Jul 22 — Call for Facilitators — Community Control and Digital Infrastructure in Northern Ontario

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Con­ver­sa­tion Facil­i­ta­tors — Call for Appli­ca­tions Com­mu­ni­ty Con­trol and Dig­i­tal Infra­struc­ture in North­ern Ontario

EXTENDED appli­ca­tion dead­line: Sep­tem­ber 15, 2020

Join our Face­book group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MediaArtsNorthernOntario

The Media Arts Net­work of Ontario (MANO) and Indige­nous Cul­ture and Media Inno­va­tion (ICMI) are pleased to announce the launch of a com­mu­ni­ty-based project. Orig­i­nal­ly con­ceived as a series of work­shops and con­sul­ta­tions con­nect­ing region­al and local needs, the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic has encour­aged us to decen­tral­ize the process. MANO and ICMI are cur­rent­ly recruit­ing six­teen (16) paid facil­i­ta­tors to car­ry out con­ver­sa­tions with­in their com­mu­ni­ties and net­works to dis­cuss cur­rent needs for dig­i­tal tools and infrastructure.

ICMI was cre­at­ed out of a rec­og­nized need for Indige­nous access to the arts. ICMI opens its doors to the Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ty through pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, projects, pro­duc­tions, facil­i­ties, and equip­ment. MANO, a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of artist-run col­lec­tives and orga­ni­za­tions across Ontario, works to sup­port coop­er­a­tive own­er­ship of the tools for artis­tic pro­duc­tion, exhi­bi­tion, and dis­tri­b­u­tion by communities.

Both orga­ni­za­tions are com­mit­ted to the vital role of com­mu­ni­ty con­trol and own­er­ship in the research and devel­op­ment of dig­i­tal resources for artists in North­ern Ontario. We cen­tre equi­ty and col­lec­tive respon­si­bil­i­ty in the devel­op­ment of dig­i­tal tools and plat­forms for the arts in North­ern Ontario. This project coun­ters the per­va­sive­ness of resource extrac­tion in the north (from nat­ur­al resources to cul­tur­al knowl­edge). There­fore this project fol­lows the pro­to­cols of com­mu­ni­ty Own­er­ship, Con­trol, Access and Pos­ses­sion of all infor­ma­tion, ideas and knowl­edge shared through­out the project.

Both MANO and ICMI will engage with a diver­si­ty of orga­ni­za­tions and artists across the region. In addi­tion to the shared ICMI/MANO con­ver­sa­tions, ICMI, will also reach out to Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties for addi­tion­al Indige­nous-only dis­cus­sions about how Indige­nous peo­ple adopt dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies and uti­lize spo­ken word, sym­bols, songs and images to cap­ture, pre­serve and trans­mit cul­ture, lan­guage and ances­tral knowl­edge; and dis­cuss what is need­ed to cre­ate mul­ti­me­dia resources and share cul­tur­al mate­ri­als and what resources can help.

Facil­i­ta­tors will:

  • Par­tic­i­pate in facil­i­ta­tion and research train­ing in Octo­ber 2020
  • Have access to men­tors and support
  • Car­ry out a series of con­ver­sa­tions and inter­views between Octo­ber 2020 and Jan­u­ary 2021
  • Work with par­tic­i­pants to assess infor­ma­tion and deter­mine the own­er­ship, pri­vate or pub­lic sta­tus of the knowl­edge, and work togeth­er to cre­ate rec­om­men­da­tions for the com­mu­ni­ty and/or region
  • Par­tic­i­pate in feed­back ses­sions on final research in Winter/Spring 2021
  • Com­pen­sa­tion of up to $3,000 (at $35/hour) will be pro­vid­ed for the con­tract, depend­ing on the work plan devel­oped with each facilitator.

To apply, please send:

  • A brief descrip­tion of your inter­est or work in the arts or media arts (film, video, sound, dig­i­tal), includ­ing where you are based and who you would like to speak with — Max­i­mum 250 words
  • A brief bio or CV — Max­i­mum 150 words for bio or three pages for CV
  • Your con­tact information

If you pre­fer a phone dis­cus­sion, please call MANO at (647) 951‑4810 ext 101 or ICMI at (866) 529‑0260 to arrange an alter­nate appli­ca­tion method.

Email: sophie@mano-ramo.ca or indigenousinnovations@gmail.com

This project is sup­port­ed by the Cana­da Coun­cil for the Arts — Dig­i­tal Strat­e­gy Fund.