But the rest of us? We're here for a long time, so let's talk about what's at stake, and let's figure out what we need to do to make this work... for ALL of us!
An excellent video...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
CSI 2008 ELECTION UPDATE
The Centre for Social Innovation wants you to know that YOUR VOTE MATTERS!...
With October 14th fast approaching and so very much at stake, we decided to compile a list for you of all the election related blogs and initiatives that have been launched by, or are connected with, our incredible CSI tenants.
With October 14th fast approaching and so very much at stake, we decided to compile a list for you of all the election related blogs and initiatives that have been launched by, or are connected with, our incredible CSI tenants.
While the Centre for Social Innovation prides itself on being a non-partisan space, we are dedicated to sharing and supporting the work of our change-making colleagues.
To help inform your upcoming vote, and for further information about the Arts, Environment, Strategic Voting, and more, please see below for Election News from our community. We encourage you to get involved, and learn what you can to make an informed choice.
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1. Progressive Multi-author Blog Analysis of the Election
2. Vote Smart so the Majority Wins
3. Coalition of Artists Take Action
4. David Suzuki Foundation Launches Non-partisan Site
5. Launch of Viral Strategic Voting Campaign
6. Advocacy Online launches the 'Canada Votes 2008' widget
7. Non-Partisan Arts Advocacy
1. Progressive Multi-author Blog Analysis of the Election - http://rabble.ca/election/
Award-winning author Dionne Brand, filmmaker Brian McKenna, and environmentalist, David Suzuki, as well as newly formed advocacy organization, the Department of Culture, are the latest to join the multi-author election blog found at http://www.rabble.ca/election
Launched on September 7 with the intention of bringing together the best progressive analysis on the election all in one place, the response to the initiative has been overwhelming. The blog brings together artists, labour leaders and researchers, economists, environmentalists, first nation activists, youth, GLBT advocates, other independent media (the Dominion, Briarpatch)... people from all walks of life and from all across the country to participate. Visit the site for contributions from organizations including the Council of Canadians, the Parkland Institute, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Rideau Institute, and from writers including Murray Dobbin, James Laxer, Jim Stanford, and NOW magazine's Alice Klein.
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2. Vote Smart so the Majority Wins - www.VoteforEnvironment.ca
Initiated by Alice Klein (CSI board member) and Kevin Grandia, www.VoteforEnvironment.ca takes a whole new angle on the election. By providing a dynamic riding by riding prediction system, this site makes the best possible information available to Canadians so we can stop splitting the vote and instead vote smart to achieve government change not climate change
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3. Coalition of Artists take Action - http://departmentofculture.ca/
CSI tenants Darren O'Donnell (mammalian.ca) and Gregory Elgstrand have joined up with other Canadian artists to form the Department of Culture - a growing community of Canadian citizens who are artists, arts professionals and cultural workers concerned about ensuring the social and cultural health and prosperity of our nation in the face of a Federal Government that is aggressively undermining the values that define Canada. The Department of Culture is a movement ready to fight for progressive social and cultural values through artist-initiated actions that employ the skills, experiences, collaborative methods and imagination that define artists' work. For further information and artist resources visit http://departmentofculture.ca/resources/.
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4. David Suzuki Foundation Launches Non-partisan Site - www.voteenvironment2008.ca
The health of our environment and the vitality of our democracy go hand-in-hand, which is why the David Suzuki Foundation was inspired to launch a highly interactive election website site, www.voteenvironment2008.ca
This non-partisan site encourages Canadians to engage in dialogue to ensure that the critical issue of environment does not get lost in the campaign, so that our next government, regardless of which party wins, will work toward solutions. It is also a resource to get the facts on environmental issues from climate change to public transit. So get involved and have your say!
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5. Launch of Viral Strategic Voting Campaign - http://anyonebutharper.ca/
Canadians concerned about the possibility of another Harper Conservative government have new tools this election. Some of Canada's leading new media content creators launched a cross-Canada viral media campaign in response to their own concerns about a possible Harper Conservative majority government. In only two weeks, the group, which includes CSI tenant Mark Kuznicki of Remarkk!, organized themselves on Facebook, created and distributed viral videos, launched a website at http://anyonebutharper.ca/ and developed an embed-able strategic voting web widget.
The goal of the campaign is to help progressive Canadians vote strategically this election in an informed way based on the latest polling data and the unique characteristics of their own ridings. Vote to win - get involved at http://AnyoneButHarper.ca/, and http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27474812415
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6. Advocacy Online launches the 'Canada Votes 2008' widget
Since elections are usually a critical time for the advocacy work of many organizations, Advocacy Online created a 'widget' that would enable individuals to find their local candidates and send them an email message. The 'Canada Votes 2008' widget can be added to any web page using simple embed code - similar to the embed code you would use to display a YouTube video. The generic version of the widget is free for any group to use. Please email graham@advocacyonline.net to request the embed code - available in English and French. To see the widget in action, visit: www.advocacyonline.net/cms/cmsloader?ejQwbm&view=281,521,3165,0,-html
CSI tenant Advocacy Online is a provider of e-advocacy software and services to charities and other campaigning organizations in Canada, the UK, the United States, and Australia. Our software platform, called e-activist, is used by over 100 groups to mobilize grassroot supporters, and enables them to campaign for policy change at the local, regional, and national levels.
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7. Non-Partisan Arts Advocacy - www.canadianartscoalition.ca
CSI tenant Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, Ontario Chapter (CADA-ON) is supporting the efforts of the non-partisan arts advocacy group, Canadian Arts Coalition, an entirely volunteer-run organization working to keep culture on the election agenda.
CADA-ON is a non-profit organization that empowers and educates its membership of dance professionals to promote the art form in society. CADA-ON developed the best practices document, Professional Standards for Dance, and its members benefit from programs including accident insurance, training subsidies, professional development opportunities and more.
Playwrights provoke with political work
Reposted from: Stage Door / By Kevin Prokosh / Winnipeg Free Press, October 1, 2008
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The Wrecking Ball is swinging through Winnipeg next Monday in an attempt to poke a hole in the notion that political theatre is dead in Canada.
Wrecking Ball is a four-year-old Toronto theatre movement that seeks to address the annoying reality that there's too much theatre in our politics and not enough politics in our theatre. Prominent Canadian playwrights such as Jason Sherman, Norm Foster, Morris Panych and Daniel MacIvor have penned politically minded monologues meant to challenge and provoke audiences.
For the first time, Wrecking Balls are going national, with eight of them, including one here, set to go Monday, showcasing the work of writers venting expressively about the federal election. The lineup for the Winnipeg ball consists of Michael Nathanson, Ellen Peterson and the Royal Liechtenstein tag team of Gord Tanner and Trish Cooper, as well as a piece called Nail Biter by playwright Judith Thompson.
The 8 p.m. cabaret, to be held at Prairie Theatre Exchange, is open to the public and is a pay-what-you-can event, with proceeds going to the department of culture, an ad hoc group of artists fighting the Stephen Harper government's funding cuts to the arts.
The Wrecking Ball will be welcomed in Winnipeg, where political theatre sightings are quite rare. Last season, Theatre Project's production called How to Kill Yourself With a Screwdriver by Devin McCracken -- inspired by the 2005 shooting of Matthew Dumas by a Winnipeg police officer -- was one example. The Wrecking Ball is seeking a more immediate, ripped-from-the-headlines response to events.
"It's a way to unify the country on political grounds," says Wrecking Ball organizer Michael Rubenfeld, a Toronto actor/director. "As Canadians, we fear controversy. We fear asking difficult questions and being too political. We're not comfortable disagreeing."
The local participants must adhere to two rules: Create brief, explosive pieces inspired by what's happening right now in the election and do it in one week to guarantee maximum freshness. A two-hour rehearsal during the day Monday is all that stands between author and audience.
"This is gloves off," says local producer Rick Chafe, author of Shakespeare's Dog. "It's so immediate, it will be charged with a different kind of energy. What you'll hear is right out of a writer's pen. There will be blood on the floor."
Nathanson, a huge fan of TV's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, said he was seduced to join in by the opportunity to write political satire.
"I think artists have understandable concern about the state of the arts and the relationship of the Conservative government to the arts," he says. "My inspiration is being drawn from one of the best (and oldest) political satires: Duck Soup, the famous Marx Brothers movie."
***
The Wrecking Ball is swinging through Winnipeg next Monday in an attempt to poke a hole in the notion that political theatre is dead in Canada.
Wrecking Ball is a four-year-old Toronto theatre movement that seeks to address the annoying reality that there's too much theatre in our politics and not enough politics in our theatre. Prominent Canadian playwrights such as Jason Sherman, Norm Foster, Morris Panych and Daniel MacIvor have penned politically minded monologues meant to challenge and provoke audiences.
For the first time, Wrecking Balls are going national, with eight of them, including one here, set to go Monday, showcasing the work of writers venting expressively about the federal election. The lineup for the Winnipeg ball consists of Michael Nathanson, Ellen Peterson and the Royal Liechtenstein tag team of Gord Tanner and Trish Cooper, as well as a piece called Nail Biter by playwright Judith Thompson.
The 8 p.m. cabaret, to be held at Prairie Theatre Exchange, is open to the public and is a pay-what-you-can event, with proceeds going to the department of culture, an ad hoc group of artists fighting the Stephen Harper government's funding cuts to the arts.
The Wrecking Ball will be welcomed in Winnipeg, where political theatre sightings are quite rare. Last season, Theatre Project's production called How to Kill Yourself With a Screwdriver by Devin McCracken -- inspired by the 2005 shooting of Matthew Dumas by a Winnipeg police officer -- was one example. The Wrecking Ball is seeking a more immediate, ripped-from-the-headlines response to events.
"It's a way to unify the country on political grounds," says Wrecking Ball organizer Michael Rubenfeld, a Toronto actor/director. "As Canadians, we fear controversy. We fear asking difficult questions and being too political. We're not comfortable disagreeing."
The local participants must adhere to two rules: Create brief, explosive pieces inspired by what's happening right now in the election and do it in one week to guarantee maximum freshness. A two-hour rehearsal during the day Monday is all that stands between author and audience.
"This is gloves off," says local producer Rick Chafe, author of Shakespeare's Dog. "It's so immediate, it will be charged with a different kind of energy. What you'll hear is right out of a writer's pen. There will be blood on the floor."
Nathanson, a huge fan of TV's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, said he was seduced to join in by the opportunity to write political satire.
"I think artists have understandable concern about the state of the arts and the relationship of the Conservative government to the arts," he says. "My inspiration is being drawn from one of the best (and oldest) political satires: Duck Soup, the famous Marx Brothers movie."
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