Fonds consists of analog and digital records of the Canadian Conference of the Arts comprising the following series: administration records; financial records; membership records; conferences, seminars and forums; subject files; publications; correspondence; office files; clippings and scrapbooks; additional records; photography; artwork; promotional material; and Cultural Data Services. comprising alphabetically arranged subject files relating to the administration, policies and activities of the CCA. Analog and digital photographs in the fonds depict activities of the Canadian Conference of the Arts: conferences, annual general meetings, seminars, awards ceremonies, panel and forum. It includes photographs by Robert C. Ragsdale, Gordon F. Brown, Barbara Novak, and numerous unidentified C.C.A events; portraits of arts and culture personalities; and art works. Fonds also includes photographs depicting CCA directors, CCA presidents, participants in the Seminar 66 and Direction 74 conference; the 1975 Diplome d'honneur winners, architectural model of the National Arts Centre, Ottawa, broadcasting conference in 1985, copyright conference, 1985, Annual awards presentation, 1999; portraits of Rt. Hon. Vincent Massey and H.E. Roland Michener; Alan Jarvis, Peter Dwyer, David Silcox, and various officers of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. Also included, a group photo with the prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Fonds also consists of digital images and logos used mostly for the website and publications. In addition, fonds includes sound recordings related to the Canadian Conference of the Arts, including conferences and a recording from a Radio-Québec entitled Vous, les arts et l'état, n.d., 1969-1976. It also consists of digital sound recordings and videos of conferences, seminars and forums. Fonds also includes a film of a meeting of the Canadian Conference of the Arts attended by Governor-General Ed Schreyer and Secretary of State Francis Fox, [ca. 1980], videos of Chalmers conference in 2000, "Thinking culture" forums in 2010, the CCA awards 2000 archival footage and the CCA before the CRTC digital hearings in Ottawa in 2000. The fonds also includes 7 posters created for promotional events of the CCA and 12 caricatures featuring Richard Simmins, Moncrieff Williamson, Robert Hume, Jean Michaud, Duncan Cameron, Nathan Stolow and four unidentified persons, all attending a semiar on Art Gallery Planning and Design held at Stanley House, 1968. Fonds contains records created by an affiliated organization, Cultural Data Services (CDS), that was created in 1972 by a grant from the Federal Government's Local Initiatives Program (LIP). CDS was tasking with creating an artists inventory of all artists and arts organizations in Canada with the ultimate goal of creating a nationwide mailing list and directory for the Canadian Conference of the Arts.
Canadian Conference of the Arts : The Canadian Conference of the Arts was founded in December 1945, as the "Canadian Arts Council", to further the cultural development of the Canadian people, work for the encouragement and advancement of the arts in Canada and serve the highest interests of Canadian artists. The founders, and first members, were sixteen artists' organizations that had come together in the spring of 1944 to prepare and present what became known as "the artists' brief" to the House of Commons Special Committee on Reconstruction and Re-establishment. With the establishment of the Canada Council in 1957 - and the realization of one of the recommendations of the brief - the CAC changed its name to the Canadian Conference of the Arts. The CCA was a membership-based organization representing some 200 000 artists and cultural sector workers: creators, performers, technicians, producers and distributors, in all disciplines and in both official languages. The board of governors was elected by the members and represented all regions of Canada and the major disciplines of the arts and cultural industries. Since its inception, the CCA had been active in bringing artists and cultural sector workers together, presenting their views to government, conducting research and disseminating information on developments and issues of interest. The organization has been effective on many fronts, perhaps most importantly in gaining recognition of the arts by all levels of government. A report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, "A Sense of Place - A Sense of Being: The Evolving Role of the Federal Government in Support of Culture in Canada" (June, 1999), acknowledged the major influence played by the CCA's "Final Report of the Working Group on Cultural Policy for the 21st Century." Later initiatives of the CCA included active involvement with the issue of culture in international trade agreements, implementation of Status of the Artist legislation at the provincial and federal government levels, promotion of arts and education, and the development of an international network for cultural NGOs. As of 1998, the CCA will also be instrumental in the creation of the International Network for Cultural Diversity which is a worldwide network of artists and cultural groups dedicated to countering the homogenizing effects of globalization on culture. In 1954 the CCA inaugurated its Diplôme d'honneur to recognize distinguished life-time service to the arts in Canada. It also presented the Rogers Communications Inc. "Media Awards for Coverage of the Arts" (English and French) and the "Keith Kelly Award for Cultural Leadership." The CCA was instrumental in establishing a number of other awards, including the Financial Post awards, acknowledging corporate sector support, and the Governor General's performing arts awards. Since its inception, the CCA has also presented a variety of conferences and symposiums (notably the Thinking Culture seminars and the Chalmer's conferences) meant to inform and educate cultural sector workers as well as give them a venue to communicate, share their knowledge and voice their opinions. In 2012, the Canadian Conference of the Arts announced that it would begin winding down operations after its funding was eliminated as part of a general deficit reduction program on the part of the Federal Government. Prior to its demise, the CCA had been receiving up to 60% of its budget from the government of Canada (as well as some moneys from the Ontario Arts Council and other provincial departments), but had been working towards a move to a self-sustaining financing model. However due to significant budget cuts, the CCA was forced to close in October of 2012 after sixty-seven years of existence.