June 2007 - Nr. 6
Canada Council launches 50 for 50 Arts Challenge web site
Earlier this year, the Canada Council for the Arts announced its challenge to Canadians to participate in 50 arts activities during 2007, the national arts funding agency’s 50th anniversary year. Now there’s a new way to measure your progress in the ‘50 for 50’ Arts Challenge…and let others know about your arts experiences.
Inspired by the successful social networking site 43things.com – where users post 43 things they wish to do with their lives – the ‘50 for 50’ Arts Challenge site –
www.artschallenge.ca – challenges users to create a list of fifty arts-related activities they will undertake in 2007. The site’s home page provides a sampling of other users’ activities. Users can add these activities to their list or enter new ones. Users can also post comments about the arts and share their experiences. All users are eligible to receive a limited edition ‘50 for 50’ Arts Challenge t-shirt.The site also features regular posts from special guest bloggers Kim Barlow and Paul Savoie. Barlow, a musician based in Whitehorse, has commented in her blog about the Whitehorse arts scene and the music she listened to in the car on her recent tour. For Paul Savoie, a French-Canadian author of nearly 30 books: "Art is my life. It’s what gives meaning to everything I do and everything I am."
The site, however, is not solely for arts enthusiasts, but encourages everyone to participate and share their arts goals and aspirations with Canadians from coast to coast. Citing activities like "sing along with my CD in the car," and "find more books to read with my son", some of the more active users are more than halfway to the goal of 50 activities…and well on their way to 100 or more!
