When: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 9:00am – 4:30pm
Where: Kay Building, 245 McDermot Avenue, CIER Classroom
Cost: $10 for ACI members, $25 for non-members (includes a 1-year membership with ACI)
*** Space is still available, and pre-registration is strongly encouraged! Please contact Lisa at admin@creativemanitoba.ca or 927-2787 to register ***

Your post-secondary career is near its end, and you’re starting to hear that age-old question: “So, what can you DO with a degree in art?” ACI Manitoba’s “Creative Entrepreneurship: Putting Your Arts Degree to Work” will give you the skills and inspiration to navigate life after your artistic education.

Develop your inner creative entrepreneur with this motivational one-day symposium of keynotes, workshops, panels, and presentations, specially designed for recent and upcoming graduates of post-secondary creative arts programs. Gain essential skills, connect with resource organizations, and get inspired to make a living from your art. Hear first-hand from professional Manitoban artists about what it means to survive and thrive as a creative entrepreneur on your own terms.

This exciting day of workshops, presentations, and panels will include:

Keynote Address by Stephen Carroll, musician and manager of The Weakerthans

The Freelancers’ Guide to Opportunity
Hear from a diverse panel of innovative young professionals, who have created their own opportunities to become successful artist entrepreneurs. Talia Pura will moderate this discussion of the values of collaboration, proactivity, and trusting your instincts while fulfilling your own definition of success as a freelance artist.

The Business of Living as an Artist
Juno Award-winning Winnipegger Gerry Atwell will share practical survival skills for every creative entrepreneur. Learn to find your audience, market yourself, and manage your time and money effectively.

Arts Funding & You
You may be an independent artist, but that doesn’t mean you’re in it alone. Two of Manitoba’s key funding organizations, the Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council, will give you the inside scoop on what kinds of assistance they offer and how to enhance your chances of obtaining it.

Complementary Careers in the Arts
Careers in arts and culture are as diverse as the people in them. In this presentation, you’ll hear from just three of the many alternative directions your arts practice can take: arts administration, with Tanya Derksen, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the WSO; industry development, with Sean McManus, Program Coordinator for Manitoba Music; and community-based art, with Cam Forbes, former executive director of Art City.

Careers and Creativity
Your creativity can serve you in ways beyond your arts practice. In this philosophical presentation, consider approaching your career and life with the same creativity and imagination as you do your artistic practice.

Staff and resource material from Manitoba arts and cultural sector organizations will also be on hand during lunch hour to answer your questions and develop the connections you need to launch your unique creative career.

Contact Lisa at 927-2787 or admin@creativemanitoba.ca for more information or to pre-register.

About the Presenters

Keynote Presentation

Empirical Artist Services is a Winnipeg based artist development company focused on long term strategic career management.  The company hopes to help enrich global culture through the promotion of excellent music and to provide a lasting career for the artists it represents
The company was formed by Stephen Carroll, the guitarist for the Canadian band The Weakerthans (ANTI). Stephen has been steering the successful development of that project for over 12 years, building an international reputation for himself and the band.
Under Stephen’s management, The Weakerthans have grown to become the most successful band of their generation to emerge from Winnipeg. They have an international reputation and are nationally beloved. The Weakerthans have now released 5 albums, a feature length tour film, and tour frequently all the major cites in the Western Hemisphere. In 2008, the band won four Western Canadian Music Awards, the XM Radio Artist of the Year, and the SOCAN 2008 Echo prize, and were nominated for two Indy Awards, all for their late 2007 album Reunion Tour.
In late 2009 Stephen began managing a new band from Winnipeg called Imaginary Cities. The band has already emerged from being studio project to receive national acclaim. The bands debut release was nominated for the 2011 Polaris Prize, and won a WCMA award for best pop recording. Imaginary Cities are positioned for success with international record deals in place and on going international tours. The band went to the number one spot on both Canadian college charts, making history for being the first band in the history of the Chart Attack Chart to hit number one prior to the release of their album.
In 2010 and 2011 Stephen was recognized for his work in his field with a nomination for Manager of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

The Freelancers' Guide to Opportunity

Kerri-Lynn Reeves is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and arts administrator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts – Honours degree from the University of Manitoba. As a curator, her interests include post-disciplinary craft, the materiality of concept, place making, community building, and the inclusion of theory and social engagement in art. Through her art practice, she explores her relationships with family, peers, and the communities that she encounters through communal collaborative works and contemplative personal works. Her work explores human relationships and interactions, and the memories and objects associated with them. Along with creating textile, video, and installation works, she has orchestrated large and small group socially engaged projects, locally, nationally, and internationally. She has received awards from the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts and participated in a thematic residency in 2010 at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

John Funk is the owner/operator of Underscorefunk Design, a Winnipeg-based, artisan-style creative services company. For more than ten years John has been producing innovative design and illustration for musicians, creative professional, internet personalities/content creators and international organizations.

jaymez (James Jansen) is a live visualist (vj), video artist and occasional animator. His work revolves around a passion for technology and the re-contextualization of found material. He has travelled North America with his projected visual performances and can be seen regularly around Winnipeg clubs and events, beaming images onto screens and walls. He is the Director of Media and Technology and co-founder of Winnipeg’s newest Artist Run Centre, the Central Canadian Center for Performance, as well as the Editor of KATALOG an online performance publication. He is also a freelance theatre technician and the Technical Director of the avant-garde object theater Adhere and Deny.

Meghan Athavale has been a traditional and flash animator for 13 years, and has designed interactive installations for the Forks, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and the University of Nevada. In her spare time, Meghan is an exclusive video and flash contributor for iStockPhoto, and a devoted mother of a precocious teenage son.

Talia Pura is a playwright, actor, aerial artist and arts educator and administrator. As a playwright, Talia has had many performances, several publications and a C.B.C.radio commission. Her plays have been performed by theatre companies, high schools, and in fringe festivals in Canada and the USA. Her book, STAGES: Creative Ideas For Teaching Drama was published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc. in 2002. Her short fiction has been published in Sophia and Prairie Fire Magazines. Talia has written/produced/directed four short dramatic films: I Dream of You, Collections, The Strawberry Confession and Intel. Her video, Aerial Artistry, was commissioned by CODE (Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition) and was shown at the Vancouver Olympics, 2010. It features her performance in aerial dance, on silks. She has also performed on silks for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, in gala fundraising events, and in several stage plays, including the role of Puck, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Talia is a member of ACTRA and EQUITY and has appeared in many feature films, television shows and independent shorts. She has also performed on stage for such companies as the Manitoba Theatre Center, Shakespeare in the Ruins and in Fringe Festivals in Winnipeg, Toronto, Minneapolis and New York. As well as teaching drama and theatre production at the University of Winnipeg, Talia is the Coordinator of a Youth Mentorship Program in the Arts, through ACI (Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba), and is the President and National Councilor of the Manitoba ACTRA council. She conducts workshops and adjudicates Speech Arts, Drama and Dance festivals throughout Manitoba.

The Business of Living as an Artist

Gerry Atwell is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Winnipeg. Over the past 3 decades he has produced work at the professional level in Music, Theatre, Radio, Film, Television and the Visual Arts as a Curator. Gerry won the 1995 Prairie Waves II screen writing competition with his teleplay Hands of Ida. Directed by Guy Maddin, Hands of Ida aired on Global TV in 1996 winning a Blizzard Award and a Gemini nomination. Gerry has written radio drama for CBC and his stage plays have been produced in Toronto by Factory Theatre, World Stage Festival and the AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival. As a musician and songwriter, Gerry won a 2001 Juno Award with the band Eagle and Hawk.

Arts Funding & You

The Winnipeg Arts Council is a not-for-profit corporation at arm’s length from the City of Winnipeg, funded by an allocation from the City’s general revenues and entertainment taxes. The Public Art Program is funded through the City’s Capital Budget. The Winnipeg Arts Council funds, supports, and fosters development of the arts on behalf of the people of Winnipeg.

The Manitoba Arts Council is an arm’s-length agency of the Province of Manitoba, established in 1965 “to promote the study, enjoyment, production and performance of works in the arts.” The Council makes awards to professional arts organizations and individuals in all art forms including arts education, literary arts, performing arts, and visual arts. The Council uses a peer assessment process in making awards. The main criterion used to assess application is artistic excellence.

The Manitoba Film & Sound Recording Development Corporation (MANITOBA FILM & MUSIC) is a statutory corporation of government proclaimed under the Manitoba Film and Sound Recording Development Corporation Act funded by the Province of Manitoba through the Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism. MANITOBA FILM & MUSIC supports Manitoba film and music through our objectives, which are to create, stimulate, employ and invest in Manitoba by developing and promoting Manitoba companies, producing and marketing film, television, video and music recording projects as well as to promote Manitoba as a film location for off-shore production companies.

Complementary Careers in the Arts

Sean McManus is Program Manager at the Manitoba Music Industry Association where he manages export marketing and professional development programs which serve Manitoba-based independent artists and music companies. Sean travels extensively promoting Manitoba music around the globe, and assists artists and companies in growing their businesses. Sean has a Bachelor of Music (Specialist in Education) degree from Brandon University and a Masters degree in Musicology/Ethnomusicology from York University. He has taught band and theatre in middle and secondary schools, and undergraduate cultural studies courses as a teaching assistant. Sean plays in the folk band the Dust Poets, which has released four recordings and toured throughout Canada, the United States, and the UK.

                                           Tanya Derksen is the Director of Education and Outreach with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. She has been working with the organization since 2006 and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in music education and the non-profit sector.  Tanya graduated from Brandon University with a Bachelor of Music Degree, majoring in piano. In Brandon, she operated a teaching studio with over forty piano and theory students. Her students have successfully participated in local festivals and at the provincial level. Tanya has accompanied numerous soloists, choirs and musical productions. Since moving to Winnipeg in 2005, Tanya continues to be active in the music and education community. She has been an adjudicator for the AMAF since 2004. She sat on the Board of Directors of the Arts Alliance for Music Education in Manitoba and the Manitoba Conservatory. She is also working on a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree through the University of Manitoba.

Cam Forbes has facilitated visual arts programming and developed her own painting projects with local communities for over ten years. Holding a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Cam has also studied at the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson BC and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Cam was the executive director of Winnipeg’s community art centre, Art City, from 2008 to 2011. She has exhibited her work across Canada; in galleries, and by means of alternative venues, such as public access television, the internet, and local arts festivals.

Careers and Creativity

Gordon Fitzell is a Winnipeg-based composer and media artist. His work has been performed by leading international artists including Norwegian group BIT20, Canada’s Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, and American sextet eighth blackbird, whose Grammy-winning album strange imaginary animals features two of his works. Upcoming performances in 2012 include works at the Winnipeg New Music Festival, the University of Manitoba, the Rovaniemi Iceberg Project in Finland, New Works Calgary, and the ISCM World New Music Days in Belgium. An Associate Professor of Music at the University of Manitoba, Fitzell also leads the eXperimental Improv
Ensemble (XIE) and serves as an Artistic Director of GroundSwell New Music.

Professor Herbert Enns is the Founding Director, Experimental Media Research Group (EMRG) at the University of Manitoba. He is  addition to his involvement with numerous councils, boards, and collaborations, at both national and international levels.
Professor Enns continues his interest in video production. He screened and produced four videos in support of CLUSTER: Music and InterArts Festival, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, University of Winnipeg, March 2010:

• HOME: Ice-Land, a film for Ice Fog, composed by Örjan Sandred (Allen Harrington, Saxophone and Laura Loewen, Piano);
• Night Flares, a film for composer Heidi Ugrin (Byron Wood, Vibraphone, NYC);
• Metropolis, composed by Gordon Fitzell (Allen Harrington, Saxophone and Laura Loewen, Piano);
• Silhouette, video of Alan Harrington performing Orb of the Sun by Gordon Fitzell.

Recent research and creative works include design commissions for projects in the Qu'appelle Valley, Saskatchewan; Crow’s Nest Pass, Alberta; Lake Winnipeg; and Lake-of-the-Woods, Ontario. Continuing an interest in Architecture and Design Exhibitions, Professor Enns Curated an Exhibition for the Opening of the Henry Kalen Archives, University of Manitoba Archive and Special Collections in September 2009. In the summer of 2009, he was a Visiting Artist at the Banff New Media Institute.