MUTEK_Intersection (posted May 23, 2002):

This year MUTEK launches a new section of its program: a series of panels of local and international professionals in the field of electronic music and sound creation. This program is being held in collaboration with Someonelse and the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes.

All panels are free and will take place at: Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes: 418, rue Sherbrooke Est, Montreal

As the number of places is limited, you are requested to reserve your seat for each panel before Tuesday May 28, 5pm, by email at info@mutek.ca, or by fax c/o MUTEK at 514-847-0732. Please specify clearly which panels you wish to attend as well as the names of individuals for whom you are making reservations. An email confirming your reservation will be returned.

Panel 1 / Wednesday, May 29 / 10am-noon
Canadian Government Policies & Programs

Panel 2 / Wednesday, May 29 / 2-4pm
The Canada Council for the Arts & DFAIT

Panel 3 / Thursday, May 30 / 2-4pm
Catching Eyeballs, Catching Ears : The Challenges of Promoting Electronic Music

Panel 4 / Friday, May 31 / 2-4pm
Innovation or Inundation: Electronic Music at the Crossroads

Wednesday, May 29
The field of electronic music has seen immense growth in Canada, especially in urban centres such as Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Until now, the majority of developments have taken place on the fringes of support organizations that exist for the record industry and trained musicians. Over the last 12 months, the critical mass of this domain has expanded such that it is now a subject in the public sphere.Facing an increasing number of appeals/requests originating from this sector, a new awareness sprouted in various levels of government. Several interested authorities initiated processes of reflection that brought about the revision or creation of new programs. This first day of conferences, presented jointly by Someonelse and MUTEK, aims to take stock of the situation.

Panel 1 / 10am-noon
Canadian Government Policies & Programs

What new directions are Canada’s policy makers taking? Canadian music policy makers and delivery partners discuss planned and existing programs. Can they help electronic artists and entrepreneurs to develop their national and international careers?

Dave Blais, Manager, Sound Recording - Canadian Heritage
Heather Ostertag, President - Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Record (FACTOR)
Richard Davies, Music Festivals Programming Project Grants & Music Festival Travel Assistance
    Grants - Canada Council
Shannon Peet, New Music Program - Canada Council
Francine Bertrand Venne Musicaction & Director of Société professionnelle des auteurs et
     compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ)

Panel 2 / 2-4pm
The Canada Council for the Arts & DFAIT

This session brings together representatives of the music and media arts divisions of the Canada Council for the Arts, who will share some conclusions drawn from different studies carried out in connection with the new realities of digital creation. Several programs have been recently revised. How can they be applied to artists working in the field of electronic music? The day will end with an overview of the programs offered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trades Art's Promotion Department to promote Canadian culture abroad.

Richard Davies, Music Festivals Programming Project Grants & Music Festival Travel Assistance
    Grants - Canada Council
Shannon Peet, New Music Program - Canada Council
Marilyn Burgess, New Media and Audio Artists Research and Production Grants, New Media
    Residencies - Canada Council
Claire Marson, Head of the Performing Arts Program - Department of Foreign Affairs &
    International Trade (DFAIT)

Panel 3 / Thursday, May 30 / 2-4pm
Catching Eyeballs, Catching Ears : The Challenges of Promoting Electronic Music

Digital technologies and electronic music are evolving and growing at a frantic pace. There seems to be a vast forward movement, infiltrating everything everywhere and transforming relentlessly the established order of things. The music industry tries to adapt but is confronted by new ways of doing things and by a fragmented public. How is it with the press and media? How do they react to the profusion of supply (more and more music) and demand (a public with increasingly discriminating tastes)? Where does avant-garde electronic music fit into mainstream and pop culture? Does the Internet offer new avenues? What are the new dynamics of the Artist/Label/Genre relationship? This panel feature representatives of the local and international press attending MUTEK, who will discuss the challenges of promoting and disseminating electronic music in today’s media environment.

Jon Berry, Force Inc. Music Works, Montreal
Rupert Bottenberg, music editor, Montreal Mirror
Ejival (Enrique Jimenez), independent journalist, contributor to Latin Pulse, Urb, The Wire,
    New Times LA.
Heath K. Hignight, independent journalist, contributor to CMJ, Urb, XLR8R, Mixer, New Times
Philip Sherburne, independent journalist, contributor to The Wire, XLR8R, neumu.net, SF Weekly
Patti Schmidt, host/producer of CBC Radio 2's national new music program 'Brave New Waves'
Thomas Venker, editor in chief, Intro Magazine Germany

Panel 4 / Friday, May 31 / 2-4pm
Innovation or Inundation: Electronic Music at the Crossroads

This international panel presents a portrait of the current state of electronic music by addressing aesthetic, philosophical and political issues: Is electronic music shaped by a philosophy of evolution? How does technological development force progress in electronic music? Does a space exist in which political concerns of electronic and experimental music can be articulated? Is aesthetic progress (i.e. artistic innovation) a synonym for political progress? What is "electronic music", anyway? How does this music affect our everyday lives? How do we know when we've hit the saturation point in a given genre? How do genres that have reached a first threshold of saturation (i.e. drum & bass, downtempo, hip-hop, clicks & cuts) successfully evolve and reinvent themselves? Finally, how do we approach questions of artistic legitimacy?

Naut Humon, director, Recombinant Media Labs / Asphodel Records SF, Digital Musics
    coordinator, Prix Ars Electronica, Austria - AV designer/ artist, USA
Philip Sherburne, independent journalist, contributor to The Wire, XLR8R, neumu.net, SF Weekly
Sue Costabile, label manager for Orthlorng Musork, visual artist
Tim Hecker, contributing artist, MUTEK 2002
Matthew Herbert, Radio Boy - contributing artist, MUTEK 2002
Chris Sattinger, Timeblind - contributing artist, MUTEK 2002

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