News and Information

​​Electric City Culture Council (EC3)
For Immediate Release: May 9, 2016

ARTS VETERAN TO LEAD ELECTRIC CITY CULTURE COUNCIL

​Peterborough, ON –The Board of Directors of the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) is very pleased to announce that Su Ditta has been hired as Executive Director of this important arts service organization.  Su has been an effective and important leader in arts management nationally and locally and was recently named to Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame for her outstanding contribution to the arts in Peterborough. 

Su has previously held positions as Executive Director of the Canadian Images Film and Video Festival, Associate Curator at the National Gallery of Canada, Head of the Media Arts Section of the Canada Council for the Arts and Adjunct Curator, Media Arts at the Oakville Galleries.  She also previously managed the Media, Visual and Interarts component of the Flying Squad Program, an organizational and management capacity building program at the Canada Council for the Arts.  She has worked as manager of numerous non-profit arts organizations, including Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise, the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Canadian Images Film and Video Festival and locally for Arbor Theatre and Artspace.  An award winning Media Arts curator, she has worked with dozens of art galleries across Canada and served as an advisor to multiple federal, provincial and municipal agencies and arts councils.

Ms. Ditta graduated from Trent University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Studies and Canadian Studies.  Originally from Toronto, she has lived in Peterborough for many years and freely contributed her expertise to the community through her Board involvement with Artspace, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, the Arts, Culture, Heritage and Advisory Committee, the Community Grants Committee, and as co-founder of Peterborough’s Artsweek and Benchmarks, a major public art project celebrating Peterborough’s 100th anniversary. Su was a founding director and served as Vice Chair of the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough. 

Su Ditta has developed and delivered multiple grant and awards programs and led or been a member of more than 60 juries.  She has taken an advocacy leadership role for the benefit of many arts organizations and other cultural projects and supported numerous efforts to advance the recognition of women artists and achieve racial equality and cultural diversity in the arts in Canada.  Her work as private management consultant at Wild Ideas further extends her knowledge, expertise and specialized skills to assist community-based organizations in achieving growth and stability.
The Electric City Culture Council, more commonly known as EC3, is proud to have Su Ditta at the helm as Executive Director, knowing that her knowledge, her expertise, her past passionate advocacy for artists and arts organizations will provide strong and effective leadership, helping to make EC3 a dynamic and essential part of the Peterborough community.
For Further Information: 
Call: 705 749 9101 or electriccitycc@gmail.com

Thursday, March 17 at 2 PM – 4 PM

For the first time in Peterborough, a showcase of short films by filmmakers with disabilities will be screened at Trent University, entitled CRIPCUTS. Presented by Tangled Art + Disability in collaboration with The Electric City Culture Council and ReFrame Film Festival, with community partners Trent Accessibility Services and Trent Active Minds, CRIPCUTS highlights films from across the globe exploring themes of discrimination, institutionalization, accessibility, mental health, and why it’s okay to own many, many cats.

The filmmakers, and content of the films span across experiences of disability, race culture, gender, sexuality, and nationality, as CRIPCUTS: Short Films Exploring Disability and Difference is as diverse as the global disability community itself.

The short films of CRIP CUTS will be followed by a fantastic panel of filmmakers from the screening, moderated by jes sasche, long time contributor to Disability Arts in Peterborough!

CRIP CUTS Panel:

ALI SAEEDI – Tokens of Exclusions
Ali Saeedi – I am a Deaf Iranian-Canadian actor and film maker aspiring to one day start my own media company. I have written, acted and been an assistant director in many films and theatre productions, and I have taken courses in motion picture production and cinematography at Ryerson University. I know the fundamentals of editing and I have a diploma in make-up and special effects. I am eager to take advantage of other learning opportunities, especially since it has been difficult for me to participate in workshops and gain mainstream volunteering, because people have been unwilling to accommodate my language needs (ASL-English interpretation). I am passionate about media and dedicated to my craft. I very interested in people and culture. I would greatly appreciate this opportunity as I have so many creative ideas and talents to share with the world.

CANDICE LEIGHA – Tokens of Exclusion
Candice Leigha is an emerging artist with 10 years of experience working in the disability rights movement. Candice made several short films in 2011, when she was supporting local disability organizations in southern Africa through her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). However, Tokens of Exclusion is her first publically screened film. She is currently working on an short animated film about the experience of being put on psychotropic medication as an adolescent, which speaks to the pathologization of people and the importance of having person centred indicators of success in the mental health systems.

ROMEO PIERRE – In the Dark Night
Romeo is a multidisciplinary artist, musician and performer passionate about the performing arts and trans-activism. He uses his experiences of growing up with an intellectual disability and being a trans man to inform activism around issues of intimacy and disability. He is a co-researcher in the Reimagining Parenting Possibilities project, and has presented work in national and international contexts.

JES SACHSE – Panel Moderator 
jes sachse is a genderqueer visual artist, writer and curator obsessed with disability culture, public art, the post-industrial malaise of twenty-somethings living and breathing in toronto, and puns. Foremost a storyteller, they use sarcasm and contradiction to juxtapose disability archetypes with self-representations, to pervade public and private spaces and present audiences with the invitation to look.
Through the use of an interdisciplinary array of media, sachse has presented work on the international stage, including their recent curating of a unique disability arts program Kriptonite for Peterborough’s Artsweek in 2012, and 2011. They have also been working closely with other Toronto-based disabled artists, facilitating a CHIR funded digital story-telling initiative, Project ReVision, since 2011. sachse’s work has been featured in publications such as WORN Fashion Journal, The Toronto Tempest, Ryerson Free Press, The Toronto Star, Abilities Magazine, NOW Magazine, Xtra, Eye Weekly, and the 40th Anniversary edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves.

This event will be held in an accessible location. ASL interpretation and attendant care provided. Audio description provided for visual art exhibition and film. Film also includes captions. We request that you assist us in making a scent-free space.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016, 8:30 am to 12.00
Peterborough Pubic Library Auditorium, 345 Aylmer St. N.
Continental Breakfast Included
Tickets: Adults $35 Student / Senior / Artspace Member / EC3 Member / 2016 SPARK Exhibitor $25

EC3 is pleased to invite you to our
Annual General Meeting and Cultural Incubator
sponsored by the City of Peterborough
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Showplace Performance Centre
Nexicom Lounge
George St. Peterborough Ontario

Old members, new members and the public are welcome!  
FREE!
Come out and support your municipal arts council!

This year we are excited to have as our guest speaker, Carol Phillips. Carol Phillips is one of Canada’s most distinguished arts leaders.  As Executive Director of the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Art Gallery of Winnipeg, the MacKenzie Art Gallery and Vice President, Arts at the Banff Centre, Carol brings an extraordinary wealth of experience about what it takes to support artists and build cultural capacity in a community. This will be a rare opportunity to hear from one of the country’s most respected arts managers.

​

As you may have heard, the City of Peterborough is about to undertake a Community and Stakeholder Consultation as part of Vision 2025: A 10-year Strategic Plan for Recreation, Parks, Arenas, and Culture.  EC3 attended the Vision 2025 Stakeholder Forum on Wednesday, October 28th and will be attending the Arts Forum on Wednesday, November 25. We will report back to the membership on the discussions that occur.  In the meantime, we encourage you to visit the Vision 2025 website and complete the Community Survey. To go to the Vision 2025 website please click here. 

On November 16 and 17, the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough will be holding their annual Philanthropy Forum to provide professional development and networking for non-profit organizations.  This is an amazing, inexpensive, professional development opportunity right here at home.  So, if you or your Board could use some expert training in grant writing, fundraising, marketing or governance, check it out. For further information, schedules and registration, please click here. 

The Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Women’s Directorate have launched a $2.25 million, multi-year funding program to help develop relationships between the arts and social services sectors in the area of sexual violence and harassment prevention. Artists and arts organizations will have the opportunity to collaborate with organizations or experts working to prevent sexual violence and harassment.  For more information on the fund please click here.
The deadline for applications is Tuesday, December 15 at 12:00 noon.

In October of this year, The Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, began developing its first-ever cultural strategy.  Entitled Telling Our Stories, Growing Our Economy: Developing a Culture Strategy for Ontario, it contains a number of ways that Ontarians can contribute their voices to this development process in order that the strategy is based on what is important to people across the province.  The Culture Strategy aims to help identify the principles and priorities that will guide the government’s support of culture in the future. 

One of the engagement tools for this strategy is the town hall.  The Ministry is holding eleven of these across the province, five of which take place in the Hamilton, GTA, Barrie corridor, but none in the Peterborough region.  EC3 attended the first town hall in Barrie on October 13.  While individuals and organizations are very much encouraged to participate through the online tools, town halls and written submissions, EC3 believes it is important to present a united voice from the Arts, Culture and Heritage community in Peterborough. 

To this end, we have developed this survey to encourage further engagement in our own community and to ensure that as many ideas and opinions as possible are recorded and promoted.  Some of the questions in the survey are taken directly from the Discussion Paper provided by the Ministry and others have been designed to more directly pertain to Peterborough. T he full set of questions, as well as the Discussion Paper and ways to participate in the Culture Strategy, can be found here.

EC3 will prepare a written submission to the Ministry on behalf of our community. The written submission is due Monday, December 7 and a draft will be available for feedback from community members prior to the submission date so as to ensure all voices have been heard.  EC3 will hold a Flash Forum on December 3rd, 2015 to receive feedback on the submission and collect any new ideas. The location of the forum will be announced shortly.

MAKE SURE YOUR VOICE GETS HEARD AS THE ONTARIO MINISTRY OF TOURISM, CULTURE AND SPORT DEVELOPS A ROAD MAP FOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PROVINCE.

TO TAKE THE SURVEY PLEASE CLICK HERE

On Monday, September 28, 2015 the Electric City Culture Council, Artspace and Showplace Performance Centre hosted Peterborough Artsvote, an all-candidates debate with a focus on questions that matter to the city’s arts, culture, and heritage community.

If you missed the debate you can listen to Trent Radios recording of the debate here. 

Participants included:

Toban Leckie – Strength and Democracy
Doug Mason – Green Party
Maryam Monsef – Liberal Party
Dave Nickle – NDP
Michael Skinner – Conservative Party

Artsvote Peterborough was moderated by Jack Roe.