Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Media, Democracy, and You:
How To Find the News that Feeds Us.

Saturday June 6 -- A full day of speaker panels and presentations, featuring an impressive roster of journalists, media producers, communication scholars, and social justice advocates.

Designed to provoke discussion and debate about how our media choices affect our democratic interests, for better or for worse.


The Day’s Agenda
(panel moderators to be announced)

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9:00 – 9:15
August Thomas and the Esquimalt Singers and Dancers will sing, drum and dance traditional Honour Songs.

9:15 – 9:30
Welcome and introduction to the day’s proceedings.
Darren Alexander

9:45 -10:45
The Revolution Will Be Timeshifted:
The Reinvention of Canadian Television, with a CHEK TV case study.
Featuring: David Black (School of Communication and Culture, Royal Roads University), Diane Dakers (Author: CHEK Republic: A Revolution in Local Television)

11:00 – 12:00
Democracy, How Now?
Do we have a free press? Do we have a democracy?
Featuring: Brian Gordon (Fair Vote Canada), Josh Paterson (BCCLA), Jo-Ann Roberts (Green Party candidate)

12:00 – 1:00
Lunch Break

1:00 – 1:50
Mainstream vs. Main Street
How to make effective media without corporate dollars. The challenges, advantages, and tricks of the trade.
Featuring: Andrew MacLeod (The Tyee), Tom Shandel (Getaway Films), Briony Penn (Focus Magazine)

2:00 – 2:50
Through the Eyes of Women:
A perspective on media inclusion at CFUV.
Featuring: Kay Gallivan (Journalist), Liz McArthur (News Director), Daphne Shaed (Breaking Binary). Moderated by Janine Bandcroft (Winds of Change)

3:00 – 3:20
Radical Spotlight:
Frank Lopez and SubMedia. (Skype interview)

3:30 – 4:20
Critical Voices – What’s Missing?
Where are the stories? When do we take action? What are we waiting for?
Featuring: Chris Cook (Gorilla Media), Kevin Adam Henry (Media Producer, Culture Critic), Robin Mathews (Vive le Canada), Bruce Saunders (Movie Monday). Moderated by Zoe Blunt (Forest Action Network)

4:30 – 5:20
Critical Voices – New Directions
New possibilities for producing, sharing, and archiving our stories.
Featuring: Peter Sandmark (MediaNet), Mandy Leith (Open CInema), Jason Guille (Stream of Consciousness)

5:30 – 5:45
Closing summary and remarks.

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The following week includes a growing slate of events and workshops, all dedicated to our Media-Democracy theme, with an aim to forge producers out of consumers, and to entice engagement and mindful choices regarding our media.

Want to learn how to make citizen news reports with your digital device? Teens aged 13+ are encouraged to contact Kirk Schwartz at MediaNet to register for Saturday, June 6 workshop.

On June 4, Tasha Diamant is premiering a new show, entitled Skin in the Game as part of Media Democracy Days Victoria:
https://www.facebook.com/events/802697309827050/

And anyone can join or visit Tasha as she holds a #VulnerabilityVigil, holding the word 'democracy' :
Sunday, June 7, 2015
2-3 pm
Broad St and Pandora
near CTV and Victoria City Hall

Be sure to visit our website at www.mddvictoria.org for details and speaker bio's and workshop registration contacts.

Join our Facebook event page to ensure you'll be updated with a complete schedule of events and further details as they develop for the Saturday of panels: https://www.facebook.com/events/1565951816988300/1577377842512364/