The sudden surge of new presentation models exposes an urgent need to formalize standards for streaming and other types of online presentation for the media arts sector.
To address these issues, IMAA engaged in a national conversation with media artists, arts service organizations, media arts festivals and independent distributors, galleries, and other presenters. This project took place in 2021.
Intellectual Property and Online Presentation: Guidelines and Resources for Media Arts Presenters
With a focus on equity and transparency, this guide presents the legal framework for intellectual property, the challenges it presents, and Indigenous perspectives on the subject. This document includes:
Contracts Checklist between media arts presenters and artists or copyright holders
IMAA recommends that presenters and artists (or copyright holders) enter into agreements via signed contracts. A signed contract is the clearest way to record the terms of an agreement. This resources includes:
What “equity through accessibility” might mean in the context of your activities. This resource was developed to raise awareness of questions related to accessibility and online presentation. This document includes:
Online Presentation Workflow: Resources for the Media Arts Community
Online presentation initiatives involve a range of technology solutions, from ready-to-use platforms to custom-built websites and digital tools. This resource was developed as a map to help media arts presenters navigate the online presentation process. You will find in this document a series of questions and items to consider:
Online Presentation Workflow chart
Simplified, graphical representation of the Online Presentation Workflow document.
The IMAA Fee Schedule recommends fees for screenings and audio presentations, exhibitions, professional fees, educational use of media art works, and print reproduction of film/video stills in both in-person and online contexts.
Glossary of Terms: Online Media Arts Presentation Standards
This glossary presents terms related to Accessibility, Intellectual Property and Copyright, the IMAA Fee Schedule and Technical Vocabulary for online presentation.
External Resources: Online Media Arts Presentation Standards
This directory provides external resources about online presentation.
As part of this project, the following consultation activities were also organized:
The groups met regularly in the spring and summer of 2021 to support research, discuss best practices, and provide feedback on draft documents. These groups were formed through a call for applications and by invitation.
Expert presentations were organized to complement group discussions.
The online presentation and distribution of media artworks challenge existing models for the remuneration of artists and raises specific issues related to intellectual property.
This working group was directly involved in the development of the IMAA 2022 Fee Schedule, Intellectual Property and Online Presentation: Guidelines and Resources for the Media Arts Community and the Contracts Checklist.
Putting into practice accessibility-driven values – offline and online – is an ongoing process in which the media arts community is engaged. This group focused on the development of a common understanding of what is meant by accessibility and how this translates into online presentation practices.
This working group was directly involved in the development of the document Towards Accessible Online Presentation Models: Introduction and Resources for the Media Arts Community. It is also important to note that many members of the group self-identify as being part of D/deaf and disability communities.
Digital technology changes the playing field for media arts presenters and distributors, providing multiple new ways of disseminating work and reaching audiences. However, from a technical point of view, online presentation comes with its own set of issues.
This working group was directly involved in the development of the document Online Presentation Workflow: Resources for the Media Arts Community.
The advisory committee defined the main orientations of the research and its members act as a liaison with their organizations and communities to publicize the project’s activities.
Translation and French linguistic revision
Coop l’Argot
Specialized linguistic revision
Cara Eastcott, George Azzaria, Maxime D.-Pomerleau, Véro Leduc and members of the working groups.
Moderators of the first round table
Anyse Ducharme, Genne Speers, John Blouin, Madeleine Piller, Roxane Halary et Stéphanie Lagueux.
Special thanks
Many people have accompanied this project with their advice and generosity.
Aaron Zeghers, Barb Taylor, Hélène Brousseau, Isabelle L’Heureux, Josée Plamondon, Laurence Parent.
The Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) is a member-driven non-profit national organization working to advance and strengthen the media arts community in Canada. Representing over 100 independent film, video, audio, and new media production, distribution, and exhibition organizations in all parts of the country, the IMAA serves over 16,000 independent media artists and cultural workers.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Archive/Counter-Archive, and Simon Fraser University.
We also thank the supporters of this project.
IMAA has observed that one point of struggle for many media arts organizations in Canada is finding a suitable site, with appropriate facilities and amenities that allows them to do the unique artistic and production work of the sector. After gathering more comprehensive data through a survey of members and closely allied artist-run spaces, IMAA highlighted some of the most common challenges in securing suitable and affordable spaces.
The Space and Facilities Toolkit consists of two portions: the study, and the toolkit. First, the study displays the results of the consultations, highlighting the needs of organizations within the sector regarding increased security of tenure, support to take on major renovations, relocation, or building purchases. Second, the Toolkit is a compilation of documents gathered from the previously mentioned members/artist-run spaces that could be used as templates or examples for future use.
The Media Arts Facility Study:
The Space & Facilities Toolkit:
The Resource Toolkit is organized into ten categories, each representing an information need identified in the study. While some documents are dated, they often continue to provide a useful example of the nature of that type of document/agreement, providing a roadmap to navigate document formatting, word choice, or clauses that are often used.
1. Project Planning & Process Guides
This section contains documents that are helpful for the first steps in planning a real estate project, including long-term project outlines, sample feasibility assessments, and examples from La Meduse Arts Centre, PAVED Arts/AKA, and TMAC.
This section contains documents that help describe an organization’s business plan, which is often used to illustrate an organization’s goals and strategies to funders and lenders.
3. Finance and Capital Planning
This is the largest section of the toolkit, as a response to the identified needs of arts organizations in the study. The section includes guides on financing and capital planning, budget templates, bank loan templates, sample construction quotes, and more. It also provides information on the Community Bond as a financing mechanism, as well as information on Community Infrastructure, according to the City of Vancouver, Province of BC, and the City of Toronto.
4. Property Management/Budgeting
This section includes resources for maintaining and managing a real estate operation, including a summary of expenses within a condominium, a sample renovation quote, and a simple 5-year operating budget template.
This section contains information related to planning, designing, and assessing the unique needs of an arts organization to run its operations in a physical space. Included are sample interior space plans, images from user design workshops, and space needs assessments.
6. Governance/Ownership Agreements
This section provides resources and guides for managing NPO Financial Policies, as well as clear expectations for real estate committees. Overall, these resources will help an organization by increasing financial literacy, and ensuring that their NPO is well-managed financially.
7. Co-Location and Shared Space
In order to secure a location, many artist-run organizations choose to partner with one or more organizations to utilize a joint space. To determine whether this decision is advantageous, some of the resources in this section may be helpful. This section contains many different sample co-location feasibility studies, as well as a Non-Profit Shared Space Toolkit prepared by the City of Edmonton.
8. Organizational Structure/Partnership Agreements
Once the decision to partner with one or more organizations is set in place, organizations may have difficulty establishing an official, secure agreement. This section contains many templates for confidentiality agreements, inter-agency partnership agreements, and joint venture agreements, as well as an example agreement between PAVED Arts and AKA Gallery in Saskatoon.
9. Facilities Leasing & Purchase
Overall, this section contains helpful documents for arts organizations to acquire rented, or purchased spaces. Included are: sample Offer to Lease documents between arts organizations and potential landlords, commercial lease agreements, license of occupation contracts, purchase and sale agreements, and land use agreements, as well as a description of each document to determine which is the most appropriate to any situation.
In some cases, arts organizations will choose to hire an expert or a consultant outside of the organization in order to secure a space. This section contains a guide on choosing the right consultant, as well as templates for a non-disclosure agreement and a standard consulting contract.
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