The Cultural Policy, IP, and Rights Ecosystems Working Group (Policy WG) explores policy needs and wants for the A/CA Case Studies, community partners, and in relation to the use of archival media and related material housed in larger public institutions, such as Library and Archives Canada, the National Film Board, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The Policy WG aims to develop and support the evolving media archive ecosystem and related best practices for cultural knowledge management, and to inform policy deliberations in this area.
The Policy WG commitmented to Indigenous methodologies, respectful and inclusive protocols for working with community archives, reflections from annual meetings, and deep dives into current case studies, including the Margaret Perry Collection, the Winnipeg Film Group and Urban Shaman. Because of the many complex sets of relations in Canadian settler society, the Policy WG is firmly grounded within the various communities and case studies we are working alongside, attempting to directly address and activate (re)conciliation and related ethical commitments. In the policy environment, this is rooted in understandings of data sovereignty, moral rights and ethical frameworks as the foundation for sharing and withholding intellectual permissions, acknowledgments and property rights. In the first two years of the project, this has meant focusing on principles of respect, as well as contracts and copyright management for digitizing and use of vulnerable archival material.
Updates from the Working Group:
During 2021-22, we will undertake an original research project that directly addresses the needs of artist-run centres and community archives. Publicly funded financial granting or aid programs that aim to support the development, preservation, and management of community-driven archival collections and archives-specific funding for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) are few and far between.
In the summer of 2021, we will launch a survey and series of interviews to analyse current federal and provincial/territorial policies and funding programs for community-driven archives that include audio-visual archives. The collection and analysis of qualitative information will draw on the lived/professional experiences of individuals affiliated with A/CA Case Studies and community partners as well as compare these experiences to formal policy documents.
Mary Elizabeth Luka
Dr. Mary Elizabeth (“M.E.”) Luka is Assistant Professor of Arts & Media Management at the Department of Arts, Culture, Media (UTSC), cross-appointed to the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. Dr. Luka is an award-winning scholar, policy maker, activist, and digital media maker for the arts and creative economy, broadcasting and telecommunications. She studies co-creative and collaborative modes of creative production and distribution in the digital age, to investigate how arts, culture, media, and civic sectors are networked together.
Dr. Luka has worked with 100+ cultural organizations as a consultant, staff member or advisor. She is Past Chair of the Board for Arts Nova Scotia, and past member of the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, NSCAD University’s Board of Governors, and the Provincial and Territorial Advisory Group of the Cultural Human Resources Council. She is a founding member of research-creation and public art walking group, Narratives in Space + Time Society (NiS+TS).
Rosemary Coombe
Rosemary J. Coombe holds the Tier One Canada Research Chair in Law, Communication and Culture at York University in Toronto, where she is a Full Professor holding appointments in the Departments of Anthropology and Social Science. She also teaches in the Communications and Culture Joint PhD/MA Programme. Prior to being awarded one of Canada’s first Canada Research Chairs, she was Full Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Her award winning book, The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties was reprinted in 2008. She publishes in the fields of anthropology and critical legal studies. Her work addresses the cultural, political, and social implications of intellectual property laws, and the politics of cultural property and heritage management at the intersections of neoliberalism, informational capital, and human rights.
Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte
Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte is completing a PhD in Communication at Simon Fraser University with a focus on cultural policy and artist-run visual and media arts organizations. In recent years, she has worked as lead researcher/consultant on various sectoral research and community consultation projects commissioned by visual and media arts service organizations. She has served on the boards of the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres (BC) and VIVO Media Arts Centre (Vancouver) and is currently a board member for Aphotic Theatre (Vancouver). Mariane has exhibited artistic and curatorial projects across Canada and has contributed texts to a number of artistic and scholarly publications.
Tamara de Szegheo Lang
Tamara de Szegheo Lang is Project Manager of the Vulnerable Media Lab and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University. She holds a doctorate in Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies from York University. Dr. de Szegheo Lang’s research takes up queer history, community-based archives, visual culture, and the affective relationships between LGBT2Q people and the past. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, the Journal of Lesbian Studies, and the Journal of Homosexuality. Dr. de Szegheo Lang is also active in curatorial and programming roles. She is a member of the programming committee for the Reelout Queer Film Festival in Kingston, a co-programmer of the Born in Frames Screening Series at Queen’s University, and past curatorial committee co-chair of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
Ben Donoghue
Ben Donoghue is a Toronto based filmmaker and arts administrator who has instigated dialogue and change in the Canadian film and media arts sector since the early 2000s. His film work for cinema and gallery is focused on explorations of landscape, macro-economic phenomena, and architecture.
In his professional practice Ben is currently Director of the Media Arts Network of Ontario, where he has worked since 2013. He previously worked as the Executive Director of the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) from 2007–2013, and has served in numerous boards and staff positions in artist-run organizations across Canada.
Debbie Ebanks Schlums
Debbie Ebanks Schlums is a multidisciplinary artist exploring themes of Jamaican diaspora, Caribbean archiving, migration, and anti-colonial actions through community engagement, materials, and conversation. She was a founding member of the Out of a War Zone and To Lemon Hill Collectives, both addressing the Syrian refugee crisis. She is a of Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council Visual Arts Grants, and an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Fellowship. Debbie studied Visual and Critical Studies and Fine Art at the California College of the Arts, and holds degrees in Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations. She was Co-Director of the Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film from 2016 to 2020 and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Cinema and Media Arts at York University. She resides in Mulmur, Ontario.
Jonathan MacKenzie
Jonathan MacKenzie is a digital media law analyst specializing in IP, copyright, privacy law, and cultural policy issues. He completed his LLB at Dalhousie University and LLM at Osgoode Hall. Jonathan holds a BA in Political Science from York University and a diploma in Broadcasting and Advertising from Seneca College. As a policy and research analyst and consultant, Jonathan has worked for organizations including the Canadian Independent Music Association and eCampusOntario. He has taught courses on Information Communications Technology and Digital Media Ethics at York University and Wilfrid Laurier University. He currently advises on federal regulatory and policy issues for the Canadian telecommunications industry.
Lilian Radovac
Dr. Lilian Radovac is a media and cultural historian and the director of the Alternative Toronto digital community archive project. Her research explores twentieth century urban history with a focus on sound, space and social movements, and has appeared in American Quarterly, Radical History Review, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies and Continuum. As a community archivist, Lilian uses digital tools to intervene in established historical narratives, curating sounds, images and texts to tell stories about people and communities that remain in the margins of existing accounts. She’s also committed to building memory infrastructures that enable them to tell their own.
Claudia Sicondolfo
Claudia Sicondolfo lives and works as a guest in Tkaronto. She is a PhD Candidate in Cinema and Media Studies department at York University who held the Vanier CGS from 2017-2021. Her research projects address topics ranging from film festivals, screen publics, youth and digital media cultures, decolonizing research methodologies and affect in the creative industries. Her doctoral research project examines curatorial modes in pedagogy, community outreach, and audience engagement within contemporary digital screen initiatives and film festivals in Canada. Her writing has been published in ESSACHES, Public Journal, and Senses of Cinema, in addition to various book anthologies. Claudia has worked intimately with educational communities across Canada and has published educational companion curriculum for documentaries. Prior to beginning her PhD, Claudia worked with the National Film Board of Canada for almost a decade.
In addition to holding an Assistant Professorship Arts Management Program in the Department of Arts, Media, and Culture at UTSC, she is also a co-researcher in the Archive/Counter-Archive SSHRC Partnership Project, in the Fair Play Connections grant, as well as the Research Associate for York University’s Digital Justice Research Cluster.
Raegan Swanson
Raegan serves as the Executive Director of The ArQuives, formerly The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. She holds a BA from Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and a Masters of Information from the University of Toronto iSchool. She has worked as an archivist at Library and Archives Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute, and as the Archival Advisor for the Council of Archives New Brunswick. She is currently working on her PhD, focusing on the role of community archives in Inuit communities. She is a member of the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives Taskforce to respond to the “Calls to Action” Report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the co-chair of the Association of Canadian Archivists Indigenous Matters Working Group.
