HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-12-098 - CAFKA and Area and Open Ears Festival UpdatesREPORT TO:
Community and Infrastructure Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
June 18, 2012
SUBMITTED BY:
Jeff Willmer, Chief Administrative Officer (519-741-2350)
PREPARED BY: Renate Willms, Supervisor of Administration, Community
Services (519-741-2395)
WARD(S) INVOLVED:
All
DATE OF REPORT:
June 8, 2012
REPORT NO.:
CSD-12-098
SUBJECT:
CONTEMPORARY ART FORUM KITCHENER AND AREA
(CAFKA) AND OPEN EARS FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND
SOUND UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION:
For information.
BACKGROUND:
The Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area (CAFKA) and the Open Ears Festival of
Music and Sound receive support from the City of Kitchener through Tier 1 grants.
CAFKA
CAFKA produces a biennial exhibition of contemporary art in the City of Kitchener and in the
region. Their mission is to present innovative art within a civic space, inviting the public to
engage with the work of contemporary artists from the region, the nation and from abroad. They
are committed to contemporary art of high artistic quality, to advancing ground breaking artistic
projects, to developing interactive programming, and to nurturing new and existing audiences
for contemporary art. They are dedicated to promoting artistic growth and to offering exhibition
opportunities to regional, national and international artists and are committed to providing
access to the most innovative and exciting contemporary art for the citizens of Kitchener and the
region. Council approved a 2012 Tier 1 grant in the amount of $33,122 which is consistent with
past annual grants for this biennial event. The next event was scheduled to be held in
September 2013.
Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound
The Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound is a biennial festival which brings national and
international artists to Kitchener. The festival includes visual art installations and live
performances which range from new classical music to electroacoustics, musique actuelle and
sound installations. Council approved a 2012 Tier 1 grant in the amount of $11,408 which is
consistent with past annual grants for this biennial festival. The next event was scheduled to be
held in April of 2013.
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REPORT:
CAKFA and Open Ears Festival have collaborated on marketing for the past two festivals. They
felt they would be more successful with this collaboration if the festivals were not at opposite
ends of the season. The boards of both organizations have agreed to bring the festivals
together and to support each other. This has meant moving Open Ears into May and CAFKA
into the same time period. The organizations have advised that this move requires more time
for strategy development and to access their funding partners and as a result have decided to
wait until 2014 to hold their next events. Postponing the launch of the partnership to 2014 is a
one-time interruption; both festivals will return to their regular biennial schedule thereafter.
To facilitate this adjustment, CAFKA and Open Ears Festival are planning to hold smaller events
in the spring of 2013 as well as a number of ancillary events to maintain their profiles. Further
details regarding the changes are provided in Appendix A (CAFKA) and Appendix B (Open Ears
Festival). An article from the April 20, 2012 edition of The Record (Appendix C) is also attached
for information.
This report has been reviewed by Special Events staff who advised that they have no concerns
with the changes to the festivals.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
Special events such as CAFKA and Open Ears Festival align with many strategic directions in
the City of Kitchener strategic plan, including Quality of Life, Leadership and Community
Engagement, Diversity and Dynamic Downtown.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
N/A
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Jeff Willmer, Chief Administrative Officer
Appendix A: Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area (CAFKA) Update
Appendix B: Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound Update
Appendix C: Article in The Record (April 20, 2012)
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Appendix A
Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area (CAFKA)
CAFKA announces a change in season
Thursday, April 19, 2012
On Monday, April 16, 2012, the membership of CAFKA – Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener
and Area met to elect a new board of directors during their annual general meeting at Kitchener
City Hall. Outgoing Board Chair Gareth Lichty announced his retirement from the CAFKA board
after six years of service to the organization, and welcomed new directors Patrick Keen
(Waterloo, ON), Brian Hawthornethwaite (Cambridge, ON), Amy Corner (Elora, ON), Ciara
McKeowen (Hamilton, ON), Graham Whiting (Waterloo, ON) and Stephen Lavigne (Kitchener,
ON). The newly elected Chair and President is K. Jennifer Bedford, an artist, arts administrator,
and an avid arts and culture advocate in Waterloo region.
Mr. Lichty also announced that the next CAFKA exhibition would take place during the entire
month of June in 2014. This is a significant departure for the contemporary art festival, which
has taken place in the month of September since its inception 11 years ago.
CAFKA will be working closely with the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound on collaborative
programming in 2013 to make the transition for both organizations to launch their new time slot
in 2014. The two organizations will gain from crossover of audiences and supporting artistic
visions. Open Ears has a sound installation component that is increasingly visual and CAFKA
often presents visual artists working with sound. The initial conversations with funders have
been very supportive of the organizations’ desire to collaborate more effectively.
“CAFKA is looking forward to exhibiting contemporary art in the month of June. The organization
is aiming to put more art works in places where people will encounter them in the course of their
day,” said Jennifer Bedford. “The artists and the volunteers spend a lot of time and energy to
develop each CAFKA exhibition. We want a longer show so that more people have the chance
to see it. CAFKA is also excited to shift to the spring and early summer, a time that provides us
with optimal conditions for outdoor installations. It will make an exciting, kick-off to the summer
tourist season.”
“This is a one-time delay in the biennial schedule. This shift in schedule is necessary for us to
position CAFKA in the most advantageous time slot. After this shift, we will return to the regular
biennial schedule,” states Gordon Hatt Executive Director of the organization. “In order to
facilitate this adjustment, we are planning a smaller event in the spring of 2013 as well as a
number of ancillary events intended to maintain our profile, and provide insight into the issues
surrounding art in public spaces.”
Open Ears and CAFKA Spring Collaboration, 2013
Open Ears is about music and sound, and CAFKA is about art in public spaces. Together the
two organizations will produce a three-day festival from May 31 through June 2, 2013 that will
explore the intersection of music and sound with performance in the public space.
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Open Ears has scheduled a program entitled “Between The Ears.” CAFKA will respond by
presenting a series of projects and performances by visual artists who work with sound. CAFKA
will present work by:
· Cristof Migone (Toronto)
· Andreas Kahre and Darren Copeland (Toronto)
· Scott Carter (Chicago)
· Tor Lukasik-Foss (Hamilton)
The projects that CAFKA present have a physical presence and will remain in place for the
weekend, activated with performances that tie in with the program that Open Ears has
developed.
To promote the program, CAFKA and Open Ears are working with the Creative Enterprise
Initiative and the WRTMC (Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Corporation) to develop a
marketing program covering cultural events and festivals throughout the Region of Waterloo in
the spring of 2013.
For more information, contact:
Gordon Hatt
Executive Director
GWHATT@CAFKA.ORG
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Appendix B
Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound
Cheryl Ewing, General Manager
CAFKA and Open Ears have collaborated on marketing for the past two festivals. We feel that
we would be far more successful with this kind of collaboration if the festivals were not at
opposite ends of the season (Open Ears in April and CAFKA in September). To this end the
boards of both organizations agreed to find a way to bring the festivals together and to support
each other. This has meant moving Open Ears into May and CAFKA into the same time period.
The details have yet to be worked through as to whether they will run simultaneously or Open
Ears will open or close the contemporary festivals, but the final decision will be based on what is
optimum for both to benefit.
In addition to the possibility of collaborative marketing, we can gain from cross-over of
audiences and supporting artistic visions. Open Ears has long run a sound installation
component that is increasingly visual and CAFKA is, of course, about visual installations, some
with sound components. Both require the same kind of volunteer support. Our initial discussions
with funders have been very supportive of our desire to collaborate more effectively.
We recognize is that this move will need more time for strategy and to access many of our
funding partners due to funding cycles. It has therefore been determined that waiting until 2014
is the best strategy for moving forward. This, however, increases rather than decreases our
financial requirements. We recognize that we will need to run a mini-festival in 2013, just as
Open Ears is doing this spring, so we do not lose momentum. This will be the announcement of
our full festival changes. We will also be greatly increasing our community engagement
activities as a way to increase and maintain Open Ears’ profile in the community.
This spring Open Ears ran a drumming festival "Environmental Rhythms" as a way to maintain
profile. We were able to manage this only because we have received funding from Musagetes,
KW Community Foundation and City of Kitchener. It stretched our resources but is necessary to
allow us to continue building our profile and capacity. The results can be seen on
http://www.therecord.com/videozone/724252. This project also served as a pilot for the kind of
activities in which we want to engage the community on an ongoing basis.
Both organizations are currently working with the Creative Enterprises Initiative to identify other
revenue generation possibilities, but again, this takes time to build and requires capacity.
The original funding that Open Ears received from the City of Kitchener was designed to
address the requirements of a biennial festival that required a two-year planning cycle. This has
been even more critical as Open Ears no longer sits within the KW Symphony and is now
struggling to find a way to maintain staff through the 'off' years. The continued support of the
City of Kitchener through this change is crucial to our ongoing success.
In short: Open Ears activity will increase, not decrease over the next couple of years, including
this year.
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Open Ears Programming 2013:
Open Ears has been combining installations with performance, mixing up musical genres, and
working in alternative venues since its inception in 1998. Many of these elements have become
almost commonplace in Canadian new music. However, our mix of composed with improvised
music, multiple collaborations with other organizations (musical and otherwise), and the sheer
breadth of programming range (from “classical ensembles” to pure sound art) still make us
somewhat unique. With the independence of the festival in 2010, we are now strengthening our
collaborative strategy through closer ties with the contemporary visual art biennial festival,
CAFKA. Traditionally held in the fall, CAFKA has decided to move its programming to align with
Open Ears’ activities. Both festivals felt that this would necessitate an additional planning year
to implement this alignment. Therefore, the next full Open Ears festival will be in the spring of
2014. It is important to understand that this is not a merger. Both festivals intend to maintain
their own artistic vision and keep their own identities while cooperating in marketing, audience
engagement and outreach activities. The 2014 festival will likely be longer as a result of the date
change and alignment.
One of the challenges of a biennial festival is maintaining audience connections between
festivals. One of our new strategies implemented on a small scale in 2010 is the inclusion of
activities in non-festival years – combinations of events and/or mini-festivals known as “Between
the Ears”. With the delay of the full festival by a year, the 2013 “Between the Ears” gains greater
significance as a way to solidify the organization and to increase its profile, particularly locally.
This mini festival of contemporary music and sound art will run over three days in the spring of
2013 and will include a series of concerts and events to further establish our reputation as a
ground breaking music festival and key voice in the contemporary arts scene. The program is a
mix of genres and presentation styles from free outdoor performances to ticketed events, with
cutting edge immersive experiences and a couple of world premiere performances that are
reflective of our ‘usual’ activities. There will be a mix of established and emerging artists.
Following each festival we analyze the response to the programming including attendance,
audience and artist comments and discuss what needs to be tweaked, maintained or
overhauled. In 2011 our free events in more traditional settings such as churches and theatres
suffered a decline. The lack of a performance in the City’s public square resulted in a significant
drop in profile and attendance figures. However, moving the timing of an event in a public
environment from Sunday morning to Friday lunchtime resulted in increased interest and
numbers as did an early morning performance in a local coffee shop. The results of our review
informed the programming and venue choices of our upcoming Between the Ears mini-festival
including a return to the City's public square for free programming.
In addition to the programming, Open Ears is planning a series of audience engagement
activities currently called “Growing Ears”. There are two core strategies behind these events;
first, to make certain that Open Ears has a continuous profile within the community and is thus
not dependent on having to rebuild audiences every second year; and secondly to support
efforts within this community to highlight Waterloo Region as a creative community with
interesting opportunities for families, children and adults to gain hands-on understanding of the
role of the arts in our lives. Engaging children and families in sound based activities will
introduce them to unconsidered possibilities, build audiences and build social bridging and
bonding – essential to a healthy community. Although these activities are still in discussion, the
following are being seriously considered and explored:
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Junk Percussion Parade or Inuksuit for kids:
working with a visual arts organization,
likely KWAG, we will help children build and decorate percussion instruments and then
have a performance in a public setting to celebrate their achievements.
Film/Improv Project:
working with eyeGO to the Arts and Sam Varteniuk of the Registry
Theatre, students grades 7 to 12 use iphones to create short films and imovie to edit
them. The second phase would involve sessions with groups of instrumentalists,
learning to improvise and then improvising with the silent films. The third phase would be
a screening of the films with live soundtracks in an outdoor setting.
Between the Ears 2013
The first of the world premieres we plan to present is a 3 part multi-disciplinary piece called
EuPhonopen. The project was developed by K-W artist Isabella Stefanescu and contains new
works by Nick Storing, Ian Crutchley, and Kathryn Ladano, performances by Christine Duncan’s
Element Choir, and soprano Helen Pridmore. There is also a strong visual component to the
performance of this work with real time animation created along with the musical score. The
piece is in three parts Signature, Mirror, and Objects on a Table. We plan to present the first
part Signature on the opening night as a free outdoor event in the courtyard at Kitchener City
Hall, then all three the following night at the Registry theatre.
Also on the opening night we will present an evening of music and sound art from Quebec with
Paletuvier, and a performance of Martin Messier’s La Chambre Des Machines. We are
especially excited to present La Chambre Des Machines; it is a project for surround sound and
video projection. In the artist’s own words “machines made of gears and cranks are manipulated
to produce a sound construction at the crossroads of acoustics and electronics. Submerged in
surround sound, the audience discovers the interaction between mechanical and synthetic
sound”. This project has received honorable mention at the Prix Ars Electronica, as well as jury
selection at the Japanese Media Arts awards, and this will be the project’s first presentation in
Ontario. On that same bill we are presenting Paletuvier an improvised music project led by
Montreal percussionist and local favorite Pierre Tanguay.
Free outdoor events have always been a key part of the Open Ears Festival, we feel it is very
important to have these outdoor events not only to present music in new settings and
environments, but to draw people in from the wider community and showcase these artists to
people who may be familiar with contemporary music. Aside from our opening night
presentation of Signature we also be offering a free outdoor show by the Guayaveras an
improvising duo that create beautiful quiet acoustic music that engages the sounds around
them.
The recent changes in structure for Open Ears actually mean more events, not fewer.
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Appendix C
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