2002-09-24

Dirk Schuetz and Dirk Heinze were special guests of two meetings of professionals in the Canadian Arts and Heritage Sector. At September 12th both founders of this network joined the meeting of O-ACE-IS, an initiative of the Association of Cultural Executives (ACE) aimed at bringing arts professionals together to exchange experiences and connect with colleagues. At the session, co-sponsored by ACE and the Co-op Arts Management Program at the University of Toronto at Scarborough, John Brotman, Executive Director of the Ontario Arts Council, commented on his experiences this past year at the Council. About one hour before, the two German guests met the team of William Poole (University of Waterloo, ON) and talked about the future of learning and knowledge transfer for arts managers, especially inspired by a private demonstration of Dave Barr from Waterloo's famous Center of Cultural Management.
At September 13, Dirk Schuetz and Dirk Heinze went to the Canadian capital Ottawa, where they came together with about 15 cultural management representatives in Canada in the conference room of the Canada Council for the Arts. Beside a deeper interest in the current situation of arts financing in Germany behind the discussion of cutting the subsidies from federal or regional bodies, both sides were convinced in the fact, that the aspect of human resource development should come more in focus not only in Canada and Germany. First steps has been made with the case study "Creative Management in the Arts and Heritage: Sustaining and Renewing Professional Management for the 21st Century", just released with a first level by the Creative Management project partners.