I was invited by Mass Culture / Mobilisation culturelle to share my thoughts on their conference. I think this is an organization that should be better known in the French-speaking world, and I encourage you to read my article to find out more about it!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to comment on the digital transformation of the arts sector.

The opinions expressed in this blog are mine alone. They do not reflect the positions of the Independent Media Arts Alliance, Mass Culture or my other affiliations.

I was greatly looking forward to the Positioning a Future Forward conference hosted by Mass Culture. It was the first time in 10 years arts service organizations (ASOs) of all disciplines had the opportunity to meet, connect and work together. After a decade without a formal meeting space, there was of course a lot to cover! In fact, Mass Culture’s program of activities gave us a complete[1]  overview of important issues for the sector. There were many themes, such as Indigenous evaluation, political lobbying, social change and arts research, to name just a few of the topics that were on the agenda at this two-day gathering in Toronto.

The conference was structured as a hybrid event, with a series of virtual conversations held in advance of the in-person meeting. Groups were formed around different topics, or “solution pathways”, a term coined by Mass Culture. I participated in a session called “How might we support artists from getting lost in the digital world?”. Contrary to what the question might suggest, we didn’t talk much about artistic creation. Our focus was more on organizational systems, particularly on developing, maintaining, and collaborating within the sector’s digital infrastructure. With this blog post, I wanted to reflect on some of the ideas that were discussed, including the desire to see a more connected^[1] arts ecosystem.

At the base of this system, there is the data that the arts sector generates, manages and shares. This data is often misunderstood as being an exclusive component of a cultural event’s marketing. Instead, we viewed the data as a common good, one of the building blocks needed to create a synchronized industry in which our information is discoverable and interrelated. Data is a resource, so access to data is a matter of social justice. One of the recurring problems we uncovered related to automated machines, like Google’s search algorithms. How do they use and interpret our data? Too often, these companies are extractive. Large corporations or start-ups can generate significant revenue from cultural data without contributing to the artistic community. Our sector needs to better organize the governance of our information systems so we can re-establish the power dynamic that has taken hold. [2] By extension, the available platforms and those that are up and coming were also part of our thinking. Some technologies are still very new, but we concluded that now is the time to consider their interoperability.

At the heart of our discussions was the issue of digital literacy in the sector. In our constantly evolving world, art managers are ill-equipped to understand or find the time to study the basics needed to undertake digital projects. As a result, much of the funding for digital transformation has gone to consulting firms. The expertise is being developed outside the sector, where it remains. Some cultural workers have been fortunate to learn through recent initiatives (I believe I am one of them), but these learnings are rarely shared equitably with their team or even grasped by their organization. The fact that many digital initiatives are led by isolated individuals and are poorly understood by their leadership is having a negative effect. Without revaluating their strategy to incorporate a digital vision, organizations undertake these projects in an ad hoc manner and do not allocate the necessary resources to develop these ideas over the long term.

This is no surprise, as even the funding structures are poorly adapted to these issues! Perhaps the most obvious example is that the expenses related to maintaining these platforms are often not accounted for. The Canada Council for the Arts itself does not fully embrace a digital philosophy. Its Digital Strategy Fund (DSF) has massively subsidized digital transformation within the arts community, but missed the opportunity to encourage knowledge sharing and mutual support among organizations. This observation is not controversial, rather it is one of the main issues identified in the evaluation of its DSF program.^[2] In the Council’s key findings document relating to the evaluation of the DSF program, it is recommended that the Council become a “nurturer of collaboration and cross-sectoral partnerships” notably by building a “centralized, searchable knowledge hub”. Right now, all we have is a spreadsheet listing the projects that have received DSF funding, which is a meager public data-sharing measure. Without a system for pooling[3] knowledge, we are forced to work independently.

This year’s conference was certainly an important step toward creating a federation[4]  for the arts community. We need spaces to build relationships and recognize our collective challenges. That said, planning and coordinating within the various artistic spheres remains difficult work to be done. Instead, Mass Culture opted for a general, even utopian, approach for the future. The main activity Mass Culture organized to foster dialogue about the future of the arts sector was a game where participants were asked to reimagine the sector in 2030. These conversations were private, in groups of up to four, and interpreted simultaneously by artist Betty Pomerleau in the form of cryptic drawings. The conference concluded with a recap of the discussions that took place during the event. To give you an example of the type of work we did, the team I was part of created an artifact from 2030 whose antennae were able to access and understand the lives of the ancestors of those around us.^[3]

I took part in very few formal discussions where we talked concretely about the future. That said, I believe that this possible weakness of the conference may in fact have been its strength. [5] Addressing these difficult issues in a playful way allowed us to recognize our common values while having fun. If you were not in Toronto, rest assured, the invitation to position your future forward remains open. You can still participate!

Inspiring Projects Board

The meetings and discoveries that these events enabled were for me, the most concrete results. That’s why, in closing, I’d like to share some initiatives that you will hopefully be compelled to learn more about.

With this list, I hope to burst the language bubble that may cause you to be stuck with when presenting projects across Canada. I suggest that you find a time to learn about these initiatives, even if you need a good translation algorithm. For each proposal, I have included notes about available languages.

Learn

A Linked Digital Future, CAPACOA

What is linked data? How can OSAs help their members structure their data? These are the kinds of questions that CAPACOA’s ambitious and highly needed initiative answers. Many technologies, like Schema or Wikidata, are poorly understood and underused in the sector. For those who have a curious mind, their resource page is a good place to start, along with the Outreach Toolkit and the detailed list of data types [many things are translated, but some resources are only in English].

GLAM #WikiWednesdays

Victoria Stasiuk is an innovator who takes charge of her knowledge development and invites you to join her! She has set up meetings for galleries, libraries, archives and museums (hence the acronym GLAM) to experiment with knowledge graphs. You can participate in these sessions where you will learn more about Wikidata and cultural data.

Artexte

This artist centre has a mandate to document knowledge and is very active in digital fields. I especially encourage you to have a look at their toolkit. [This resource is available in French only.]

Sources of Inspiration

Culturepédia

This initiative explores the model of a social trust to preserve data generated by the cultural community. This model is typically used to protect built heritage or environments, such as wetlands, over a long period of time. The idea here is that data is also a common good that should be protected and made available to future generations. Culturepédia’s mandate is to ensure the sustainability of data from the Francophonie, but there is an opportunity to have a multilingual vision in future iterations of the project. [This resource is available in French only.]

Réseau ADN

This network was set up by the government of Quebec and I consider it a major success in digital transformation. I hope it can inspire other provincial governments! In addition to providing traditional project grants, it also funded the addition of a new position within cultural organizations teams, the Digital Development Officers. If you want to know more about their model, you can read their wiki. [This resource is available in French only.]

Knowledge and Resource Sharing

Les arts, la culture et le numérique | Québec, Canada |

I’m starting this section with a Facebook group that is definitely worth a visit. I would say that it’s an essential hub for digital thinking. Although imperfect, this platform is a quick and easy way to stay connected to digital news, especially in Quebec.

Artifex

This is Mass Culture’s resource directory that can be accessed on the Critical Digital Methods Institute website [mostly in English]. You can find hundreds of documents on a variety of topics and even add some resources since it is a community directory. It is mainly made up of academic sources and research documents. Personally, I find the tool a bit difficult to navigate. There is little context for each of the links and the search engine has limited functionality.

Artse United – ArtsPonds

This project is intended to be a system for managing organizations, but it is not yet available. It includes a financial module (Hatch Open) and a module for mapping knowledge and the ecosystem (DigitalASO). Arts Pond’s thinking about sharing resources is very interesting, as it aims to create an environment that encourages contextualization through the integration of stories and narratives. The linked elements may also be spatialized on a map. The launch is scheduled for the end of March 2023, so keep an eye on their website (https://artspond.com/) or join their Discord server [these systems will be available in English first, with a French version to come afterwards].

Creative Coast

This organization aims to foster the artistic ecosystem of Vancouver Island, but it is not as insular as it seems! It supports several digital initiatives. Learn more about their current projects.

interConnect

To conclude, I am happy to present a project I’ve been working on with the Independent Media Arts Alliance! As part of this initiative, we will host collaborative learning groups around important digital issues. In fact, you have[6]  until February 28 to share your opinion on the issues we should be addressing by filling out this questionnaire. Feel free to also subscribe to our newsletter at any time.

Our ultimate goal is to contribute to Praxis, a new knowledge base for practical knowledge publishing. The platform will be open to the public in the spring of 2023. You will also be able to publish resources on this platform and join several organizations and individuals from different backgrounds (in the cultural sector, but also in urban planning, social economy and others).

We have also set up a Discord server Media Arts Connect / Connection arts média that you can access with this link (https://discord.gg/U98jndMShC). We hope to create a space where we can help each other and discuss important topics in our community.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Mass Culture for inviting me to write this piece and for Maude Jarry’s many comments that have contributed greatly to making this blog post coherent.

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About me

I am an artist, a teacher and, of course, a cultural worker based in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) where I obtained a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Concordia University. I’m also quite familiar with the city of Vancouver having spent time there completing a master’s degree in visual arts at the University of British Columbia.

I have been working with the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) since 2018. To find out how to contact me or to learn more about my recent projects with the IMAA, visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KhBbW7gIADgHjXesmZSrYOPfjkixNt2uJsfN8818VBY/edit?usp=share_link

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^[1] These ideas were inspired by the discussions the group held. In particular, I invite you to take a look at the document created by Michael Mooney that was shared on the Discord Media Arts Connect server. You can access the server and read this post here: https://discord.com/channels/1011272158699327508/1034558146900922549/1044744975163854908

^[2] Quote from Presentation of Key Findings – Evaluation of the Digital Strategy Fund and Sectoral Needs assessment downloadable here: https://canadacouncil.ca/research/research-library/2022/07/evaluation-of-the-digital-strategy-fund-and-sectoral-needs-assessment

^[3] I would particularly like to mention Skawennati’s reference to TimeTraveler™ https://www.timetravellertm.com/