- Albert Alexanian appointed to OAC’s Board of Directors
I have to admit that there is something quite sweet about receiving blog-fodder via a medium that isn’t the internet, so naturally my little analogue heart was set a-flutter by receiving word that Albert Alexanian - Hamilton-based, carpet-and-flooring-mongering Albert Alexanian - has been appointed to the Board of the Ontario Arts Council via good old […]
- An open letter on Hamilton’s post-steel future
Partway through this lovely Victoria Day weekend, I received an email from an associate producer of The Agenda with Steve Paikin on TVO. Besides feeling relief at knowing I wasn’t the only person using the May Two-Four to catch up on work, I was pleased to learn that The Agenda will be hosting a panel […]
- Smug gloating mitigated by a worthy cause
It’s been a busy week, so I had nearly forgotten that the shortlist for the Sobey Art Prize was due to be announced today until the results popped up on my RSS feed to View on Canadian Art (before they showed up on the Prize’s website, even, so good on Andrea Carson for that one). […]
- Can the Arts Save Hamilton?
It proved a funny question with which to frame Thursday night’s panel discussion at the Art Gallery of Hamilton: why ask if the arts can ’save’ Hamilton when it became readily apparent that everyone in the room already took the affirmative for granted? The more accurate shape of the debate - and there was debate […]
- Saying what we already knew (now with numbers!)
Nothing quite brightens my day like a tidy, official report reminding me not only of how utterly dirt-poor I am, but also that I’m far from exceptional in this regard. And yes, apparently it’s that grim but all the same I believe Michael Maranda (assistant curator at the Art Gallery of York University) has done […]
- Coalition and Shiny Clockwork Robots
Being the selectively political animal I am, my own impressions of the current coalition furor are of a more ambivalent sort than the unilateral tone of elation from my compatriots over at the Department of Culture, who take this move as a victory for their cause: as is their right and responsibility as political activists. […]
- Don’t let the kitten fool you, this man is scum
Like many people, seeing Stephen Harper’s face in the paper can turn my stomach disgust at the best of times, but having to read about his latest jack-assery against the arts while I’m still on my first coffee of the day is really too much. The sheer ignorance of his latest attempt to annex the […]
- More ammunition
The industrious bunnies of the Department of Culture have been working steadily to increase awareness of Harper’s ass-backwards cultural policies pending next month’s election, so the least I can do is follow their lead in directing folks to this Globe and Mail article in which James Bradshaw outlines, in lovingly rational detail, the devastating gap […]
- Matthew Varey, ‘Growing up in Hamilton’ at Transit Gallery
I had intended to report on this exhibition at some point over the weekend, only to be thwarted by my negligence in bringing my trusty piece-of-shit camera along for the ride. Having just returned from a second viewing complete with stealth-photography, I am now happy to get on with the show.
Matthew Varey, Growing up in […]
- Politics, updating, etc.
I wasn’t able to attend last night’s Town Hall meeting in Toronto to discuss the myriad pending cuts to cultural funding programs at the hands of the Conservative government, but an mp3 download of the meeting is available from the good people of the newly mobilized Department of Culture. You’ll also find a video clip […]
