Culturescope.ca - Canadian Culture and Digital Technology Forum, October 26-27, 2007

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Canadians have long recognized the importance of the arts and culture in connecting to one another, sharing their stories across Canada’s vast geography and diverse communities, and contributing in turn to the Canadian story. Today, as Canada has joined the world at a global crossroads and finds itself faced with complex questions arising from the growing intersection of culture, diversity, and technology, Canada’s national cultural policies are in need of reexamination.

The Association for Canadian Studies in collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage held an event entitled “Culture and Digital Technology Forum” on October 26, 2007, and on the morning of October 27, at the Holiday Inn – Plaza la Chaudière, Gatineau, Quebec.

The forum sought to:
· give a clearer sense of the historical drivers/factors/fundamentals that continue to exert an influence on cultural policy in Canada, and a sharper understanding of the rapid demographic, technological, and social changes acting on this reality from within and without; and

· articulate a rough framework of priorities for collaborative cultural policy reform in Canada, linking questions of cultural identity and creative expression to the challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurship presented by the knowledge-based economy and society.

The forum explored the following themes: 1) Cultural Policy, History and Identity, 2) How Technology is Changing the Definition of Canadian Culture, 3) Culture and Economics, 4) Demographics and Cultural Consumption, and 5) International Perspectives from the private and government sectors balanced with a Canadian voice.