment in business and the development of beef marketing as the responsibility of the industry, not government and must be based on market signals rather than government programs.
• will allow government support for the beef industry to come from national programs that minimize the risk of adverse impacts on international and interprovincial trade, and do not distort free market behavior.

Budget

• institute a zero based budgeting program in all government departments. The program will require justification of all new funds spent each year.
• pass legislation that ensures all provincial finances are fully, accurately and honestly reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
• support the Auditor General's Office to help identify and prevent wasteful spending in order to ensure value for money.
• use budget surpluses to pay debts owed by the Alberta Government first and secondarily deposits to the Heritage Fund.
• limit growth in program spending to the rate of inflation and population growth of Alberta.

Energy

• support a stable and price sensitive approach to energy production.
• ensure an internationally competitive fiscal regime that attracts investment capital and makes reinvestment attractive.
• support education and research into energy-efficient homes, businesses and government offices.
• require building and land use-planning codes to have high-energy conservation standards.
• recognize the importance of the energy sector to the province and strive to reduce the cost of doing business.
• support the diversification of Alberta’s energy supply.
• support the development of value added facilities through tax incentives.

Financial Responsibility

• cut red tape and the regulatory burden by 1/3 from 2009 levels.
• work to eliminate the duplication of government authorities and services.
• institute complete financial disclosure of all provincial finances including the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, Crown corporations and government investments. The disclosures will be made in the Legislature with a complete accounting available to Alberta citizens.
• establish a “Waste Buster” website to help report and stamp out government waste.
• grant the Provincial Auditor full access to all Government funded companies, Crown corporations and subsidiaries of Crown corporations.
• have open tendering on government contracts that allow fair competition for businesses and to provide
  better value to taxpayers.
• make sure the role of government is not to own and operate businesses when a competitive business
  market exists.

Forestry

• permit only ecologically sound and economically sustainable forestry management methods.
• invest in research to promote good forest stewardship.
• encourage other value-added uses of Alberta’s forestry resources.

Heritage Fund

• institute a policy of providing from the Heritage Savings Trust Fund when anticipated or prior annual Real Gross Domestic Product growth of Alberta is less than 2%.
• institute a policy of depositing a set percentage of government natural resource income each year into the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund.

Labour

• allow individual workers the choice to determine their membership in labour organizations.
• allow competition to the Workers Compensation Board.
• extend to workers the democratic right to a secret ballot vote on labour organization certification under the Labour Code and ensure that the same rule apply for de-certification as for certification.
• restore education as an essential service under the Labour Code ensuring that no child’s right to an education is denied by school strikes or lockouts.

Pension Plan

• withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan and create an Alberta Pension Plan. The Alberta plan will offer at minimum the same benefits while giving Albertans control over the investment fund.

Taxation

• oppose unfair and industry specific taxation from the federal government.
• fight for Alberta’s deserved share of federal tax dollars through a more equitable distribution of federal transfer payments and contracts.
• establish a per child income tax deduction for parents or guardians.
• collect the Alberta personal income tax.
• increase the basic personal exemption to benefit the lowest income earners.
• provide greater tax deductions for charitable contributions.

Tourism

• encourage tourism as a major growth area of the Alberta economy.
• will stimulate tourism with international marketing in cooperation with tourism operators.

Transportation

• develop new transportation corridors to relieve the pressure on current routes.
• develop a comprehensive transportation strategy that recognizes the interdependence of Alberta’s economy with its neighbours.

EDUCATION

Courses

• ensure that the arts, music and physical education curriculums are fully funded and encourage entrepreneurial courses in Alberta’s public schools.
• enhance online educational initiatives for students.

Education Standards

• set high standards for education. These measured standards will include academic testing, teacher quality, and high school graduation rates including public reporting.
• eliminate the policy of social promotion in Alberta’s schools. Students will be expected to meet standards in order to be promoted to the next grade.
• institute methods to hold educators accountable for performance.

Post-Secondary Education

• give priority for admission and funding to Alberta students to post-secondary institutions.
• work with employers, post-secondary institutions and the Alberta Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission to increase training and apprenticeships in the trades and technical sectors.
• strengthen the network of colleges, institutes and on-line learning opportunities throughout the
  province.
• increase research and development funding for colleges, universities and institutes and encourage
  private sector partnerships.
• reduce student loans by 10% per year to students in the educational and health care sectors attending accredited schools of education provided they work in underserved communities.

School Choice

• support “School Choice” Legislation.
• institute a student based funding system for financing education which will allow funding via Alberta Opportunity Scholarships to follow the student to the accredited education facility of parental choice.
• mandate that Alberta Opportunity Scholarships include all funding for student education for instruction, support and capital.

School Safety

• invest in school safety to ensure a safe secure leaning environment for students.
• establish a school violence and crime electronic data reporting system.
• work to reduce absenteeism and truancy.

ENVIRONMENT

Clean Water

• encourage conservation of water taken from lakes or rivers for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes.
• impose strict regulations on effluent producing industries.
• Develop and implement an on and off-stream fresh water storage plan.

Conservation

• recognize the value of parks to society and protect these areas from intrusive activities.
• require governments to meet responsible environmental standards in their procurement, recycling and construction operations.
• conserve Alberta’s environment and monitor environmental impacts with enforcement provisions while balancing economic development opportunities in the province’s future.

Energy

• invest in research for clean coal technology and provide tax incentives for capital investment.

Protection

• establish an environmental ombudsman for Alberta.
• require Ecological Impact Reports for all large projects. Projects in sensitive areas that use unproven technologies, or generate significant public concern will be a priority.

HEALTH CARE

Care of Patients

• enforce the five basic principles of the Canada Health Act which are: Public Administration,
  Comprehensiveness, Universality, Portability and Accessibility.
• provide coverage for authorized out of province medical treatment that is unavailable in Alberta.
• ensure the care of persons with a disability to ongoing access of medical benefits.
• develop a Medical Machinery and Equipment Plan that ensures existing medical diagnostic and care equipment is adequately staffed, fully utilized and properly maintained and that provides for future investments in new equipment and technology.
• establish and fund a fully independent Health Ombudsman in Alberta.
• fully fund and implement a mental health initiative.
• focus funding on patient care and reduce wasteful spending in the system.
• provide expanded home care and palliative care services to assist chronically and terminally ill patients with supportive home environments as an option to institutional care.

Delivery

• performance measures that are annually audited and publicly reported.
• build a unified, universal and cost-effective health services information network that will improve care and reduce long-term costs.
• give all citizens better access to their medical records and treatment histories.
• institute a Health Management System that rewards cost effective cost-saving administration by providing incentives to doctors, nurses and health care professionals.
• encourage and support innovations in the delivery of health care.
• alleviate pressure on emergency room services by expanding the funding for and the number of multi­disciplinary 24-hour-a-day community based health care centres.
• work with non-profit societies to develop an Intermediate and Long-Term Care Facilities Plan which will address the needs of our aging population including increasing capacity.
• establish a rural and remote health initiative to ensure Albertans get the care they need.
• implement legislation protecting the “conscience rights” of healthcare professionals.

Funding

• provide health care funding that will follow the service to the health care provider and approved facility of choice.
• increase funding for home care, supported housing, assisted living, long-term care facilities and palliative care hospices to provide less expensive and more patient-friendly alternatives to hospital care.
• reduce transportation and lodging costs for rural patients who receive treatment that is not locally available by developing a rural medical travel assistance program.
• ensure that patients living at home in palliative or long term care are entitled to the same pharmaceutical benefits they would have received as in a hospital.
• deliver an annual individual statement of benefits to each resident of Alberta.

Training

• expand training and post-secondary programs to graduate more Health Care professionals.
• develop and implement a retention and recruitment plan in full consultation with health care service providers.

Wellness

• institute a preventative health care and wellness program.
• increase funding for physical fitness and amateur sports.
• enhance efforts and funding to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and addiction.

JUSTICE

Courts

• institute a program where all sentences given in provincial court will be subject to a truth in sentencing provision..
• support the right of compensation from convicted persons to the victims of their crimes.
• introduce initiatives for Maintenance Enforcement to bring about improved compliance with maintenance and visitation orders.
• support legally enforceable arbitration between all parties in a legal dispute to settle non-criminal actions.
• all Albertans have access to legal representation and justice.

Policing

• expand the role of sheriffs to handle Provincial justice issues.
• ensure sufficient funding for municipal policing to allow for effective policing and protection of Alberta people.
• require young offenders to participate in crime prevention courses and other measures.

System Confidence

• work to ensure that the rights of crime victims take precedence over those found guilty of committing crimes.

SOCIAL

Equality

• recognize that all Albertans have equal rights, privileges and responsibilities.

Arts and Culture

• encourage and support through funding community projects and school programs for arts and cultural activities as an essential enrichment of life and integral part of Alberta's communities and cultural diversity.

Families

• implement educational activities to help the abused overcome the effects of abuse and to stop further abuse from abusers. Access to therapy will be provided where required.
• work with foster parents to help them improve the care and placements of foster children.
• enhance and increase the training, resources and authority of social service providers to properly protect children at risk and improve services to families.
• earmark a significant portion of the revenues generated from gambling for the rehabilitation of
  gambling addicts and for educational programs aimed at reducing gambling.
• collaborate with non-profit societies and commit funding for emergency residences for victims of
  violence.
• ensure people fleeing violent situations are provided with sufficient time and support including
  increased stays in transition houses as necessary.

First Nations

• create a permanent First Nations Forum to provide aboriginal citizens living on and off reserves direct communication with government about their priorities and ideas to materially improve their quality of life.
• devote special attention and resources to addressing the challenges and needs of aboriginal women and youth.

Responsibility

• support social responsibility within the framework of a free enterprise economic system and promote compassionate service, volunteerism, individual responsibility and care for those unable to care for themselves.

Social Assistance

• implement a timely and effective Social Assistance to work program.

Cruise lines cutting two more Alaska cruise ships

Vancouver's convenient little sideline business as "that place you stop at on the way to an Alaskan cruise" is going to be losing significant volume in the near future.

Holland America and Princess Cruises announced yesterday that each of them will be deploying one ship from Alaska to Europe for 2011. This in addition to cuts that four other cruise lines had already announced, resulting in a total annual reduction of close to 170,000 cruise visitors to the state by the time all is said and done.

An article in the Anchorage Daily News states that the cruise lines are blaming the cuts on new Alaskan taxes voted in in 2006. Whereas Alaskan tourism sources are skeptical, saying that passengers have been ok with paying the taxes and perhaps the cruise lines aren't being totally up front with their explanations.

Regardless, this situation is going to have repercussions for Vancouver. As in: when a substantial amount of your tourism is based on being "someplace on the way to another place", you really have minimal control over that part of your industry.

Over the past 35 years, B.C. has been one of the world leaders in terms of marketing its natural attributes to the worldwide tourism industry. However, we can be reasonably sure that much of the world has now caught up to B.C. in that regard and, in some cases, passed it.

Time now to create some new attributes.

What is going on with freedom of speech in Canada?

Recently I was interested to read an item questioning the quality of free speech in America in the People's Daily Online English edition from China.

The article is written by Rong Xiaoqing, a Chinese journalist based in New York, and reflects upon the fact that there are surprising limits to free speech in America, although U.S. journalists enjoy relatively strong freedom of speech rights, in comparison even to other other western countries, let alone China.

The author explains how people in a multitude of corporate and government situations are routinely muzzled and prevented from speaking to the press even on subjects unrelated to their jobs.

For example, he says: "In New York the 130,000 teachers in the public schools are not allowed to talk to reporters before getting approval from the Department of Education."

None of this comes as a surprise to Canadians. In fact most of us could come up with numerous examples of similar restrictions in our country. This may or may not be entirely acceptable in theory, or in law. In practice, a lot of people just tend to avoid rocking the boat when the rewards for doing so are doubtful and the potential consequences can be severe. They can also be insidious, lingering, cloaked or unexpected.

"Discretion is the better part of valor" - is not a clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Yes, "discretion is the better part of valor" is often a smart way to conduct oneself.

But, this folk saying does not describe the law of the land, nor is it a clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A few things have got me pretty worried

1. I heard that Vancouver passed a by-law that you are not allowed to protest the Olympics. (or anything at all? or even put up a sign?)

2. I heard that Alberta is or was contemplating censorship of films critical of the Tar Sands.

3. I heard that the Stephen Harper government has abruptly canceled funding for Kairos, a Canadian human-rights organization, purportedly because its work doesn't meet current priorities of the Canadian International Development Organization. However many are speculating that Kairos' stand on certain issues such as Copenhagen and the Tar Sands is what got them into trouble.

4. I heard that the City of Montreal canceled a work of public art on Ile des Soeurs that had gone through a rigorous selection process and was already nearly completed, just because there was some vocal opposition (since when did irrational pretensions become valid qualifications for Joe citizen to influence public art space?) and supposed safety concerns. (apparently this artwork, entitled "Milieu Humide" or Wetlands is now on a reprieve, pending a study that will assess its safety)

"Milieu Humide"

5. I also saw an extremely worrisome report that indicated the Conservative government will be evaluating the political stance of all types of groups before doling out funding.

6. Local newspapers and many other sources of news are dying out. This is going to come to a head in the near future and it is democracy that stands to pay the price. School boards and various councils across the country are already operating without the presence of journalists. Sooner or later these politicians will feel the need to exclude journalists altogether.

All of these situations are worrisome. The Olympics issues are still playing out in Vancouver under quite a bit of exposure. In Alberta, a sizable chunk of the population spends so much time watching Faux News that they are still oblivious to the Tar Sands facts in front of their noses. Science funding tied to outcomes that the Reform Conservative government is interested in is becoming a major issue in Canada. And so forth.

My sense is there is a dangerous proliferation of attempts to unduly control what we think, say and do. Please be aware and do something about it if you can. Sometimes valor is the better part of discretion.

A Canadian vision for northern eco cities, wilderness education & sustainable technologies

The lack of Canadian action on the ecological front has been surprising. Behind the leadership of Stephen Harper, our government is charging headlong backwards into the coal age. Scattered initiatives are chipping away at our carbon footprint, with a project here and there but so far nothing has occurred to inspire Canadians with a hope that we will be leaders of a planet with a sustainable future. Meanwhile, the haunting shadow of the tar sands looms in the background, giving us all reason to worry just a little about the consequences of our lifestyles and our climate apathy.

Canada does have an admirable legacy of environmental action, notably nurturing such global forces as Greenpeace and Dr. David Suzuki. Most provinces are dabbling in alternative energy initiatives, but Canada is far from a leader in any of these areas. The one thing we do have is a certain level of awareness from coast to coast that is accentuated by the fact that one is always close to nature wherever you are in Canada. But the fact remains there are few, if any, landmark projects that would be capable of capturing the public's imagination.

Reflecting on this over the past few years, the one concept that keeps returning to mind is the idea of constructing a northern eco city. This is exactly the type of thing that could consolidate a Canadian vision of a sustainable future.

The project would consist of the construction of a complete city in the middle of an untracked wilderness, probably nearly untouched by humans at present. The idea from the outset would be to minimize any incremental effects of the human presence on the environment. The city would definitely include a university and technical schools. Power and heating would be by wind and geo-thermal. There would be accommodation for all sorts of experimental projects in agriculture, in urban development, design, communications, etc.

This project makes more sense the more one considers it. Firstly, at some point in time Canadians need to acknowledge that we are occupying 6.7% of the world's land mass, but only account for .5% of the population. As the population of the world expands, there will come a time when Canada's empty spaces will become coveted as living space for people living in impossibly crowded conditions elsewhere. Secondly, if we look at settlement patterns over previous centuries, it is obvious that most cities and populated areas have evolved near fertile agricultural zones. Already today, it can be assumed there is little or no particular need for a city to be located near fertile farmland. What has happened is that cities have just continued to spread out from their historical locations. So, with these two facts in mind, it makes a lot of sense to begin to explore the capacity of Canada's north to house population in a sustainable and successful way.

It so happens that the entire planet is just at the beginning of a transformation to green energy sources, so this whole idea can dovetail neatly with a northern eco city project. Overall, Canada could hope to realize a wealth of knowledge and expertise from this type of a project. On top of that, it could be expected to be a big tourist attraction and something that could inspire Canadians' passions and dreams from coast to coast.

As there is no such thing on the drawing boards at present, the assumption can be made that this is a project that needs to be kindled from the ground up. We are going to try to get it started with some art initiatives.

Could artists leverage Montreal conference centre's ambitions?

The new head hombre of Montreal's Palais des Congres wants to double the number of events held there over the next five years and increase the economic impact of its conferences and conventions for the Montreal area to $300 million per year.

According to an article in French in today's La Presse, the new President and CEO, Marc Tremblay, intends to attract major international events to Montreal by getting to know everything there is to know about the 6,500 congresses that exist on the face of the earth and by "making them offers they can't refuse." It looks to me like M. Tremblay is well on his way to a great start. It also looks to me like he and Canadian artists could be of much assistance to one another.


The Palais des Congres de Montreal with sculpture by Jean-Paul Riopelle, "La Joute" (The Joust") in the foreground.

Presently, the Palais des Congres already ranks first in Canada and third in North America in terms of number of international events held.

Tremblay expects to grow this, for one thing, by exploiting a specialization for Montreal in the the environmental and sustainable energy fields. Beginning with the world summit on climate change in 2005 Montreal has been establishing itself as a presence in this area. The 21st World Energy Congress will be held here in 2010, and the Eco City conference is slated for 2011.

Tremblay pitches the Palais as a super eco-friendly facility, in walking distance to thousands of hotel rooms, with direct access to Montreal's groundbreaking "Bixi" bike-borrowing service, and with a Metro station in the complex.

This all sounds great and good. And it looks like Tremblay is off to a high energy start, just a few weeks into his mandate.

I think that the Palais team has always had an adequate appreciation of the importance of art for a city in its efforts to maintain a really powerful international profile among conference planners and decision makers. Regardless, when we see that a Times U.K. online survey with 1.4 million responses fails to name Jean-Paul Riopelle among the top 200 artists of the 20th/21st Centuries, or any more than a mere one Canadian (Jeff Wall), then we can be sure that we are up against a little problem. Whereas, if we would find 5-10 Canadian artists in this list of 200 noted artists of our times, which would be normal to expect, then I think it would only stand to reason that the cultural influence of Canada and Montreal on attracting worldwide congresses would be that much stronger.

It could also be expected that all Canadian artists could benefit from corresponding raised profiles and international status in general, leading in turn to greater recognition for Canada as a cultural center to be reckoned with.

So, how can the Palais des Congres help Canadian artists? I acknowledge it will not be a simple job to increase the standing of Canadian artists in the international milieu and anything that a conference centre could possibly do would be of relatively small impact. Competition in the world of art, and amongst the cultural forces of countries, is fierce, just as it is in the business of conferences. So every little bit of help is needed and I see this as an issue of 'you scratch my back I scratch yours'.

And, it would certainly seem to be in the interest of the Palais des Congres and Marc Tremblay to include promotion of Canadian art as an important consideration together with each and every activity the Palais undertakes. So maybe there is some way to facilitate and develop this idea further.

Surprise, surprise - Canada's artists completely ignored in Times ratings

Not exactly the most up-to-date report in the world of art news, as this came out back in June. Worth mentioning though due to its pertinence for the subject of this blog. Again, a very depressing (if predictable) result for Canadian art. At the same time, maybe it will be useful in some small way for inciting our art establishment to some kind of more effective action than the status quo has been.

The results of the Times Top 200 Artists of the 20th Century to Now survey were announced June 8, 2009. The Times Online poll was taken in conjunction with Saatchi Online and all artists received over 1.4 million votes.

Riopelle doesn't even make the list

In this entire list of 200 artists, there is only one Canadian to my knowledge - that is Jeff Wall, in 116th place. No Riopelle, no Carr, no Jackson, and none of the ~below~. Admittedly, I'm not sure what the methodology of this survey was. There must have been a list that you could pick from - so how many Canadians were on that, I do not know. Anyway, the end result is yet another slap in the face for Canadian art.

The very existence of this list now goes on to further perpetuate the fallacy that Canadian art has no place on the world stage. The work of all Canadian artists is devalued and the way ahead for future artists wishing to climb the rungs of recognition is made that much more difficult.

St. Lambert Masonic Temple to finally become a cultural centre

Interesting news from St. Lambert in October that the old Masonic Temple is finally going to be renovated.


Carte postale International Fine Art., Collection Michel Pratt, from the south shore history site, marigot.ca.

According to an article by Arpon Basu in a local paper not available online, the announcement, at the final meeting of the previous St. Lambert Town Council, came as a surprise to council observers. This after years of indecision on the project, which could serve as a 'Dummies' guide on how to take a situation with great potential and achieve nothing.

My interest in this project is due to the fact that the former (and now future) Masonic Temple, which was originally built as the St. Barnabas Anglican Church, has been envisioned as a cultural centre for a number of years now. We actually toured the building ourselves with a real estate agent retained by the Masons many years ago.

This kind of a project, located in such an historic and attractive building in a key strategic location in the middle of the St. Lambert village, could have been (and still could be) a godsend for artists and cultural groups from St. Lambert and all over the Montreal region, Quebec and Canada. Under the new agreement, the building will be re-acquired from the city by the Freemasons, renovated by them to the tune of at least $500,000 and leased to the City of St. Lambert for $50,000 a year. The building will be used again as a Freemason lodge, however the city will have full access to the premises on a reported 24/7 basis.

Why did this not happen 15 years ago or longer, when the Freemasons first started looking into trying to sell the building? Who knows, exactly? Anyway, the city finally did acquire the building around 10 years ago and there were plans worked up to convert the whole thing to a cultural centre at great expense. Certain funding opportunities were apparently at hand, according to a conversation I had a few years ago with former St. Lambert city councilor Marc-Andre Croteau. However, among other things, the Parti Quebecois' city merger program got in the way.

Parti Quebecois forced merger with Longueuil killed this project

St. Lambert was forcibly merged with the City of Longueuil and everything fell apart completely. Finally, the de-merger went through, and another few years later, we finally get a deal done.

Meanwhile, all the artists and performers are 15 years older and the building still hasn't changed a bit, excepting a couple of measures against the weather, and a portion that was condemned and demolished.

Children have grown up without access to this potentially wonderful facility. Somewhere there is a junior accountant or salesperson who might have been inspired to become the next Guy Laliberte. Somewhere there is a failed artist, making ends meet by housekeeping or raking lawns, who just needed that one opportunity for exposure that the Masonic Temple project might have offered them over the past 15 years. Somewhere there is a world-class artist who might have moved right into St. Lambert and inspired one and all with their virtuosity, if only there had been such a wonderful facility here.

Somewhere, there is a phantom catalog, of all the exhibitions and concerts, plays and presentations, that might have been.



T.O.S.H., Qualicum Beach, B.C. - community owned multipurpose arts centre.

Here is a somewhat similar project, of which many variations exist in Canada, to give you idea of what might have been and what could still be. It is The Old School House, in Qualicum Beach, B.C.

Ruins in Process: Vancouver Art in the '60s

I was thrilled to come across this review of Vancouver art in the 60s, entitled Ruins in Process.

This is a great example of the type of work that needs to be done to further the prospects of Canadian art internationally.

By exploring the work of these Canadian artists more deeply, and getting more a an understanding of how these peoples' work affected the work of subsequent generations, we are able to enrich the Canadian art milieu as a whole.

It is not so much a matter of nationalism - it is more that the art world is broken down by country to a large extent and that the artists of each country do stand on the shoulders of their compatriot artists of the past.

OECD Says Traffic Congestion Costing Toronto - But What Are They Measuring?

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development thinks Toronto can speed up its productivity by putting tolls on its roads.

The 213-page OECD report on the region's economy was released Monday during a global cities forum at the Toronto convention centre.

The report shows that Toronto ranks well down the list in terms of city productivity growth between 1995 and 2005 and that Vancouver and Montreal are similarly low placed.

The OECD outlines four main policy issues and, arising from these, makes five main recommendations in the report:

• Boost innovation, by focusing on niches, university-firms linkages and cluster development and by phasing out subsidies
• Addressing obstacles to the acknowledgment of foreign skills, for example by bridging education programs and internships
• Tackle transportation challenges by creating incentives for reducing car use, access to additional revenue sources, longer term funding commitments by federal government for investment
• Apply a green overlay to the Toronto region’s competitiveness agenda
• Intensify strategic planning at the level of the Toronto region

It should be noted that, of the 32 cities included on the productivity growth chart, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver make up three of the bottom nine cities. Given that none of these three cities appear to be doing all that badly, in relation to many of the higher-ranked cities, such as Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, etc., I have to wonder just how valid this whole exercise is.

Could it be that this survey is giving higher ratings to cities that had bigger 2005 bubbles and whose economies have actually now collapsed to a far greater degree than Toronto, Motnreal and Vancouver? Qutie possibly. Indeed, I don't even know how important "productivity growth" from '95-05 really is, considering the magnitude of the recession of '08.

How much of the so-called productivity growth shown is based on overblown bubbles and trickle down from Iraq war spending? Very hard to tell.

It is also noted that the key recommendations make no mention of culture.

At this point I think the OECD needs to get back to the drawing board.

Not that I don't believe traffic congestion is a major problem in Toronto. =) And toll roads, as they suggest, could be a darn good idea.

Toronto Hamilton Pan Am Games & Edmonton Expo 2017 update

OK so this is how our "Major International Events" are shaking out. Hamilton/Toronto wins the Pan-Am Games. To be honest, I don't remember even seeing a report on the Pan-Am Games since I was a kid.

One thing's for sure though, these Pan-Am Games (in 2015) are about to become the biggest thing that ever hit us now that they're in Toronto!

BTW Toronto invested millions into *considering* a bid for the world expo 2015, before finally missing the deadline to confirm intention to bid.

There is still a hopeful section on a Toronto website entitled Major International Events that continues to give the impression Toronto has a bid alive for it.

Then Toronto/Hamilton looked into hosting the 2017 (smaller) Expo in conjunction with Canada's 150th birthday. Also interested were Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, and perhaps others.

When it came time to confirm intentions with Heritage Canada only Edmonton and Calgary announced, Calgary's announcement coming as a surprise. Calgary pulled the plug on its bid a couple of days ago.

* * *

Edmonton's Gigantic Challenge
The Alberta Tar Sands Public Relations Disaster

Edmonton is now the only city in the running to become Canada's official applicant for Expo 2017 and needs to put a proposal in to Canadian Heritage by the end of November.

If done right - it could be a great thing. Expo 67 added $2.5 B to our tourism balance sheet over 1966. Expo 86 added $1.5 Bil over the previous year. There could even be more to it than that, with the 150th birthday tie-in - but Edmonton has a weak underbelly.

Normally, you would understand that Edmonton would have a somewhat tougher time to promote itself than, say, Montreal or Vancouver. But you would start off thinking about stuff like gateway to the north, land of the Klondike, land of the midnight sun and soon your imagination would be rolling and Edmonton could be made to look pretty attractive... and it is, truth be told.

That was then - this is now: The real challenge for Edmonton going forward is going to be the public relations disaster that is the Alberta Tar Sands. Canada was royally skewered in Barcelona this past week over its greenhouse gas emissions policy - and if people in Edmonton think anyone watches Fox News in Europe to get the "pro-tar" "pro-smog" "pro-carbon" propaganda side of things, then maybe I could get you a good deal on some beautiful oil rights in the Ottawa Valley.

If anyone at Canadian Heritage is awake, they may even just pass on ratifying Edmonton's bid. Save them the expense and embarrassment. Although this is unlikely under a Harper government, of course. So, depending on which cities are bidding against Edmonton, we will see what happens. I have a feeling there will be a lot of international resentment towards Alberta - it will be interesting to see how Edmonton plans to overcome this.

X&-cuse me& Can Someone Please Fill in the Wikipedia Page for Iain Baxter& Thank-you&

N. E. Thing eye Candu 4U?

yeah

Fill in the wikipidi Ah entry 4 Iain Baxter& OK.

"This courage business is important because I think we as a people, even more than the Americans, lack it. We are clever, imitative(?), but we seem to wait for someone else to show us the way, then we follow him, instead of carving out a path for ourselves. Just at the moment I can't think of a single creative work that can be credited to a Canadian... in art, architecture, literature, engineering or anything else..."

- David Milne, Palgrave Ont. Jan. 7, 1932

Iain Baxter& has always been an artist who showed the courage to search for his own way ahead and Canadians can learn a lot by following his career.

No need to even mention that, in these days of twentysomething youtubers racking up millions of hits, it might be worth saving a couple of minutes for the achievements of one of early pioneers and practicioners of conceptual art.

Cultural Resplendence: Re-Affirming Art as an Economic Force in Canada

Does art have the power to drive a country's economy? It is becoming more clear that the answer is yes.

For this post I refer back to my post of April 9, 2009, where I discussed the dismal showing of Canadian visual artists in the context of worldwide auction sales.

Checking the top 500 best-selling artists for the past year, I counted only five Canadians and none in the top 100. I also did a rough calculation showing that the Canadians' sales accounted for probably only .1 % of the total auction sales of the top 500.

I also noted that:

France, for example, is the world's #1 tourist destination. It also has +/-7 of the top 20 worldwide artists, in terms of '08 auction sales...

...you cannot deny the obvious - that France's cultural profile is hugely important for its prosperity and vitality as a nation and that its visual artists are a huge part of that profile.

When I wrote that part I was perhaps overly conscious that some people might consider it quite the stretch to attribute France's world leading tourism position with its world leading cultural position.

The correlation seems too strong to simply ignore, yet... the assumption is completely unscientific and could be a total coincidence, in theory.

Now, I find, my position is shared by none other than one of Canada's leading authors, Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi and winner of the Booker Prize for the same book.

Martel is also the writer of the website, What is Stephen Harper Reading?, and the book of the same name, in which Martel sends a book to Stephen Harper every two weeks, along with a letter giving a brief description of the book and random comments. In the section of the site entitled "The story behind this website", Martel describes how he got the idea for the project.

In a nutshell, Martel and 49 other eminent Canadian artists were invited to Ottawa for the 50th anniversary of the Canada Council. Martel and the other artists noticed how few government representatives made time for the event and how disinterested Harper seemed to be.

"We should have been prepared. How many Members of Parliament do you think showed up at a reception the previous day on Parliament Hill meant to be a grand occasion on which the representatives of Canada’s people would meet the representatives of Canada’s artists? By my count, twenty, twenty-five—out of 306—with only one cabinet minister, the one who absolutely had to be there, Bev Oda. There we fifty stood around, for two hours, waiting. Each one of us was a symbol for one year of the Canada Council’s fifty. I, for example, represented 1991, the year I received a Canada Council B grant that allowed me to write my first novel. I was 27 years old and the money was manna from heaven. I made those $18,000 last a year and a half (and compared to the income tax I have paid since then, an exponential return on Canadian taxpayers’ investment, I assure you)," Martel reflects.

"By comparison, the equivalent celebration of a major cultural institution in, say, France would have been a classy, flashy, year-long, exhibition-filled affair, with President Chirac trying to hog as much of the limelight as possible. No need to go into further details. We all know how the Europeans do culture. It’s sexy and important to them. The world visits Europe because it’s so culturally resplendent. Instead, we milled around, drank our drinks and then petered away in small groups."

This is what really caught my eye:

The world visits Europe because it’s so culturally resplendent.

Culturally resplendent.

That's one thing that Canada is not. It could be. But it's not.

Indeed, in Conservative circles, I imagine the words "culturally resplendent" would be considered profanities!

This is something we will have to get over. This is something for us to shoot for... cultural resplendence.

Canada's endless coastline - what are the benefits?

According to Natural Resources Canada, Canada has 243,042 km of coastline - way more than any other country in the world. The entry goes on to explain that "coastline" is in fact a lower number than "shoreline", because in some cases the measurement of "coastline" may skip over certain small bays whereas "shoreline" gives the more accurate measurement.

According to Wikipedia, Canada has 202,080 km. of coastline and the country with the next largest amount, Indonesia, has only 54,716 km. Anyway, regardless of who or how it is measured, clearly Canada is way ahead on this resource.

This may be the one natural resource that we have in the most abundance in comparison to the other countries of the world. Canada also has more surface area of water than any other country, and is obviously the second largest country of all.

The reason Canada's coastline is so long is first of all because of the large number of islands in the far north as well as the fact that we border on three oceans, not to mention the vast coastline of Hudson Bay.

Anyway, ever since I became aware of this strange phenomenon, I have been thinking that it would be interesting if someone would figure out how we could take advantage of this asset. I must admit I have thought about it a little and haven't come up with anything.

It would stand to reason that we could run a lot of tidal power stations - although a lot of the coastline is frozen over for a large part of the year. Offshore wind generators would be another thing. Maybe fish farms? These are the obvious suggestions. What about innovations?

Another related characteristic: The huge amount of salt water contained within the borders of Canada. Canada's internal marine waters are vastly larger than any other country's.

This needs to be further considered.

Sr. GOP strategist says religion will sink Republican Party

Winds of change blowing in the Republican camp.

Steve Schmidt, John McCain's campaign manager for the run at the presidency, made these remarks at the Log Cabin Republican's national convention a couple of days ago.

"If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party," Schmidt said. "And in a free country, a political party cannot be viable in the long term if it is seen as a sectarian party."

He builds a case for a more open Republican Party, beginning with acceptance of gay marriage.

"If you reject [gay marriage] on religious grounds, I respect that," he said. "I respect anyone's religious views. However, religious views should not inform the public policy positions of a political party because... when it is a religious party, many people who would otherwise be members of that party are excluded from it because of a religious belief system that may be different. And the Republican Party ought not to be that. It ought to be a coalition of people under a big tent."

Cool. There's a breath of fresh air.

Don't know what Schmidt's influence will be but clearly he is involved in the conversation as far as mapping out the evolution of GOP policy.

Canada's own religious right, fringe as it is, might also do well to listen up. Despite the fact that they have been "in power," albeit in a minority position, for a few years, our religious right only achieved this because of a perfect storm of Liberal and Progressive Conservative misfortune. Liberal infighting, corruption under Mulroney and Chretien, uninspiring Liberal leadership to replace Chretien, and overflow from the whole massive right-wing brainwashing *campaign going on in the U.S. meant that our rural-Alberta-based "Reform" Party of 19th century ideas was in the right place at the right time.

Now, however, they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't think there is anything they can really do. Canada is becoming more diverse. There are a few political wrinkles that complicate matters for any party wishing to hold power but I don't really see that a party whose mojo is in the religious right has anywhere to go but down at this point in history.

And, time will tell what happens, but I think they have missed their chance.

* who laughably label legitimate news organizations "extreme left" and completely ignore the fact that there is virtually no representation of leftist ideas at all in the U.S. (or Canadian for that matter) media

How to put Canadian Art on the map?

So I looked up the auction sales results for 2008. You can find it on artprice.com or elsewhere.

It has the top 500 artists in terms of worldwide auction sales.

No surprise, the top Canadian is way down the list, in 110th place: Jean-Paul Riopelle had $10 million of sales in 2008 auctions ($12 million in '07)

Next is A.Y. Jackson in 333rd spot with $3.2 million of sales

Then Emily Carr, in 382nd spot at $2.8 million, just ahead of Lauren Harris at $2.7 million (Harris sold $10.5 million in '07).

The last Canadian on the list, the only living artist, Jeff Wall comes in at 487th spot with just over $2 million of sales. A really nice jump into the top 500 after '07 auction sales of $382,000. Who knows I could have missed one or two whom I didn't know were Canadians or just skipped over...

I just want to say that these numbers are a disgrace.

A country with Canada's wealth and creative opportunities should be producing a much larger portion of the world's art, both in terms of dollars and recognition.

Just to put Riopelle's $10 million in perspective, the total of the top 100 is about $4.3 billion... So we see that Canada's total share is probably somewhere below a tenth of 1%!

What's worse is that, to a larger extent than many are aware, I believe the art of a country is related to the international public image of the country, not to mention its psyche and self-image.

This affects prosperity, lifestyle and future prospects in many other ways. Tourism, academics, investment, architecture, quality of life, advertising, creative endeavor of all types are all affected by a country's international profile in terms of art.

France, for example, is the world's #1 tourist destination. It also has +/-7 of the top 20 worldwide artists, in terms of '08 auction sales, depending how you count Chagall whatever...

Obviously there are countless reasons for France to be the #1 tourist destination on the planet ~ many of these, such as a location in the middle of the Europe, have nothing to do with art.

However, you cannot deny the obvious - that France's cultural profile is hugely important for its prosperity and vitality as a nation and that its visual artists are a huge part of that profile.

Canada, fortunately (and thanks in no small part to Canadian content laws), has been blessed with a disproportionately strong profile in music, so that saves us from being a total cultural wasteland.

The reasons for our pathetic placing in visual art are numerous. I couldn't even guess half of them. One reason is probably simply the same reason that our banks are about the safest in the world - we are all about safe, secure, boring and blue chip!

Probably another of the most important reasons is the aggressive defense of the top market positions by those who hold these spots. As if France or Germany or the U.S, etc.,. are the least bit interested in giving up their powerful positions - so they defend from a position of strength!

Another reason, probably the nature of our country. The large distances, small, spread out populations and two languages have worked against the development of a super-fertile source with a critical mass of creative energy. Toronto and Montreal ignore, if not actively disparage, each other. That kind of sets the trend for all the other cities... regional jealousies, etc., blah blah blah... all the way down to the gallery level.

Which, by and large, are also infected with the same diseases... regional biases, laughable pretensions, Asian reproductions, eBay, etc. fighting a losing battle to capture the interest of a conservative, skeptical buying public who see little of interest to them in the Canadian art landscape beyond, you said it, Robert Bateman!

All the well intended and costly (however tiny) efforts of the Canada Council, the National Gallery, provincial initiatives, etc., seem to go for naught...

Beyond that, you have the Canadian artists' individual and collective modesty. They are the antithesis of promoters!

sigh...

what to do... what to do... ?

Call for Papers for a New Economic Theory

At first, I thought that the whole recession/depression was just cooked up for someone's benefit.

Either the Bush/Cheney cabal or some other power brokers who are going to reap a lot of benefit out of everyone's suffering.

This "benefit" might come in the way of simple profits ~ or, more likely, in the way of new, arbitrary measures that would have the effect of putting more controls on people, keeping power in the hands of the already-powerful and rich, forcing people into accepting identity chip implants in order to get on welfare, get a job, etc., - any of that scary stuff...

Now, I'm beginning to wonder. The problems seem to be too widespread for it to be an organized depression, although I wouldn't rule it out yet...

But I am wondering if the economy has simply outpaced our ability to understand it.

The obvious examples being just the complete failure of anyone in a position of sufficient influence to predict or prevent the meltdown, even though it is of such an enormous and widespread nature.

Immediately before the bottom fell out of everything, we had so-called experts at the highest levels of government and the financial establishments, both in Canada and the U.S., declaring that everything was fine.

We had a November (+/- two months post-meltdown) financial report from the Harper gov't, prepared by supposedly smart, well-educated and experienced folks - that was total garbage - not worth lining a hamster cage with.

Now the new budget dares to include long range projections! Who do they think they're kidding??? They don't have an f-ing Clue!!

The Art White North Theory

The reality is that at this point in history it is possible for all of the work needed for a society's survival to be done by a very small portion of the people. i.e. - maybe 10% of the population could conceivably do all the work that needs to be done for survival. That is - grow the food, build and heat the shelters. Facilitate ample transportation, education and health care to service a modest existence.

There simply is not useful or necessary work for most of the people in the modern world.

More and more people are employed in recreational activities, fashion-driven industries contributing no intrinsic value to anyone, or the greed industry, in which bankers and insurance cos. chase their accountants around trying to figure out new ways of leeching off the rest of society... again, without contributing anything whatsoever... In fact, it seems like the American banking industry has only succeeded in going broke after robbing Americans blind for years...

Of course it is unfair and inaccurate to generalize in these statements... the point is, I think we may have reached a point where a new economy needs to be acknowledged. Some kind of a new value system that would differentiate between different currencies.

i.e. Alex Rodriguez is now proven to have fraudulently earned his first $120 million contract. Just this simple sentence is proof that our entire system needs to be re-constructed. It is bogus. It is full of crap. It makes no sense. It is full of cheaters like Madoff, scams like Enron and Bre-X, houses of cards like Nortel. Scumbags everywhere.

Maybe we have to look at supply and demand. Maybe we have to look at the principles of the market. Maybe we have to look at the compatibility of a commodity market conceived hundreds of years ago in the information age.

I think it is time for a new Adam Smith.

Artsy Fartsy News: Sculpture that farts visits Montreal

Cloaca No. 5, a sculpture that farts and poops, by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, opened Friday in Montreal at the Universite du Quebec's art gallery. The installation, containing a series of tubes, vats, elctronic and structural parts, resembles a mini brewery more than anything.

According to this story on CBC, the sculpture is on exhibit courtesy of a $30,000 travel grant from the Canada Council.

This seems to be yet another chapter in the ongoing story of how the only way to get the art into the news in Canada is to do something controversial.

Better Place Strikes Deal with Ontario

An electric vehicle infrastructure venture company, Better Place, will be setting up a head office for Canada in Ontario.

Ontario, the largest vehicle producing state or province in North America, will in turn conduct a comprehensive study, which will look at:

* ways to speed up the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles
* possibility of preferred access to roadways for electric vehicles
* giving incentives for purchasing electric vehicles (evs)
* enabling accelerated government fleet conversion to evs
* providing public education on the topic

The study is scheduled for release in May 2009. At the same time, Better Place (BP) will be developing an electric car charging network plan and timeline.

Better Place's business model calls for something similar to the cell phone model.

i.e. - instead of just plugging in to any outlet whenever you want, you not only have to use BP's exclusive outlets, you will also have to pay a monthly bill. Anyone who gets a monthly phone bill is already familiar with the creative bogus add-ons and line items that this implies...

“With today’s announcement, Ontario is taking a system-wide approach to retooling its economy for growth and environmental leadership,” said Shai Agassi, BP's founder and CEO. “Our partnership will move Ontario toward a new era in personal transportation – from the current Car 1.0 model centered on the internal combustion engine to a Car 2.0 model of electric cars powered by renewable energy. This announcement is the all-important first step in an expected electric car charging network rollout for Canada, and we look forward to working in partnership with the Ontario government on it.”

How much room is there for different electric car charging projects in Canada?

To what extent does this announcement imply potential monopoly down the road?

How will this project impact other EV projects in the works?

Will there still be a possibility of other electric cars that you can simply plug into the grid anywhere?

BP justifies using an exclusive green electricity provider (Bullfrog Power) because grid electric power would hardly be any greener than gasoline in Ontario. OK but what about other provinces where electricity is already emission free? How does this fit with an "electric car charging network rollout for Canada"?

Good questions - let's get them answered before this new concept rolls out of the showroom...

In any event, kudos to Ontario for doing something!

The role of the artist as an individual who is actively seeking solutions to improve our world

Alan Sonfist nails it in this interview by John Grande with the RSA Arts & Ecology Magazine. The artist needs to actively seek solutions to improve the world. Yep it seems that society needs artists more than ever before - and it's about time the artists realized it!

John Grande:
So you would recommend as a strategy for young land and earth artists involved in the public sphere, to try venues outside the art world, natural history museums, botanical gardens and so on and so forth?

Alan Sonfist:
All my art involves a clear understanding of environmental issues and their unique relationship with the local community. Within the 21st century we have to redefine the role of the artist as an individual who is actively seeking solutions to improve our world.

$23,000: Average artist earnings in Canada

There is a nice series in the Toronto Star by Bruce Demara that explores the economic situation of artists in Canada. Some of the statistics quoted are shown below:

Artists' earnings

$23,500: Average yearly earnings nationally – 26 per cent less than the average among other workers.
41: Percentage of artists with a university degree, certificate or diploma, compared to 22 per cent in the overall workforce.
29: Percentage growth in the number of artists between 1991 and 2001, compared to 10 per cent in the overall workforce.
67: Percentage of artists who work at other jobs to survive economically.

Sources: Artists in Large Canadian Cities, 2006, Hill Strategies Research Inc.; The Status of the Artist in Ontario Report

Actors' earnings

Income figures from Sept. 2007 to Sept. 2008 for the 20,000-plus members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists:

54: Percentage of members who reported income from performing, with 46 per cent reporting zero income from performing.
$6,127: Average income for all members.
$11,269: Average income for members with performance income.
$5,850/$4,85: Average earnings for actors aged 21 to 30 (for women and men respectively).

Income figures for the most recent year for the 4,120 live performance and theatre artists in the Canadian Actors' Equity Association:

1,207: Number of members working across Canada in an average week.
$12,226: Average yearly income for all members.
$11,481: Average yearly income for members with less than three years of membership.

Sources: ACTRA, CAEA

This is all fine and good. It can be very difficult to work as an artist full time in Canada. That much we know. Unfortunately, very little is ever done to address the core reason for this problem: that is, that Canadian art is under-valued the world over.

And what is the reason for that? Simple, the "PR / promotion machines" for visual art in many other countries are miles ahead of Canada.

Although it's really nice to see artist interviews in the Toronto Star, this does not even scratch the surface.

Promotion of Canadian art needs to occur at the global level.