Canada Council launches 50 for 50 Arts
Challenge web site
Ottawa,
June 13, 2007 –
The 50 for
50 Arts Challenge – which asks Canadians to
participate in 50 arts activities in 2007 to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the Canada Council for the Arts – has gone
high tech.
The new 50 for 50 Arts
Challenge web site –
www.artschallenge.ca
– allows Canadians to share their arts
experiences and gain inspiration from the
experiences of others. Users can create
individual profiles, track their progress by
posting their activities to the site, and
engage in discussion about any aspect of the
arts.
The
site also tracks which activities are most
popular, as well as the most common
categories of activities, known as “tags”.
As of this month, the most popular tag is
“poetry”, followed by “Canadian” and
“music”. Some of the more popular activities
include “take lots of pictures on my digital
camera”, “read a non-fiction book by a
Canadian author”, and “visit a local gallery
at lunch time”.
The
site also features regular posts from
special guest bloggers Kim Barlow and Paul Savoie.
Barlow, a singer/songwriter based in
Whitehorse, says of the local arts scene:
“There are a lot of arts events going on
around here and a lot of them are unusual,
exceptional, wonderful, and set in the great
context of the North. The regional isolation
and sparse population lends a sense of
urgency to events here – we’re lucky it’s
happening at all, and we can’t afford to get
too complacent.”
Paul Savoie, a French-language writer based
in
Toronto and author of nearly 30 books,
shares his personal reflections on what the
arts mean to him: “Art is my life. It’s what
gives meaning to everything I do and
everything I am.”
Inspired
by the success of 43things.com – where users
create a list of 43 things they would like
to do with their life – the 50 for 50 Arts
Challenge site encourages everyone, young
and old, to step up their involvement in the
arts.
“I
must admit I am not an arts person,” says
one user known as “GeekyCoder”, “but with
time I am getting more and more interested.”
Participants are not finding it difficult to
integrate the arts into their lives. Another
user says: “It’s really amazing when you
start to reflect on what you do in your
spare time just how many activities are
artistic and creative.”
Citing
activities like “sing along with my CD in
the car”, and “find more books to read with
my son”, some of the more active users are
more than halfway to the goal of 50
activities…and could even reach 100 or more.
-30-
Media
contact: Public Affairs,
Research and Communications
Donna
Balkan: 613-566-4305 or 1-800-263-5588, ext.
4134
E-mail:
donna.balkan@canadacouncil.ca
Carole
Breton: 613-566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext.
4523
E-mail:
carole.breton@canadacouncil.ca
Visit the 50 for 50
Arts Challenge web site at
www.artschallenge.ca.
Tous les documents du Conseil des Arts du
Canada sont offerts en français et en
anglais.
