What is CiCAC?
The Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada is located at Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops, BC, Canada) and is directed through the Canada Research Chair in Cultural and Artistic Inquiry.The Centre’s goals are threefold: (1) to develop a collaborative network of artist-researchers who will explore the social, economic, and political implications of the concept of the global-in-the-local through their cultural production (focussing on new media, literary, visual, and performance arts); (2) to disseminate this cultural production widely and to the general public through a variety of means including publication, new media events, curatorial projects, exhibitions, and public symposia, and 3) to create an environment of support for artist-researchers through a residency component that allows for sustained practice, experimentation, and innovation.
This third component will be critical in supporting the overall
mandate of CiCAC in that it will allow artist-researchers time,
opportunity, and resources to develop new work in a supportive
climate. Traditional artist residencies in Canada tend to support
project-based proposals in either individual/isolated or thematic/group
environments. Such residencies provide a very necessary space
for development and completion of projects, providing artists
with time, space, and resources to produce work. While The Centre
for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada intends to
provide a similar type of residency, at the heart of its mandate
is a focus on reflection, innovation, and socio-political engagement.
CiCAC will provide space for artists and public intellectuals
from Canada and other nations to contemplate new possibilities,
experiment with different technologies and parameters, and engage
with a vibrant institution that involves graduate/undergraduate
students, faculty, and community members. Most importantly,
CiCAC will endeavour to provide a cost-neutral environment and
will seek to provide additional stipends for visiting artists
so that residents are unencumbered with the type of debt or
fundraising-requirements often incurred in other similar programs.
CiCAC is physically set as a media lab with a series of editing
suites, video and audio gear, and large-format printers, making
this ideal for new media artists. However, the physical space
of CiCAC is also fluid and malleable such that individual (or
group) artist needs can be met. The space can be a small seminar
space, a viewing area, a design studio, or any number of other
spaces demanded and required by the resident(s). A virtual environment
which allows for archiving materials, video/audio-streaming,
and international networking is also an intrinsic element of
CiCAC.
Financial support from external funders will go primarily to
fund visiting artists, artist-researchers, and their projects.
General operating and staffing costs are covered through the
auspices of the Canada Research Chair in Cultural and Artistic
Inquiry.