Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is Culture Days?

Culture Days is a coast-to-coast-to-coast celebration of arts and culture scheduled to take place every year in September. In 2010, Culture Days will take place September 24-26 in all provinces except Alberta where the third edition of Alberta Arts Days will take place September 17-19. Dates for the three northern territories will be announced soon. Culture Days will be prominently featured throughout Canada via a major national public relations and communications campaign.

Beyond public appreciation, Culture Days is the lynchpin of a vast, pan-Canadian network and movement to transform the way Canadians view and engage in the arts cultural life of their communities. (hint: Lynchpin is the thing that holds a ship together.)

We invite you to: Celebrate culture across Canada. Discover culture in your community. Create culture alongside your fellow citizens, artists and other creators.

Visit the other sections of our website to read About Culture Days, the Background & History, and our Supporters.

Is Culture Days only for Canadian citizens?

Absolutely not! When we say citizens, we mean it in the broadest sense – as in citizens of Earth. Aliens from another planet may require a visa.

Why are you suggesting that we celebrate culture? Do we need Culture Days?

Culture is everywhere and is a part of every moment of our lives. We celebrate Culture Days to recognize the special place that arts and culture occupies in our lives. Much like you would celebrate a birthday or an anniversary. You and your loved ones are special every day, 365 days a year; selecting a special time every year to pay special attention is simply emblematic.

Where are the activities listed?

Culture Days activities and initiatives are displayed in our Celebration Schedule. All activities entered and completed through our registration form are published live, and may be edited by their submitters at any time. For other examples of the types of activities you may also wish to view past activities featured in Alberta Arts Days, Ontario spOtlight, Québec’s Journées de la culture etc.

What do you include in your definition of arts and culture? Are heritage, TV/film/new media, design, architecture, cartography, multicultural, disability arts, LGBT, urban, rural, professional and amateur communities allowed to be part of Culture Days?

Yes. Absolutely. Our definition of arts and culture is very broad.

How do you select activities? Can I organize an activity for Culture Days?

Yes, absolutely! Any arts or cultural activity – professional, community, amateur, educational, etc – can be listed as part of Culture Days as long as it meets the basic criteria: a free event that involves audience participation or reveals a behind-the-scenes aspect to give the public a better understanding of the inner world of arts and culture. Remember that the intention is to encourage the public to discover and to explore.

I am not a professional singer, but I am part of a community choir. Can we be part of Culture Days?

Yes, most definitely yes – as long as your activity meets the basic criteria: a free event, open to the public, that involves audience participation or reveals a behind-the-scenes aspect to give the public a better understanding of the inner world of arts and culture.

Remember that the intention is to encourage the public to discover and to explore. For example, instead of simply performing as a choir, for Culture Days, you might invite the public to come learn to sing with you and your group.

I do arts and crafts at home. Can I be part of Culture Days?

Yes! Set up your lemonade stand – only instead of lemonade, you’re serving up “how to” tutorials on doing arts and crafts at home. If you know other craftsters, you might round up a few to band together to make a mini-arts and crafts centre on someone’s front lawn.

I am not part of a choir. I don’t do arts and crafts. In fact, I don’t think I know anything about arts and culture. How can I be part of Culture Days?

So glad you asked! You could start by participating in a Culture Days activity. We will release information about Culture Days activities and initiatives closer to the launch date of September 2010. To receive updates, you can sign up for our e-newsletter, follow us on Twitter, or add us as a friend on Facebook, MySpace, or any of these other networks.

If you want to help organize or create a Culture Days activity, we applaud you. The possibilities are endless – use your imagination! Examples of what you could do include: organize an art gallery crawl with your friends (think of it as a pub crawl, but from gallery to gallery instead of pub to pub); contact a local artist and invite them to help you create a Culture Days activity; or ask your local library to help you organize an event inviting local citizens (your work buddies, library patrons, others who hear about you through the Culture Days program guide) to contribute a piece of local history to a collectively-created new book for the library– be it a story about a great baseball game at the local diamond, a drawing of someone’s favourite café, a photo of the last big snowstorm, or a family tree showing who has stayed, and who has moved where.

Organizing Activities

Is Culture Days a festival? Are you a funder or an event producer? I’m confused – what is Culture Days?

Culture Days is not a festival, funder or event producer. Culture Days is a movement of people, organizations and communities that believe in promoting cultural participation to the public. The movement is linked via the shared branding, e-mail list, online resources, activity registration, word-of-mouth, and volunteer committees, with the support of a few paid staff to keep the network connected.

Many artists and organizations already offer free opportunities for the public to learn more about their programming and arts and culture in general. Culture Days is an opportunity to link together all these audience engagement activities and issue an impressive and enticing invitation to everyone in Canada to (re)discover arts and culture. For artists and organizations that don’t already offer free arts learning activities, Culture Days is an opportunity to reach out and engage new audiences.

During Culture Days, thousands of Canadians will be out there, looking for an arts and cultural experience. Will yours be one of them? We hope so! Register an activity with Culture Days today.

Do you offer funding for activity organizers? I notice that you have sponsors for Culture Days, but everything has to be free. Is there any way to get funding for activities?

We are asking that all Culture Days activities be open to the public free of charge. But there is no requirement that artists work for free. In fact, we very much support the right of artists to be paid – during Culture Days, and throughout the rest of the year.

Culture Days, however, does not provide funding, artists fees, or payment to organizers for hosting activities. Culture Days is not a funder, festival or event producer. (See first question Is Culture Days a festival? Are you a funder or an event producer?)

A range of opportunities for funding artists and cultural groups exist in every province and territory of Canada. A good place to start would be to approach your local arts council(s), foundation(s), and service organizations for advice.

Some other suggestions:

If your organization already offers arts learning or outreach activities, simply schedule one of your regular events during Culture Days. That way your group can participate for little or no extra cost.
Try approaching arts and cultural venue operators such as community centres, presenters, parks, libraries, and others about helping you organize an activity for Culture Days. Sometimes venue operators have programming budgets that could help support your activity and they will likely welcome the opportunity to engage with new partners and community members. Other possibilities include contacting schools and educators, or your local tourism, recreation or cultural department within your municipal government.
Connect with other artists and arts organizations in your area to concentrate some activities in one location. This will help you share resources and attract a bigger attendance to all your activities.
You may also want to approach less conventional venues run by business owners who may be interested in an offer from you to animate their premises during Culture Days. It would be an opportunity for them to enhance their business reputation, support local artists, engage existing customers with an interesting experience, reach out to new potential customers, and be a part of a Canada-wide event. For yourself, you may find your creativity and inspiration sparked by considering a different kind of venue. Imagine hosting an arts or cultural activity at a bar, café, bank, grocery store, retail shop, or another unusual, alternative venue!

What is the sponsorship money being used for?

The Culture Days corporate sponsors and media partners are key collaborators in helping to reach the public. Sponsorships go mostly towards marketing (e.g. ads in newspapers, TV, radio, web, etc) to make sure the public is aware of the amazing experiences available during Culture Days. The residual amounts go towards staffing and administrative costs to support and mobilize the movement.

What if we don’t have a place to host an activity?

If you want to find a venue, but don’t know where to start, post a message on our Facebook group asking for suggestions. Sign up for e-updates so we can pass along information about venues and other tips.

Some suggestions to start you off:

Try approaching arts and cultural venue operators such as community centres, presenters, parks, libraries, and similar sites. They will likely welcome the opportunity to engage with new partners and community members. Bonus: Sometimes venue operators have programming budgets that could help support your activity.
Other possibilities include contacting schools and educators, or your local tourism, recreation or cultural department within your municipal government.
Connect with other artists and arts organizations in your area to see if they have space to share. It can also be a good idea to concentrate some activities in one location. This will help you share resources and attract a bigger attendance to all your activities.
You may also want to approach less conventional venues run by business owners who may be interested in an offer from you to animate their premises during Culture Days. It would be an opportunity for them to enhance their business reputation, support local artists, engage existing customers with an interesting experience, reach out to new potential customers, and be a part of a Canada-wide event. For yourself, you may find your creativity and inspiration sparked by considering a different kind of venue. Imagine hosting an arts or cultural activity at a bar, café, bank, grocery store, retail shop, or another unusual, alternative venue!

I am a cultural professional. I would love to be a part of Culture Days but with everything else I’ve got on my plate, I’m not sure how I can find the time and resources to pull together yet another event.

If you work for an organization, you probably already do audience engagement activities – just schedule one of them to take place during Culture Days. Or, you may already have an audience engagement activity planned for the same dates; in that case, all you need to do is to let us know you want your activity to be part of Culture Days. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to get updates on how to register an activity, using our name and logo, and having your activity benefit from the publicity generated by the Culture Days media campaign.

Otherwise, keep it simple. If you had a few friends pop by your studio today, and if they asked you to tell them about what you do, what would you say? What would you show them?

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What are the benefits of participating in Culture Days as an activity organizer?

Great question. Reminds us of those times when people ask what the benefits of arts and culture are... There are so many benefits! Please consult the provincial calls for participation which outline a number of important points about the benefits and anticipated impacts of participation. These include:

Highlighting the importance of arts and cultural activity to a community’s quality of life
Helping the public become aware of the many opportunities available to participate in arts and cultural activities in every community
Drawing attention to the different cultures, heritages, cultural workers, and artists that contribute to the development and vitality of our communities
Inspiring Canadians with experiences that remind them of the benefits of cultural engagement for their own well-being
Promoting and revealing the creativity of our citizens, creators, organizations, and communities through a Canada-wide marketing and public awareness campaign
Encouraging cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations
Creating a legacy of strong connections between citizens, cultural workers, artists, and their communities

Some of the more specific benefits depend on your particular situation. If you or your group do not usually have opportunities to interact with the public, this is your chance to open the door and welcome in your neighbours. “I had no idea people would be so interested!” is what we’ve heard some artists and community groups say. If you already produce audience engagement, education and outreach activities, this is a chance to boost the impact and reach of your programming year-round to new audiences through a large, collaboratively-driven communications vehicle.

We have a few programs happening around the same time as Culture Days in our province! Can our programs be part of Culture Days?

Of course! We encourage you to register all existing programs with Culture Days, as long as they are:

1.     Free to attend
2.     Interactive or participatory
3.     Open to the public during the Culture Days dates in your province

We want to make our festival part of Culture Days. What if some of our activities are free, but others require an admission fee?

Only interactive or participatory arts or cultural activities that are free for the public to attend are eligible to register with Culture Days. If you have planned a mix of free and ticketed programs, we suggest that you register your free activities with Culture Days, and then use the Activity Description area to tell readers that you have other activities available. If you provide a website URL or a box office phone number, they can visit your site or call to find out more about all of your programming.

Do all Culture Days have to be free? How do you define free? What if we only charge $2 for an activity? What if we are planning an Open House, and there will be free activities in some areas, and activities that require a donation, admission fee or workshop fee?

Yes, all Culture Days activities have to be free of charge for the public to attend.

If you plan to charge a small amount, or require a donation, admission fee or a workshop fee to be paid – even if it’s only to cover the expense of providing a workshop experience – this would mean that your activity is not free of charge for the public to attend.

Note: asking for voluntary donations or placing a donation box near the entrance is not the same as requiring donations.

How much does it cost to register an activity with Culture Days?

There is no charge. It’s free!

What will I receive if I register an activity with Culture Days?

After you register an activity, you will:

Have an account set up on our activities registration system. So you can come back to the website any time to login with your email and password, and edit or elaborate on your activity information, add photos, links etc.
Have access to the Culture Days logo files and branding guidelines. So you can add the logo to your marketing and promotional materials and have your activity be associated with the Culture Days brand.
Be able to download the Culture Days poster(s) and related marketing materials as they published, so you can adapt our templates for your promotional purposes.
Have opportunities to submit your photos, videos, success stories, best practices, ideas, tips, and activities for possible features on TV, radio, in print, on our website, and through our social media channels as part of the Canada-wide communications and marketing campaign.
Benefit from exposure to new communities through our website and related communications.

Using the Activity Registration System

I don't know how to enter a Google Maps URL to show a map of my activity location.

How to obtain a Google Maps URL for your location:

1. Open a new browser
2. Copy and paste this link into the new browser: http://maps.google.ca/
3. Type in the address and city for your activity and click on “Search Maps”
4. Browse through the search results on the left and click on the correct location
5. Now select the “Link” for this location (top right of the map) and look for the link called “paste link in email or IM”. This is your Google Maps URL. Copy and paste that into the Google Maps URL in your activity details.

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Organizing Activities

Using the Activity Registration System

General

Organizing Activities

Using the Activity Registration System

What is Culture Days

Funders & Supporters

Frequently Asked Questions

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