[resource-net] Forum on Festival Sustainability - HTMlles Festival Montréal

[Tatiana Bazzichelli]

Dear all,

today the second part of the Forum on Festival Sustainability at the
HTMlles Festival in Montréal is taking place. I would like to share with
you the general description of it because I believe it would interest
many of you. The presentations of yesterday were filmed so I hope you
can watch them soon. Today we are going on with a dedicated workshop.

Greetings from Montréal and see you soon!

Tatiana

---------------------------------------

Forum on Festival Sustainability
14-15 November 2014
As part of The HTMlles 11: ZÉR0 FUTUR{E}

Montreal is known as a "festival city". From film to music and art,
among others, one almost cannot keep track of all the festivals that
take place within a year in the city, let alone visiting them all.
Festivals are interesting creatures. They usually emerge from, with and
for a specific community, and help to build it. Seventeen years ago,
what has since been renamed "The HTMlles" came out of a desire from
women web artists to meet and share their work. Because they are meant
to be recurrent, with time, festivals become bigger and/or
institutionalize. Sometimes, they disappear. Often, they disappear
because they are underfunded and/or they lose relevance and/or because
organizers burn out. Within the non-profit artworld currently festival
organizers need to be very creative to assure the survival of these
initiatives while also constantly questioning their mandate or
raison-d’être.

Festivals run on different models. Some are completely grassroots and/or
underground. Others are supported by artist-run centres or even museums.
Other festivals are their own organizations with staff working on them
year- round.
In looking to the future through the 11th edition of The HTMlles, ZÉR0
FUTUR{E}, we would like to bring together festival organizers to think
about sustainability. We would like to collectively think about what
“festival sustainability” actually means. What is the role of festivals
in the current ecology of art production? How do festivals both open up
new creative avenues and act as “gatekeepers”? What is their role with
regards to (their) community? How do we measure their impact on (their)
community? What is the role of documentation and archives with regards
to festivals? What alternative models already exist or could be
experimented with regarding both the funding system and the
organizational structure of festivals?

In order to come up with informed and well-focused answers, we would
like to invite organizers of festivals of different scales and from
different locations in and outside of Quebec/Canada to participate, and
restrict it to art festivals, especially (new) media arts festivals. The
gathering will be divided into three parts. It will start with a
roundtable discussion that would offer different viewpoints by various
organizers on the above questions. It will be followed by smaller group
sessions on specific questions proposed by the participants. It will end
with a plenary to share answers and ideas for action plans while
respecting the diversity of different festivals. The gathering is
however open to any festival organizer. A wiki will be used by
participants to plan and document the discussions.

Introduction by Tatiana Bazzichelli (Berlin), Initiator/Developer of
"reSource transmedial culture berlin" by transmediale
With: Edgy Women/Redux (Montreal), Elektra (Montreal), Electropixel
(Nantes), Qouleur (Montreal), MUTEK (Montreal), Sight & Sound
(Montreal), VIVA! Art Action (Montreal).

Roundtable discussion (open to the public): Friday, November 14, 2-5pm
Self-directed workshops and plenary: Saturday, November 15, 11am-3pm

More info: http://www.htmlles.net/2014/index.php?page=events&lang=en&evId=89

Partners:
ETC MEDIA
CQAM (Labàlab) Studio 303
-- 
Tatiana Bazzichelli // programme curator
http://networkingart.eu // http://disruptiv.biz
Twitter: @t_bazz
PGP: A87C 3637 03ED 1D1C E6FE E828 1F55 2B2F F5A5 C9A0