Saturday, March 16, 2019

12 to 1 pm (Eastern Time)

(POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS: NEW DATE TO BE SCHEDULED)
WEBINAR:  Managing Creativity in a Digital World
Host: Jessa Agilo

What gaps in research and best practices need to be filled for the arts services to identify effective choices about their digital transformation? Learn about the applied and action research activities planned for the conference and beyond to help fill the void, including participant interviews, surveys, social media outreach, exploration of the benefits of forming a new, cross-disciplinary Digital Arts Services Alliance to help collectively steward digital transformation strategies across Canada, and more.

2 to 5 pm

PLANNING SESSION: DASSAN19 Unconference 
Hosts: Jerrold McGrath, Jessa Agilo, and others TBA
Venue: Artscape Daniels Launchpad, East Tower, 130 Queens Quay E 4th floor, Toronto

Would you like to have a hand in designing or co-facilitating the overall scope and activities of the unconference on March 20, 2019? Come to this open and interactive session to help refine the plan for human-centered design processes and collective brainstorming sessions included as part of the conference. Also come to this session if you would like to volunteer as a process co-facilitator, or as a guiding sherpa with limited honoraria available.

6 to 8 pm

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
Hosts: Jessa Agilo, Sedina Fiati, Matt Learoyd
Venue: Artscape Daniels Launchpad, East Tower, 130 Queens Quay E 4th floor, Toronto

If you have signed up to be a valued volunteer, this casual meet-and-greet session will allow you to introduce yourself to other volunteers, deepen your understanding of the mandate, structure and activities of the Symposium, and ask questions about the tasks and responsibilities of volunteers. Want to volunteer? Volunteers attend the Symposium for free. Apply today!

Sunday, March 17, 2019

6:30 to 9:30 pm

DINNER + NETWORKING
Stelvio
354 Queen St W, Toronto

Come hang out with local arts leaders and out-of-town delegates arriving from around the world. Have some fun, inspired conversation, and terrific food.

Monday, March 18, 2019

Toronto Reference Library,
Bram & Bluma Appel Salon (Epic Hall, Prologue + Novella)
2nd Floor, 780 Yonge Street, Toronto

* An ASL-supported event
* Services de traduction anglais vers français
* French to English translation services

8 to 9 am

Registration and networking
Digital Divas: Prior to arrival, each delegate will be shared the names of one or two other delegates to seek out and connect with during the morning registration period. By then checking in with each other throughout the day, we hope this network of Digital Divas will help create a budding support system for sharing questions, insights, and fun as the day progresses.  Delegates with 3-Day Passes will be paired with different people each day.

9 to 9:30 am

(EPIC HALL)

OPENING PLENARY
Hosts:
Jessa Agilo, Co-Curator, DASSAN19; President + CEO, ArtsPond (Toronto, Ontario)
Margaret Lam, Co-Curator, DASSAN19; Founder, BeMused Network (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)
Guest: Camille Georgeson-Usher, Director of Programming, Aboriginal Curatorial Collective / Collectif des commissaires autochtones (Toronto, Ontario)

9:30 to 10 am

(EPIC HALL)

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Ana Serrano
Chief Digital Officer, Canadian Film Centre (Toronto, Ontario)
Sustaining positive growth and change in the face of rapid digital transformation.

10:00 to 10:05 am

Break

10:05 to 10:35 am

(EPIC HALL)

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Valentine Goddard
Founder + CEO, Artificial Intelligence Impact Alliance
Founder + Executive Director, AI on a Social Mission (Montréal, Québec)
Fostering policy innovations in the ethics and governance of AI for social good.

10:35 to 10:45 am

Break

10:45 to 11:15 am

(EPIC HALL)

IN CONVERSATION: Valentine Goddard & Ana Serrano
Host: Mary Elizabeth Luka, Assistant Professor, Arts, Media & Culture Management; Interim Program Director, Arts Management, Department of Arts, Culture, Media (UTSC) and Faculty of Information (iSchool), University of Toronto

11:15 to 11:30 am

Break

11:30 am to 12:15 pm

(EPIC HALL)

ROUNDTABLE: Digital Transformation – Where have we been?
Sherpas:
Jerrold McGrath,President, Intervene (Toronto, Ontario)
Sha Agbayani, Founder, Rootcare (Toronto, Ontario)
Padina Bondar, Designer (Toronto, Ontario)
Wesley Cabarios, MVDHOUSE (Toronto, Ontario)
Heran Genene, Digital Knomads (Toronto, Ontario)
Tyreek Phillips, Creative Director (Toronto, Ontario)
Maylee Todd, Artist (Toronto, Ontario)
Neil Watson, MVDHOUSE (Toronto, Ontario)

In this collective brainstorming session, delegates will discover the shared landmarks and stories of the past that guide digital literacy and transformation of the arts and arts services in the here-and-now.

12:15 to 1 pm

Lunch

1 to 1:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)

PANEL: Directions in Digital Literacy
Host: Tim Whalley, Executive Director, Prologue to the Performing Arts, (Toronto, Ontario)
Panelists:

• Evond Blake (MEDIAH), Principal Artist, IAH DIGITAL
• Richard Lachman, B.S., S.M., ProfDSc, Director of Zone Learning, Director of Research Development @ Faculty of Communication and Design, Director of the Experiential Media Institute, Digital Media in the RTA School of Media Associate Professor, Ryerson University (Toronto, Ontario)
• Peter Lyman, Nordicity (Toronto, Ontario)
• Carla Pereira, Director of Communications & Community Relations, Peel District School Board
• Anju Singh, Project Manager, DiverseTheatreBC / Visceral Visions (Vancouver, BC)

(NOVELLA)

CASE STORY: Zannie Giraud Voss
Director, SMU DataArts (Dallas, USA)
Lessons and stories from the evolution and recent merger of SMU National Center for Arts Research and DataArts, a leading provider of evidence-based insights on the non-profit arts, culture, and humanities industry in the United States.

1:45 to 2 pm

Break

2 to 2:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)

WORKSHOP: Design Thinking Tools
Facilitator:  Dr. Olivier St Cyr, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information – iSchool + Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto
Host: Margaret Lam, Founder, BeMused Network (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)

What’s design thinking all about? How can we apply it to the work that arts organizations engage in? In this workshop, Dr. Olivier St-Cyr will provide an introduction to design thinking through a practical exercise to learn some user journey mapping techniques.  By mapping the end-to-end experience a person takes when they do something as mundane as ordering pizza, participants will discover how to put design thinking into practice, and explore its relevance and application in their own work.

(NOVELLA)

CASE STORY: Alliance Culture + Numérique

Ariane Couture, Conseillère en développement de la recherche, Vice-rectorat à la recherche, à la création et à l’innovation, Université Laval (Laval, Québec)

An inspirational story bringing together the vital forces in research, culture and digital in Québec and Québec City region to lead the development of transformational digital strategies in arts and culture.

2:45 to 3 pm

Break

3 to 3:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)
CLOSING PLENARY

3:45 to 4:30 pm

5 to 7:30 pm

(LOCATIONS TBA)
Dinner
Join in us at one of several local eateries for more networking and conversation over dinner. Topics of conversation to be suggested and voted on by delegates throughout the day.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Toronto Reference Library,
Bram & Bluma Appel Salon (Epic Hall, Prologue + Novella)
2nd Floor, 780 Yonge Street, Toronto

* An ASL-supported event
* Services de traduction anglais vers français
* French to English translation services

8 to 9 am

Registration and networking
Digital Divas: Prior to arrival, each delegate will be shared the names of one or two other delegates to seek out and connect with during the morning registration period. By then checking in with each other throughout the day, we hope this network of Digital Divas will help create a budding support system for sharing questions, insights, and fun as the day progresses.  Delegates with 3-Day Passes will be paired with different people each day.

9 to 9:30 am

(EPIC HALL)

OPENING PLENARY
Hosts:
Jessa Agilo, Co-Curator, DASSAN19; President + CEO, ArtsPond (Toronto, Ontario)
Margaret Lam, Co-Curator, DASSAN19; Founder, BeMused Network (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)
Guests:
Sagan Yee,  Classical Animator, Art Game Perpetrator; Executive Director, Hand Eye Society (Toronto, Ontario)
Helen Yung, Interdisciplinary Artist-Researcher, Culture of Cities (Toronto, Ontario)

9:30 to 10 am

(EPIC HALL)

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Cimeon Ellerton
Chief Operating Officer, The Audience Agency (London, UK)
Bolstering insights on changing arts audiences and attendance through data.

10:00 to 10:05 am

Break

10:05 to 10:35 am

(EPIC HALL)

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Michael Chappell
CEO, Culture Counts (Perth/Melbourne, Australia; Cambridge, UK)
Cultivating new models and technologies to measure value and impact of the arts.

10:35 to 10:45 am

Break

10:45 to 11:15 am

(EPIC HALL)

IN CONVERSATION: Michael Chappell + Cimeon Ellerton
Host Ron Davis

11:15 to 11:30 am

Break

11:30 am to 12:15 pm

(EPIC HALL)

ROUNDTABLE: Digital Transformation – Where are we going?
Sherpas:
Jerrold McGrath, President, Intervene (Toronto, Ontario)
Sha Agbayani, Founder, Rootcare (Toronto, Ontario)
elle alconel, Programmer, Producer, Creator (Toronto, Ontario)
Wesley Cabarios, MVDHOUSE (Toronto, Ontario)
Heran Genene, Digital Knomads (Toronto, Ontario)
Tyreek Phillips, Creative Director (Toronto, Ontario)
Maylee Todd, Artist (Toronto, Ontario)
Neil Watson, MVDHOUSE (Toronto, Ontario)

In this collective brainstorming session, delegates will identify the shared opportunities and urgent quandaries that the arts industry faces in transforming to the digital world.

12:15 to 1 pm

Lunch

1 to 1:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)

PANEL + DEMOS: Creative Approaches to Immersive Media, Blockchain, and Other Emerging Technologies
Panelists:
Priam Givord, Interactive Art Director , VR UI-UX designer, Computational Designer
Candice Houtekier, Digital Content Manager
Stephen Sawyer, Design Researcher, Prescient Innovations (Toronto)
Host: Margaret Lam, Founder, BeMused Network

(NOVELLA)

CASE STORY: Margaret Vincent
VP, Governance + Legal, Stocksy United (Victoria, British Columbia / Chicago, USA)
Critical reflections, insights, and recommendations on the emergence of platform cooperative models in arts and culture.

1:45 to 2 pm

Break

2 to 2:45 pm

(NOVELLA)

WORKSHOP: DIY Culture in Youth and Children
Facilitator: Sara Grimes, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Visiting Professor in Book and Media Studies, University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario)

How are youth and children engaging in the act of creation in the digital age? What are the digital environments and the “rules of engagement” that they are growing up with? In this workshop, Sara Grimes will discuss some of the most interesting findings in her research, and explore with participants the implications for arts organizations who wants to prepare their organization for supporting the next generation of creators.

(EPIC HALL)

PITCH SESSIONS: Ignite Zone
Hosts:
Akoulina Connell, Corporate Agility Consultant (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Jessa Agilo, President + CEO, ArtsPond (Toronto, Ontario)
Community members from Western, Central, and Eastern Canada share case studies and pitch presentations of their projects to address literacy, engagement and organizational transformation in the digital world. Participants include:

Sue Biely (Digital Ladders / BC Alliance for Arts + Culture, Vancouver, British Columbia)
This presentation will pitch the Digital Ladders Project to share information about how the digital skills of BC’s creative community are being taken to the next level through a series of opt-in-where-interested programs designed to improve the digital literacy of British Columbia’s arts, culture and heritage sector. The program consists of 3 components: Salons, Learn-to-Do-Labs and Workshops. The Salons will examine a specific digital topic or theme, the 3-day Labs will let you experience the logic, process, language and flow of creating digital work and the 2-day Workshops will help you bring your digital ideas to life.

Carly Frey (Nordicity West, Vancouver, British Columbia)
This presentation will introduce DigistARTS, an initiative designed to determine the current learning needs and levels of understanding of digital literacy amongst arts workers in BC and design tools to address key gaps and bridge the digital divide. Arts BC’s DigiStarts Program will begin by assessing and determining current levels of digital literacy, and from there offer a series of learning opportunities from community forums carried out around BC, to webinars and web-based support materials, with the goal of building digital literacy, developing strategic digital thinking in arts organizations around the province, and cultivating creative ecosystems in communities (i.e. bridging arts and culture with technology and entrepreneurship, and other sectors).

Magdalena Lagerlund (Museum London, London, Ontario) and Mila Dechef-Tweddle (Nordicity, Toronto, Ontario)
Bringing together multidisciplinary teams fosters innovation through the cross-pollination of diverse perspectives. But what happens when the parties don’t speak the same language nor fully understand each other’s needs and challenges? What happens when a great idea just won’t work because it doesn’t quite manage to consider the potential implementation limitations or barriers? How do you foster innovation while ensuring that the solution will be practical and sustainable? Hear about Museum London’s winding journey of developing a process that would lead to solutions that meet the museum’s needs and the end user’s needs while leaving enough creative freedom for innovation.

Giorgia Severini (Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta)
This presentation will be a critical reflection on the consultation series the Writers’ Guild of Alberta (WGA) did to determine the needs of Alberta writers are in the digital age, and our current phase of testing out these ideas. WGA identified gaps in digital literacy among writers, including: copyright and remuneration in the digital age, using social media effectively, opportunities for writers in new digital forms, and connecting writers in rural communities with reliable internet access. The presentation will discuss what initiatives the WGA is testing out to fill in these gaps in the literary arts sector, and benefits and challenges that have come up.

• Andrew Scholotiuk (Film Reel / The Film and Video Arts Society of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta)

Daniel Webster (ART2U / Quebec English-Language Arts Network, Greenland Productions, TIXZA, Montréal, Québec)
Through ARTS2U, ELAN will collaborate with other digital initiatives in the arts to review and establish standardized data structures that structure and democratize data about artistic events. These projects overlap with ELAN’s work (funded by ISED) on a prototype arts listings database, using aggregated data sets to compile information into a feed targeted to media and gradually to consumers. This presentation will discuss research synergies between projects, share knowledge, and identify strategic approaches to shared concerns of visibility, discoverability, and data structuring.

Michael Wheeler (foldA – Festival of live digital art / SpiderWebShow Performance, Kingston, Ontario)
SpiderWebShow Performance is the first and only nationally-driven digital performing arts organization of its kind in Canada with over 200 collaborators from coast-to-coast-to-coast. Since its inception in 2013, SWS was established as an organization with skills to distil, synthesize, and analyze the social interaction embedded at the intersection of live performance and the digital realm. In 2018, SWS launched foldA (festival of live digital Art) in Kingston at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. This presentation will explore the programming process, organizational structure, and rationale behind foldA.

2:45 to 3 pm

Break

3 to 3:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)
CLOSING PLENARY

3:45 to 4:30 pm

5 to 7:30 pm

(LOCATIONS TBA)
Dinner
Join in us at one of several local eateries for more networking and conversation over dinner. Topics of conversation to be suggested and voted on by delegates throughout the day.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Toronto Reference Library,
Bram & Bluma Appel Salon (Epic Hall, Prologue + Novella)
2nd Floor, 780 Yonge Street, Toronto

8 to 9 am

Registration and networking
Digital Divas: Prior to arrival, each delegate will be shared the names of one or two other delegates to seek out and connect with during the morning registration period. By then checking in with each other throughout the day, we hope this network of Digital Divas will help create a budding support system for sharing questions, insights, and fun as the day progresses.  Delegates with 3-Day Passes will be paired with different people each day.

9 to 9:30 am

(EPIC HALL)

OPENING PLENARY
Guests:
Aaron Labbé, Founder + CTO, The Lucid Project  (Toronto, Ontario) 
Michael Prosserman, CEO, EPIC Leadership Support; Founder, Unity Charity (Toronto, Ontario)
Others TBA

9:30 to 10:30 am

(EPIC HALL)

KEYNOTE + IN CONVERSATION
Frédéric Julien, Director of Research and Development,CAPACOA (Ottawa, Ontario)
Tammy Lee, Co-Founder + CEO, Culture Creates (Montréal, Québec)
Gregory Saumier-Finch, Co-Founder + CTO, Culture Creates (Montréal, Québec)
Host: Akoulina Connell, Corporate Agility Consultant (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Incubating an open, linked data commons for the performing arts in Canada.

10:30 to 10:45 am

Break

UNCONFERENCE: A BEAUTIFUL LIFE, A THRIVING FUTURE

Sherpas/Facilitators:
Jerrold McGrath, President, Intervene (Toronto, Ontario)
Sha Agbayani, Founder, Rootcare (Toronto, Ontario)
elle alconel, Programmer, Producer, Curator (Toronto, Ontario)
Wesley Cabarios, MVDHOUSE (Toronto, Ontario)
Aphiraa Gowry, Artist (Toronto, Ontario)
Omer Ismael, Manager of Launchpad Programs, Artscape (Toronto, Ontario)
KyVITa, Producer, Media Artist (Toronto, Ontario)
Tyreek Phillips, Creative Director (Toronto, Ontario)
Maylee Todd, Artist (Toronto, Ontario)
Neil Watson, MVDHOUSE (Toronto, Ontario)

Too often, digital transformation feels like an answer looking for a question. Funding is made available and organizations feel compelled to take advantage of the utopian visions of our digital future. DASSAN19’s Unconference will allow us to collectively unpack not only how we will reach our desired future, but how achieving that objective connects to our individual or community understanding of what our beautiful, thriving future involves. And is my beautiful, thriving future possible or desirable if others are structurally excluded from achieving their own.

An unconference is participant-oriented, and the attendees decide on the agenda, discussion topics and workshops. The intention is to support interactivity and the synthesis of lived experiences and disciplines.

“A Beautiful Life, A Thriving Future” serves as an organizing aesthetic for the unconference. It asks us to consider not only the direction of digital service, but also toward what ends it is directed. If we want our digital futures to be real, then we should be open about why it needs to be so. Implementation is eased through intention.

Over the duration of the three-day symposium, a flip chart will be available so that answers to these questions can be provided. Similarly, individuals can answer these questions through #DASSAN19. The responses will offer us a starting point for the main body of the unconference:

• Why do you want to come together?
• What core questions need addressing?
• What are the desired outcomes?
• What topics should be covered?

10:45 to 11:15 am

(EPIC HALL)
UNCONFERENCE: Session 1
Details TBA

11:15 to 11:30 am

Break

11:30 am to 12:15 pm

(EPIC HALL)
UNCONFERENCE: Session 2
Details TBA

12:15 to 1 pm

Lunch

1 to 1:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)
UNCONFERENCE: Session 3
Details TBA

1:45 to 2 pm

Break

2 to 2:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)
UNCONFERENCE: Session 4
Details TBA

2:45 to 3 pm

Break

3 to 3:45 pm

(EPIC HALL)
Closing Plenary

3:45 to 4:15 pm

(EPIC HALL)
Closing Reception