Here’s what the Department of Culture is doing for Election 2011

One week into an election campaign, Department of Culture (DoC) is up and running! Welcome to the new campaign, and thank you for attending. We have two initiatives that we invite you to participate in:

1) Department of Culture call for proposals and projects for art about the election:

Are you anti-Harper, Pro-someone else? Do you have a vision for what Canada could or should be? Would you run things differently? Feel strongly about democracy?

We invite you to use your creative skills to explore these themes, or any others you find yourself mulling over, in response to the current Canadian federal election. We invite all media — paintings, photos, graffiti, videos, songs, prose, poetry, plays, speeches, games, interpretive
dance — whatever expresses your views on this election, and your vision of a better Canada.

We encourage submissions from a diverse selection of artists from across the country These works will be posted and disseminated widely by DoC.

Submit your artistic response, or idea for a creative response to the election to: art@departmentofculture.ca.

2) Department of Culture Launches Online Culture in the Election mapping tool

Beyond curated work, Department of Culture will also be seeking to identify and map cultural responses to the election through a dynamic map that will use crowdsourcing as a means of verification.

We are seeking volunteers who are willing to commit to being a part of this process — something you can do from the comfort and (relative) safety of your home computer.

Our first training session will take place this week over Skype, so you can participate from anywhere. To confirm your participation and get the rest of the details, email map@departmentofculture.ca.