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Reply on behalf of SAN

I am writing in response to the questionnaire put out by the Canada Council for the Arts, as part of the revision of their electroacoustic music programme. I have responded to two of the questions, both from an international perspective and also as a board member and past chair of Sonic Arts Network. I hope that this helps you in the production of your report.

The CEC Role
* Are any publications getting beyond the membership to a national or international profile?

One of the many international links which the CEC and SAN have fostered is in the area of publications. Not only do the CEC and SAN benefit from the re-publication of each other's materials (articles from Contact! and eContact! have often be reproduced in SAN publications), but specially commissioned articles, such as Ian Chuprun's keynote article in a recent issue of SAN's DIFFUSION and the eContact! Issue dedicated to SAN. The CEC's publications are certainly widely respected by the SAN membership.

Issues
* Are there models of other service organisations for electroacoustic music outside Canada? How are these organisations similar - or not - for this artform with regard to both structure and mandate?

SONIC ARTS NETWORK - a little background...

Sonic Arts Network, the leading promoter of electroacoustic music and sonic art in the UK, exists to further - through creation, dissemination and research - the creative use of technology, which is transforming the nature and practice of music, and its access in education and the wider community.

Set up in 1979 as EMAS (The Electroacoustic Music Association of Great Britain), it received its first funding from the former Arts Council of Great Britain (for equipment purchase) in 1981. In 1983, the grant was increased to include administration costs and that year EMAS employed its first administrator. Since then the administration team has increased to two employees in the London office and one and a half in the Huddersfield office.

The annual revenue funding from the Arts Council of England (ACE) is currently over £100,000 per annum and the company has a turnover of over £200,000 per annum. The extra income generally comes from one-off project funding (often with European development monies) through our highly successful education work. It is important to point out that SAN Education would certainly NOT be in the position it is without the core funding grant received from the ACE

The membership base of SAN is currently over 300 members, including international members. Due to our funding from ACE, are members are able to benefit from an organisation which represents them both nationally and internationally, in all aspects of the promotion of and dissemination of information about sonic art, in its widest possible context.

On a personal level....I have been observing the debate on this issue on CECDiscuss and also on CECBoard, in my position as the SAN representative, and I must register, in the strongest terms possible, my dismay at the apparent invisibility of the CEC to the Canada Council for the Arts. How can it be that an organisation with the international respect and gravitas of the CEC can not have the true recognition it deserves in its own country? This is beyond my comprehension as an observer from across the water - many, many missed opportunities. This must be remedied as soon as possible for the sake of the electroacoustic community in Canada.

Regards

Dr. Pete Stollery
Northern College
Hilton Place
ABERDEEN AB24 4FA
Scotland UK

BEd(Hons) Music at Northern College

Sonic Arts Network

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