Turkey, for real

This week, stalwart ST friend and confidante, Alan Stanbridge (pictured), is in Istanbul for the Fifth International Conference on Cultural Policy Research at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey. There, he will be delivering a paper called "Somewhere There: Contemporary Music, Performance Space, and Cultural Policy." I'm chuffed and honoured.

Here's the abstract for his provocative investigation:

"The world’s major cities have always prided themselves on the reputation and quality of their high-profile performing arts venues, although these large-scale venues have a somewhat less successful record in the presentation of smaller-scale contemporary work, whether composed new music or jazz and improvised music, which have frequently had to make their homes in non-specialized – and often inadequate – venues, such as churches, rehearsal spaces, bars, and cafes. In a recent initiative, the musician and composer Scott Thomson has opened a new small-scale performance space, called Somewhere There, in the Parkdale area of Toronto, a city well-served by large-scale venues, but with few suitable facilities for the presentation of smaller-scale contemporary music performances. In this paper, I explore the strengths and weaknesses of urban initiatives such as Thomson’s, highlighting the manner in which much contemporary music tends to fall between the cracks of established arts funding patterns and cultural/creative industries policies."

I'm going to prod Alan when he returns in the hopes of posting a link to his paper, which will touch a sympathetic nerve not only for ST musicians and regulars, but also for anyone who is skeptical about Richard Florida-style arts policy rhetoric and its influence on Toronto's arts infrastructure priorities.