Date: April 16, 2012
Time: 12-2pm
Cost: Free
Location: Canada/Manitoba Business Service Centre (250-240 Graham Avenue, Winnipeg)

Exporting Your Cultural Product or Service - a Panel Discussion

Are you thinking of taking your show on the road or selling your artistic work outside Manitoba, but don't know where to begin or what's involved in exporting? Moderator Judy Slivinski will host a panel of creative entrepreneurs from the music industry, visual art/crafts and the performing arts who have reached beyond Manitoba’s borders to sell or perform their work. Panelists will share how export marketing has helped them develop new markets, increase sales and build more dynamic businesses. They will also discuss the particular challenges of exporting in the current global economic and social environment.

Moderator: Judy Slivinski – Senior Director of Marketing & Development, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Panelists:

• Hilary Druxman - Fine Jewelry Designer, Hilary Druxman Inc. www.hilarydruxman.com
• Todd Jordan - Artists’ Agent, Vice-President - Agency Division, Paquin Entertainment Group Inc. www.paquinentertainment.com
• Alexis Kochan - Singer and Composer, Paris To Kyiv www.paristokyiv.com

Topics:

• Why expand your market? (potential benefits)
• When are you ready to export?
• How to promote your work outside Manitoba –via website, advertising, trade shows, etc.
• The basics of selling online – secure online payment, shipping, etc.
• Must do’s and pitfalls to avoid
• Movement of people and goods across the border
• Challenges of the current global environment

To register, contact Lisa at 927-2787 or admin@creativemanitoba.ca.

About the speakers:

Hilary Druxman
Jewelry Designer, Hilary Druxman Inc.

Winnipeg-based Hilary Druxman never imagined herself a jewelry designer. But, after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, she landed a position with a local jewelry retailer and quickly became fascinated with the old world mystique of the craft of jewelry. This passion led her to secure a certificate as a graduate gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America, which gave her a solid foundation in manufacturing. Hilary's first jewelry collection was a line for a Winnipeg boutique. The positive response to her inaugural collection further fueled her entrepreneurial spirit and persuaded her to start her own independent jewelry business. Hilary Druxman Design was born in 1994.

Hilary's designs quickly caught the attention of the fashion media and were featured in the editorial and advertising sides of magazines, film and television. Absolut Vodka commissioned Hilary to create a limited collection of silver and blue Soladite rings as part of an advertising campaign. More recently, Hilary designed private collections for Saks Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic and Club Monaco.
In 2004, the company opened its first freestanding retail store in Santa Monica, CA. All Hilary Druxman jewelry is designed and manufactured at Hilary Druxman Inc's studio in Winnipeg. The Hilary Druxman Collection is sold in over 200 boutiques in Canada, the US and the UK.

Todd Jordan
Vice-President - Agency Division, Paquin Entertainment Group Inc.

Paquin Entertainment's Agency Division is especially proud of two things: its roster of over 150 nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, and its devoted team of agents. Paquin Entertainment's Agency roster includes artists from a dynamic range of genres - from roots to rock, country to comedy, theatre to family entertainment.

With offices in Toronto and Winnipeg, Paquin Entertainment's Agency is one of Canada's premier talent agencies. Paquin Entertainment's agents strive to understand and meet the individual needs and markets of each of its artists, by booking shows in a wide variety of venues, including arenas, theatres, concert halls, festivals, corporate events, casinos and clubs.

Paquin Entertainment's expertise as both a booking agency and talent buyer provides engagement opportunities to national and international acts across Canada, the U.S., and through its reciprocal arrangements, in European and Asian markets.

Alexis Kochan
Singer and Composer, Paris To Kyiv

Singer Alexis Kochan's passion to explore the source of her ancestors’ music has led to basing her compositions on old Ukrainian melodies and song fragments, and then framing them in contemporary music. Eventually this fusion of the two solitudes of ancient and modern led to her Paris To Kyiv project. Since 1994 Kochan and main collaborators, violist Richard Moody and bandurist Julian Kytasty, with added musicians from different cultural worlds, have blended ancient Ukrainian music with contemporary sounds.

They have been heralded as one of the most unique ensembles playing today. Their sublime and ethereal music has borne audiences on two continents back through centuries. The result has been a huge following for Paris To Kyiv in Canada and beyond. Each of their four recordings reveals new colours, textures and artistic vision. In the process, Kochan and Paris To Kyiv have redefined the stereotypical Ukrainian and Canadian culture.

Judy Slivinski
Senior Director of Marketing & Development, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Judy directs and oversees all local, national and international marketing initiatives for Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a 73-year-old company for which extensive annual touring is essential to its business model and has earned it international renown. Judy’s team of marketing professionals in Winnipeg and across Canada keep pace with developments and trends in the live performing arts, and endeavor to use the most effective tools to reach its target markets.

From 2008-2010, Judy served with the Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism (Manitoba), where her clients included Winnipeg’s major arts organizations. Prior to that Judy spent 12 years managing EDGE Cultural Management, an arts consulting firm that supported artists from all disciplines in the areas of career development, self-promotion, management, production and export marketing. During that time she created learning tools and facilitated workshops and panels for artists across the country. Judy was instrumental in the founding of ACI and Arts Consultants Canada, and was the Program Coordinator for the Arts and Cultural Management Certificate Program at the University of Winnipeg in the program’s inaugural year.