His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond
Speech on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards
Rideau Hall, Friday, November 3, 2006
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Since the beginning of this mandate, my wife and I have wanted to create a forum for cultural dialogue, which we felt was a vital part of the presentation of the awards for performing arts, literature, and visual and media arts.
As a filmmaker and writer, I never saw my work as a creator as unfolding apart from my involvement in society and culture. Whether creating the Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal or the Observatoire canadien du documentaire, I have always believed that the artist should be directly involved in the debate of ideas, in defending the spaces where citizens can express themselves, in thinking about culture in motion and the public’s response to it.
The union of these demands and their compatibility with the role of the governor general in Canada’s cultural landscape led me to propose that we hold regular discussions in the form of workshops, presentations and debates organized around the awards ceremonies.
The mission of this series of discussions, entitled Art Matters, is to create forums for thought that are free of budgetary constraints and political debate.
The first instalment, held in conjunction with the presentation of the Performing Arts Awards, began this morning and will conclude tomorrow afternoon. We limited the number of participants to 42, which is the number of people we can fit around the table in our large dining room, in the hope that we might in some way emulate the spirit of Plato’s Banquet.
Of the disciplines being honoured by the Performing Arts Awards, we have decided to focus this year on the audiovisual aspect of creativity and examine the impact that new technologies are having on film, radio, and television.
We have sought the participation of decision makers, researchers, thinkers, young and experienced creators, each tackling this issue in his or her own, yet complementary manner. They sit among you here today and will be joining you later this evening for dinner to keep this discussion going.
I hope that Art Matters will create a sense of openness and spark a lasting dialogue between the various players in the arts and culture scene. Each year, we will examine a different aspect of the performing arts.
Art Matters also invites the general public to take part in this dialogue through Rideau Hall’s interactive Web site Citizen Voices.
This broadened discussion will inspire thought, comments and suggestions that will add to the Governor General’s dialogue with institutions and the government.
I would like to end by sharing with you one of the themes of this first instalment of Art Matters, one of the key objectives being to take a close look at the effects that new mobile technologies are having on our lives and the repercussions for culture and creativity.
For example, cell phones now number two billion worldwide (or 1 out of 3 people) and allow us to communicate through text, audio or video, watch a television program, even take pictures (1 in 3 is a camera phone).
It now falls to designers, creators, filmmakers and many others to meet the increasing challenges posed by the mobile culture on how we think, socialize and express ourselves creatively. In this day and age, we can not only view television programs or movies on our tiny cell phone screens, but also use cell phones to make our own movies.
And now, as a brief interlude and to get you thinking, we will show three short films made specifically for cell phones. We’ll show them on the big screen. You can watch them again later over dinner on the small screen using the cell phones provided at your tables.
Thank you. Have a wonderful evening.
