Director’s Message – June 2018
Guy Rodgers with visual artists based in West Island.
Photo by Kinga Michalska
Summer is upon us and ELAN’s first Arts Alive! Québec 2018 festival takes place in Hudson this weekend. Hudson is a beautiful town full of talented artists, and I highly recommend a cultural, gastronomical day-trip. The schedule of this weekend’s activities can be found here.
In the coming weeks we will unveil programming for Huntingdon (July 8), Knowlton (August 3-5), the Morrin Centre in Quebec City (August 3-4) and Wakefield (September 7-8). CBC is back as our media sponsor and we look forward to working with them. Each regional partner will feature unique programming that consist of fun-filled activities for all ages, which includes a mixture of main-stage shows, outdoor performances in shade-dappled parks, visual arts, and an entertaining range of hands-on workshops.
Another big event in June should be the launch of Quebec’s long awaited Cultural Policy, which has been in development for years under three different Ministers of Culture. Minister Marie Montpetit (Minister of Culture and Communications; Minister responsible for the Protection and Promotion of the French Language) is expected to announce the Action Plan this month. Given the major increase in cultural funding confirmed in April’s budget, the Action Plan should be good news. CALQ and SODEC are keen to discover the actual budgets they have been allocated. ELAN hopes that our interventions during the drafting process result in a clear recognition of the historical contribution of English-speaking artists to Quebec culture, and a strong on-going commitment to support our work.
The provincial election is not scheduled until the fall, but the campaign has already begun. ELAN has been working with the Quebec English-Language (film and TV) Production Council (QPEC), the Quebec Community Newspapers Association (QCNA), the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) and the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) to develop a community Cultural Policy to be shared with all political parties. We will continue working on it over the summer – between day-trips to Arts Alive! Quebec festivals. I hope to see you there!
