3995 rue Berri. Montréal, Québec. H2L 4H / TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE DIGITAL CULTURAL STRATEGY FOR QUÉBEC

Transcription

1 TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE DIGITAL CULTURAL STRATEGY FOR QUÉBEC FEBRUARY 2015

2 The CQAM proposes six possible elements of a digital cultural strategy that aligns with the realities of digital technology: 1. The best way to support digital creation is through mechanisms that directly involve of artists working in the digital arts and the production centres that support them. 2. Support for artistic innovation must allow access to regional interdisciplinary and intersectoral innovation clusters. 3. The notion of copyright in a digital context needs to be redefined using open models of copyright management and innovative modes of remuneration for online content creators. 4. It is vital to support forms of creation that foster the invention and pooling of new knowledge-sharing models. 5. Empower the cultural community to develop its own forms of dissemination, retention and marketing. 6. Be strategic in the allocation of funds for new infrastructure and initiatives. 1

3 The changes brought about by digital technology are profound and crosscutting. These changes affect not just how people seek out, appropriate, consume and appreciate cultural production, but also the formal qualities of artworks themselves, the issues they raise, their target audiences and the strategies for reaching them. If we are to help artists and artistic production support centres the trailblazers and key agents of change in this digital transformation of the cultural landscape develop their own innovative models, a long-range digital culture strategy is key. Such a strategy must strongly support the creation and dissemination of quality digital cultural content as well as efforts to promote and market it, both in Québec and abroad. Funds should be used not only to digitize existing repertoire, but also to create and conserve new works. We can attain this objective by increasing the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec (CALQ) s funding for the sector, and thus stimulating the production and distribution of digital artworks. Support for Québec s artistic creation and its dissemination is paramount in affirming our national identity: it is through our artistic cultural heritage that we define ourselves here and elsewhere. Positioning Québec as a richly innovative nation on the world stage entails providing greater support for artistic practices. Significant cultural mediation is required for the public to take ownership of traditional audiovisual content that is distributed online. Resources must be allocated to educating the public, producing school materials and assembling collections that reflect the work of curators. We also believe that artists must be adequately remunerated for their work. The notion of applying a pay-per-view model to artworks consumed online is unrealistic: doing so would simply hamper circulation. We prefer to envision a context where audiences can experience works freely. For many consumers, access to free content online justifies the cost of a high-speed Internet connection. Accordingly, significant funds could be generated by levying Internet service providers (ISPs) and reinvesting the amounts obtained into CALQ media 2

4 arts programs adjudicated by peer juries. Doing so would increase support for artists at the creation stage as well as stimulating the production of new work. It is essential to diversify content and to develop Québec s culture by increasing the number of works produced and disseminated here and abroad. An effective digital culture strategy must also consider the matter of recurring funding for some of its proposed measures. Investments made on a strictly onetime basis risk having the available capital eaten up by infrastructures that, without the funds needed to retain a skilled workforce, risk being underused. The speed at which digital equipment becomes obsolete should also prompt caution. The digital culture strategy must therefore focus on the long term to avoid the pitfalls of premature obsolescence. Digital tools and practices are inherently interdisciplinary and intersectoral: these approaches must absolutely be fostered. Some milieus find it easier than others to access consultations and decision-making circles. Efforts must be ongoing to ensure a balanced representation of and equal input from all milieus. Artists and arts organizations working in the digital arts must not be excluded. Digital technology categorically transforms traditional business models and favours niche markets to the detriment of mass markets. Initiatives related to marketing, dissemination and artists remuneration must take these changes into account. Lastly, a specificity of digital art is its emphasis on process rather than on specific media. Consequently, digital art takes on hybrid forms that incorporate both material and virtual practices. Digital art is an art of systems where creation is grounded in the relationship between series of instructions computer code rather than the choice of one material over another. Furthermore, given that its experimental nature tends to disrupt disciplinary silos, digital art does not easily fit the monolithic standards of a single platform. Nor does the mere fact of putting audiovisual content online make it a digital work. 3

5 POSSIBLE ELEMENTS OF A DIGITAL CULTURAL STRATEGY 1. The best way to support digital creation is through mechanisms that directly involve of artists working in the digital arts and the production centres that support them. Ensure that digital artists and the associations that represent them sit on the Digital culture strategy s steering committee. Increase Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) funding for the digital arts. 1 This will support a wider variety of art projects and arts production support centres. It is essential to correct the historical lag in funding for digital arts. Increase support for artistic research and creation. This will allow digital culture to flourish by contributing to production that is diverse and distinct from mass entertainment and cultural industry productions. Digital art must favour a radically experimental approach. Help the community evolve by allowing new organizations to emerge. This will maintain diversity in artists proposals and avoid the homogenization endemic to giant distributors. Increase funding for artistic research, the lifeblood of new ideas. To further support creative research is to bolster the foundations of a milieu that is developing at lightning speed. Adequately fund arts community-led distribution initiatives across Québec (Digital Art Biennial / Biennale internationale d art numérique [BIAN], Printemps numérique, Mois Multi, PHOS) 2 to infuse the overall network with a greater number of enriching artistic experiences. 1 Digital arts funding represents 2.2% of the CALQ s overall budget and 0% of the SODEC s 2 The Biennial s envelope, one of the largest on the world stage, represents less than 20% of all visual arts biennales. 4

6 Establish a permanent round table within the CALQ to discuss the artistic, social and cultural issues related to digital tools and practices, involving digital artists and the centres that represent them. 2. Support for artistic innovation must allow access to regional interdisciplinary and intersectoral innovation clusters: Create a dedicated bureau in the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications Québec (MCCQ) to support innovation and artistic/cultural education related to digital issues across Québec. Aim to decentralize cultural practices rather than content. Serve remote, sparsely populated regions using mobile initiatives to support digital content production that can be disseminated in nondematerialized local contexts. Encourage the creation of interdisciplinary/intersectoral research, creation and training centres in each administrative region of Québec and ensure that they have the financial means to accomplish their respective missions. 3. The notion of copyright in a digital context needs to be redefined using open models of copyright management and innovative modes of remuneration for online content creators. Ensure that the legal deposit of works does not obstruct fair remuneration for artists. Initiate a policy for the public dissemination of digital cultural data that 5

7 will make cultural offerings available free of charge for the purposes of arts and cultural education. At the same time, this policy should not obstruct fair remuneration for authors nor hinder recognition of their work. Directly tax the gross revenue of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to set up a fund that will be directly injected into the CALQ, where it will be used to increase artists production and subsistence allowances. Have this capital injection administered by CALQ peer juries. Promote the use of Creative Commons licenses by artists in order to avoid misuse of their work while encouraging free access to the content produced. Increasing creation budgets and subsistence allowances will free artists from any direct dependence on fee mechanisms. 4. It is vital to support forms of creation that foster the invention and pooling of new knowledge-sharing models. Institute a free software and hardware development policy. To ensure access to diverse content, encourage the use of open formats and open platforms. Involve academic research centres, artists and artistic production support centres in promoting the development of free software tools. Increase digital culture awareness among audiences through training and outreach activities. Carried out jointly with artists and the cultural community, such activities would aim to have audiences appropriate digital tools from a standpoint that goes beyond utility and entertainment. 6

8 At the MCCQ, develop a digital arts awareness program for those who work in culture, including journalists, teachers, regional cultural council agents or librarians. Include digital arts in the Québec Culture-Education Resource Repertoire and the MCCQ program La culture à l école. Create CALQ programs for artist residencies in academia and industry. Create CALQ programs that promote links between artists, academic researchers, state corporations and certain industrial partners, within the framework of projects that foster the development of technological tools and their dissemination in the arts. Foster crosscutting intersectoral approaches for initiatives targeting innovation and the sharing of new forms of knowledge. Ensure the ongoing presence of artists and arts organizations working in the digital arts at round tables addressing these aspects of digital production. 5. Empower the cultural community to develop its own forms of dissemination, retention and marketing. Develop new economic models to cover artists remuneration without obstructing the free circulation of works. These models should be based on increasing artists production and subsistence allowances and deploying open licenses that protect artists without limiting access to content. Implement measures to support the development of niche markets that, through specialized distribution channels, make it possible to present artworks to their natural audiences. Promote the deployment of digital artworks that do not fit within 7

9 traditional distribution platforms, for example interventions in urban space or architecture. Ensure that digital artists and arts organizations sit on the steering committees for such initiatives. Ensure that digital arts experts and specialists sit on the ad hoc committees established as part of the implementation of the MCCQ s Politique d intégration des arts à l architecture et à l environnement des bâtiments et des sites gouvernementaux et publics (Art and Architecture Integration policy for government and public buildings). 6. Act strategically in granting subsidies for developing new infrastructures and initiatives. Sustain media arts organizations and artists working in the urban core, allowing them to become co-owners of the production facilities they occupy. Deploy mobile initiatives to introduce the residents of remote regions to different media arts practices; this can be accomplished through training, providing access to artworks and supporting creative production. Encourage collective investment and the pooling of expertise. Avoid investing heavily in over-ambitious projects that tend to homogenize the cultural environment; rather, aim for bulk purchasing and joint investment policies on which there is consensus in the arts community. Develop an equipment acquisition program at the CALQ to allow artists and artistic production support centres to renew their equipment inventory. As part of this program, encourage group purchasing and equipment sharing. 8

10 LEXICON Media arts: discipline formed of independent artistic practices that generally employ information and communication technologies, where research and experimentation is marked by formal innovation and the search for new languages. Independent artist: a creator who wields full control over his/her work through all stages of the research and creation process and receives most of the royalties. Independent artists conduct an exploratory practice with a self-critical approach and are actively involved in the development of their discipline. Digital arts: an array of explorations and artistic practices whose processes and works rely mainly on the digital technologies for creation and dissemination. The digital arts incorporate practices involving the use of communications and information technologies, including computer, electronic, digital, sound, interactive and Web technologies, and also include the audio arts. (Definition from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.) Film arts: a focus on the cinematic and aesthetic discourse expressed through various film or video genres (art film/video, essays, experimental video), using analogue and digital equipment and technologies. 9