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Feast & Famine
STARVING ARTISTS IN THE LAND OF PLENTY
» Thursday 3 April 2008 | 4:30 pm
» Hanna's Lounge, 1392 Water Street
An informal afternoon hour showcasing the people and ideas featured in Okanagan Arts. Join us as multimedia artists, cultural critic, community development analyst and journalist Don Elzer advocates that the Okanagan needs to make a commitment to artists if it wants culture to thrive.
» This is a free event. Refreshments will be available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO-FCCS, and in support of Project Literacy Kelowna
Artist Challenges Our Commitment to the Arts
Buildings and bucks don't make art - artists do, and the Okanagan needs to make a commitment to the artists themselves if it wants culture to thrive, says Don Elzer, a multimedia artist, businessman and journalist.
Elzer has been working on cultural development initiatives behind the scenes for over twenty years. From artist-run-centre, sculpture parks, international travel packaging and community planning that links culture, artists and destination tourism efforts, he has managed development initiatives for the Canadian Tourism Commission and presently works on strategic planning initiatives around the province.
From when the concept of cultural tourism became popularized to Steven Thorne's legacy and the advent of the cultural district he has witnessed first hand how cultural development has evolved into something different than encouraging creative achievement. What he reveals is that in the end, while there may have been economic prosperity as a result, little went back to the hands of the artists themselves.
"I have learned that the present way we approach such cultural initiatives that seek to link the arts to the economy is flawed and in need of adjustment," he says.
Elzer presents Feast & Famine: Starving Artists in the Land of Plenty - his view on the future of the arts April 3 at 4:30 p.m. at our new venue Hanna's Lounge upstairs from Rose's at The Grand as part of the Okanagan Institute's Express series.
Elzer notes that cities continue to focus energy on building high-profile cultural venues so that they may anchor private development schemes and downtown revitalization without considering that they are doing more damage than good.
"Most times, existing cultural venues remain under-utilized and most new proposed venues are not required by working artists, they're usually promoted by institutions or the cities themselves. Every time cities spend money building a new cultural venue with either tax money or through public donations they remove valuable discretionary income out of the local economy that's no longer purchasing art".
Elzer suggests that by not understanding local cultural behaviour, planning misses its mark.
"The real cultural tourism potential in the Okanagan was not in the cities but out on country
roads. The statistical data that supports this view is convincing and represents an overlooked part of our economic development planning valley-wide," he says.
The key to bringing it all together so artists and the larger infrastructures thrive is to capture the attention of the masses - those people who rest outside the bounds of what he calls "the CBC subculture".
"The challenge is whether the cultural community can remove itself from building temples to better justify culture to the mainstream and begin to nurture a distinctive cultural climate by our ability to enhance the unique experiences that artists can provide the mainstream society," he says. "It has been done before. We have learned to support Canadian content to retain a publishing industry and support our musicians. We have built an entire film industry that attracts productions from all over the world."
Don Elzer lives in the Monashee Mountain foothills outside Vernon. He is considered a premier Canadian contemporary folk artist. He received his formal art education through Okanagan University College. He currently has directed his artistic energy towards the development of sculpture in the Wildcraft Forest.
Feast & Famine: Starving Artists in the Land of Plenty is a free event, and takes place at Hanna's Lounge. It's presented by the Okanagan Institute in association with Wheat King Publishing.
Express is sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, and supports the work of Project Literacy Kelowna.
Okanagan Insitute at Hanna's Lounge A hearty feast of lectures, presentations, workshops and showcases celebrating our culture and community. Produced by the Okanagan institute in association with Wheat King Publishing magazines: Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home.
Expresss is a cultural tonic that refreshes the mind. Join us at Hanna's Lounge after work on Thursdays for a free hour of stimulation that will get your synapses tingling with new ideas and fresh images. Designed for inquiring minds looking for, among other things, the wild blue yonder.
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