Coming soon.. Black Jack Justice the comic Strip!

[SouthernDivision]

	Quote:	Gregg
	Remember you? Why, I'll have you lot running my protection rackets!

Luckily the Chartered Accountants out there see those little 'pings' (What are you my auditor?) as the most sincere form of flattery.

So, none of those funds will 'rest' in anything other than Taylorenterprises accounts. Sorry Jerm.

SD

[Undrave]

Can we get first dibs on proposing content for the expended Red Panda universe? :-D

[Gregg]

lol... you can propose whatever you like... I hope I haven't given anyone the impression that thinking up new stuff is a problem that I have... it's more a question of finding the time to carry out a fraction of what I thought up....

[Undrave]

	Quote:	Gregg
	lol... you can propose whatever you like... I hope I haven't given anyone the impression that thinking up new stuff is a problem that I have... it's more a question of finding the time to carry out a fraction of what I thought up....

Off course off course, but if the Decoder Ring Theatre brand was to explode into the world of multi-media, you'd need content to fill up that universe and meet demands.

One creator alone can't do it. No matter how genial he is.

Using the Red Panda as the basis we could form the Canadian DCU! (or Marvel, whichever you prefer) Populating the rest of the Red Panda's universe with other heroes and tell tales from those already mentionned (like Tom Tomorow or The Stranger or Captain Sunlight or those no fun Justice Union fellas etc etc).

All I'm saying is we, the original fans, should have a spot at the front of the line when time comes to hear what others see in your universe.

[Gregg]

	Quote:	Undrave
	if the Decoder Ring Theatre brand was to explode into the world of multi-media, you'd need content to fill up that universe and meet demands. One creator alone can't do it. No matter how genial he is.

Maybe... but I can't imagine how much more I could get done if I weren't holding down another full-time job. I think I could meet demand for a good long time...

I also think we'll probably never know that for sure. *sigh*

[Jerm]

	Quote:	Gregg
	Maybe... but I can't imagine how much more I could get done if I weren't holding down another full-time job. I think I could meet demand for a good long time... I also think we'll probably never know that for sure. *sigh*

Arright, you heard him everyone. Start donating to the Gregg-Taylor-Shouldn't-Need-A-Day-Job fund.

[Gregg]

...lol.....

I think we all know we need some sort of faceless, evil giant corporation to start paying daddy's bills, not the loyal but poor fans.

[Undrave]

We need to get that protection racket going then XD

[Jerm]

Ever thought of applying for grants from the Government? I'm not sure what's involved or what the requirements are, but they've given to some pretty dubious pieces of art before. I figure DRT is a better cause than some other recipients.

After all, as I mentioned once before, I think you've done more for spreading quality Canadian culture at home and abroad than many others. *cough* CBC.

[Gregg]

There is a much larger rant to be had on the subject of arts council grants... but I'll try to keep it brief.

There are two forces at work in arts council grants at the local, provincial or federal level. One is political, one is... well, also political, but in the way high school is "political"

A certain number of grants will be given for straight-up political reasons - whose riding are you in and do you fall under certain targets for the organizations. If you are a performing arts organization whose goal is to promote opportunities for artisits who are (insert any racial or ethnic background other than caucasian), you will get grant money that you never would have otherwise. Please don't try and tell me otherwise, I will be forced to slap you silly. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it is an absolute fact, and I think we can all agree that I am a giant honkey, which lets me out.

The other way in is the "peer adjudicated" grant. Or as it is known to the great majority on the outside of this club the "you-scrath-my-back-this-year-I'll-scratch-your-back-next-year" grants. I was never part of this club. Most aren't. This is how governments choose to distribute the money they put into the arts for the most part so that they don't really have to care. If you put the lunatics in charge of the asylum, no one can really complain about the treatment they get, can they? Or if they do, you can throw up your hands and say "What can we do?" This is why, as much as I mourn for a society that values creativity so little that massive cuts to arts funding are a populist move; I also don't really care... since many (but not all) people that are getting their funding cut are in a little club that empowers it's "members" by deliberately shutting out outsiders, of which I was always one.

Remember when I said I would keep this short? Sadly, this is the short version. But those are just frustrations. This is the real kicker:

The major impediment to DRT seeking any kind of funding is that there is a very strong trend within both the performance and publishing communities to exclude any web-based content from eligability for funding. They make many priggish arguments in support of this philosophy, but it boils down to this - There is an explosion of new creativity fired by the uncontrolled access to audiences that the internet offers, but there is no more money in the funding pot than there was 10 years ago. Indeed, there is much less. So the only way to protect their own self-interest is to universally declare web-based content as valueless and without merit, and refuse to consider it. You don't have to agree (indeed, you would be an idiot to do so... ), but you have to sympathise a little. The wolves are at the door for those who toil in the old ways, and they are never going to go away. The world they have known is lost and fading. They cling to the scraps they still have and lash out as they see fit.

This will never change. The funding agencies will not change, as they are run more or les directly by those that continue to get the grants. The government will not step in, mostly because they don't care... and why should they take sides when Johnny Taxpayer doesn't want anyone to get the money?

A funny story. When we were starting out, I spent a good deal of time walking this road... we fit into no funding model at any agency, in part because no one else was doing what we were. I finally found a program at the Canada Council that seemed to fit... it was for audio creation... a very nice (and I mean that) lady from the Council called up and suggested that I try and "tweak" our application to make it sound more like... how can I put this... something that they would touch with a 10 metre cattle prod. I asked her "True or false. If I were doing an audio installation of bees buzzing in a warehouse space, I could get funding for that."

The answer was true. I thanked her quite sincerely (she was very, very nice) and walked away from the government handout model.

We are who we are and we do what we do, and there's really no reason to expect someone else to pay us to do what we love. We bear no sense of entitlement, and hold a gentle contempt for those that do. We make our shows for love, and they have been embraced by people who help us to keep making them by generously reaching into their own pockets to cover our basic expenses. Perhaps one day the great machine of capatilism may smile upon us and hold us, however briefly in it's warm, moneyed embrace. Perhaps... but even if that is the end, it was never the goal. If that were truly the goal, then everything we've done so far could only be seen as failure, and my brothers and sisters, I do not feel like we have failed.

Thank you, and good night.