The 2024-2025 membership campaign is ongoing at the Independent Media Arts Alliance, the national alliance representing the media arts. Become a member or renew your membership now to contribute to the richness and strenght of the community!

If you haven’t had a chance to read it, we invite you to take a look at the IMAA’s Basis of Unity! The Basis of Unity states the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA)’s position on and commitment to anti-oppression principles. This document is a first attempt to capture, for IMAA’s membership and community, IMAA’s perspective on how to build a more equitable, robust, abundant and interconnected sector. 

Help to ensure that in the independent media arts sector:

• → Artists from diverse backgrounds have access to resources and equipment to produce quality work and to support their exhibition, promotion and distribution within the country and abroad,
• → Artists are paid a minimum fee for the use of their work.
• → Artworks are collected, archived and preserved as part of Canadian Heritage.
• → Art organizations are able to compensate cultural workers appropriately for their highly skilled work.
• → Artists and organizations across Canada, especially those from underrepresented communities, have a forum to discuss key issues and contribute to the development of the sector.

Member Privileges & Benefits

→ Join IMAA’s Board
→ Join our committees: Membership Committee / EDI Committee / Independent Media Arts Access Network (IMAAN) Committee / Human Ressources Committee
→ Get a discount to register to the National Media Arts Conference
→ Be eligible for travel subsidies to attend national events like the National Media Arts Conference coorganised by IMAA
→ Reduce costs on health insurance for your staff and affiliated artists.
→ Be part of the Independent Media Arts Access Network (IMAAN)!
→ Join a vast network of nearly 100 highly dedicated media arts organizations, collectives and galleries and professional peers
→ Appear in our membership directory
→ Connect with the independent media community on Discord
→ Take advantage of opportunities to participate in IMAA’s projects! For example, add your voice to the conversation when voting the recommended Fee Schedule, participate in community projects such as interConnect or make your organization benefit from artist residencies through the Digital Skills for Youth program.
→ Attend regional meetings
→ Increase the visibility of your work Projects
→ And more, access a detailed list of membership privileges and benefit here

To become a member of the IMAA or to renew your membership, please complete this membership form!

*The IMAA membership cycle begins on April 1 and ends on March 31 of each year. Members who begin the process after February 1 will have their membership extended for the upcoming cycle.

At the beginning of February, we launched a campaign to put forward the Independent Media Arts Access Network (IMAAN) on our social networks! This campaign aims to introduce IMAAN to the artists who are members of the participating organizations, since they are the ones who can benefit from the advantages offered by this network. Follow the IMAAN Spotlight campaign on Instagram and Facebook in the coming weeks!

What’s the Independent Media Arts Access Network (IMAAN)? 

The Independent Media Arts Access Network (IMAAN) facilitates artists in accessing equipment and facilities from the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) participating organizations in other cities, without having to take out multiple memberships. A number of festivals and organizations working in sectors other than production are also part of the IMAAN. They offer benefits to artists who are members of participating centres and organizations.

Who can benefit from IMAAN? 

THE ARTISTS! Artists who are members of an IMAAN organization are encouraged to travel within the country, outside their city, since they have access to privileges at other participating organizations. These privileges typically take the form of member rates for equipment rental, training or use of spaces, but could also include advantageous rates for participation in events, for example.

The National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (NIMAC) and its members benefit from the IMAAN since 2022!

Who makes IMAAN possible? 

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS! Participating organizations decide how they participate in the network! Whether it’s with certain equipment, workshops or facilities at member rates, or through discounts on participation in events and festivals, IMAAN organizations can choose and modify the benefits offered at any time. Find the organizations on IMAA’s website and contact them to find out more!

This month’s news at a glance –» Click here!

IMAA NEWS
✦ SAVE THE DATE! Temporal Anchorings: A National Media Arts Gathering
✦ 2024 IMAA Fee Schedule
✦ interConnect
  ✧ Last day to document your Digitale Initiatives!
  ✧ Final Event
✦ Next Meetups on Discord
  ✧ IMAA’s 2024 Fee Schedule
  ✧ Temporal Anchorings Travel Funding
​
+ Panorama
+ Featured Member : Les Productions Recto-Verso
+ Opportunities
+ Cyber Safe & Sound

//

L’actualité du mois en un coup d’oeil –» Cliquez ici !

LES NOUVELLES DE L’AAMI
✦ NOTEZ LA DATE ! Ancrages temporels : une rencontre nationales des arts médiatiques
✦ Barème de tarifs 2024
✦ interConnect
  ✧ Documentation des initiatives numériques
  ✧ Événement final
✦ Prochaines rencontres sur Discord
  ✧ Barème de tarifs 2024 de l’AAMI
  ✧ Aide financière pour les déplacements à Ancrages temporels

​+ Panorama
+ Membre à découvrir : Les Productions Recto-Verso
+ Cyber Sain et Sauf

Subscribe to our newsletter // Abonnez-vous à notre infolettre

The Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) announces its recommendation for a minimum increase to be added to the Media Arts Fee Schedule for 2024.

The current fee schedule was put in place by a vote from IMAA members at the 2022 AGM, as a goal to be achieved by 2024. That being said, these are only the recommended minimum fees. An updated fee schedule will be published in 2025.

For 2024, when applying for grants in particular, we recommend a minimum increase of 5% or the percentage of inflation in your area. The 5% recommendation is a simplified average of a 2% increase for 2023 and an additional 3% increase for 2024. Given that in 2022 the national inflation rate reached 8.1%, advocating for these inflation-based increases in your funding requests is both necessary and urgent.

Consult the IMAA Fee Schedule for 2024

The objective of the 2022-24 IMAA Fee Schedule is to raise the standards to which the entire independent media arts community should strive, in keeping with its values of fair remuneration for artists. We encourage organizations to follow the spirit of the Guiding Principles and to use the Fee Schedule when budgeting for future programming, as well as to refer to it in grant applications. 

This month’s news at a glance
–» Click here! 

::: IMAA/AAMI April 2023 Newsletter – Infolettre d’avril 2023 ::: – IMAA – AAMI
NEXT WEEK: interConnect Info Sessions
Interested in Becoming an IMAA Member?
Upcoming on Discord
Federal Budget
ASO Convergence Conference
GGArts Awards – Discover the 2023 Winners
Strategic Planning is Underway at IMAA
Holiday Closure
+ ​Panorama
+ Featured Member : Ed Video Media Arts Centre
+ Opportunities

May 12, 2022 — Come share and learn!
→ Register on Zoom (Alternative registration methods are also described below)
→ Access the full participation guide here
→ Access all the resources on IMAAsource: Online Media ArtsPresentation Standards

 Context

The Online Media Arts Presentation Standards project is now available!

The sudden surge of new presentation models exposes an urgent need to formalize standards for streaming and other types of online presentation of media art.  This series provides tools and insights to encourage good practice in this regard.

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.

👥 During the meeting

You are invited to actively exchange with your colleagues across Canada.
Be prepared to share your experiences, listen and participate in discussions about online presentation.

This workshop will begin with a brief overview of the documents collected in the Online Media Arts Presentation Standards project. Afterwards, you will be free to join discussion groups depending on the topics you wish to discuss.

We will share contact information with other group members so that this dialogue can continue after the event.

🧩 Discussion Starters

Prior to the meeting, we strongly encourage participants to review the documents of the Online Media Arts Presentation Standards project.

Fair remuneration

What are my organization’s resources and priorities?What are my organization’s mandate, values, and commitments? How will artists be paid? 

Relevant document on this subject:
→ IMAA Fee Schedule

You may wish to discuss using the fee schedule, the application of the guiding principles, the calculation of add-on fees for online presentation, or understanding artists’ and professional fees.

Intellectual Property

How transparent is our relationship with artists and distributors? What information have we communicated to the artists or distributors? Have we informed artists or distributors about how we will use their files? Are we able to support artists’ and distributors’ requests?

Relevant documents on this subject:
→ Intellectual Property and Online Presentation: Guidelines and Resources for the Media Arts Community
→ Contracts Checklist between media arts presenters and artists or copyright holders

You may wish to discuss copyright ownership (between multiple artists, fair dealing or commissions), copyright transfer and licensing, or Indigenous perspectives on intellectual property.

Accessibility

Who is our audience? What are its needs? How can we support the self-determination of the D/deaf and disability arts community? How are we engaging with accessibility? How accessible are we? How accessible is our website?

Relevant documents on this subject:
→ Towards Accessible Online Presentation Models: Introduction and Resources for the Media Arts Community
→ 10 PRINCIPLES OF DISABILITY JUSTICE (a text from SinsInvalid, find IMAA’s new French translation here.)

You may wish to discuss Disability Justice and a critical approach to accessibility, creative accessibility or the proposed guiding principles.

Planning and technical considerations

What is my organization’s capacity? Who will work on this project? How much time do they have? What technical capacity do we have? What are we missing? What do we need? Do we have a data and file management plan in place? Is it up to date?

Relevant documents on this subject:
→ Online Presentation Workflow: Resources for the Media Arts Community
→ Online Presentation Workflow Diagram

You might discuss online presentation that respects the organization’s vision and capabilities, types of online events, tools (quality, interaction, accessibility, etc.), geo-blocking and digital rights management, archiving and documentation, or data use.

🌈 External Facilitators

Would you like to help facilitate? This meeting will bring together many people, but IMAA’s team is small. We may need outside help to ensure that all the focus groups run smoothly.

We are looking for people who know the sector and have facilitation skills, such as the ability to manage time and create an inclusive space for dialogue.

A question at your registration allows you to indicate your interest. You can also write to us (engagement@imaa.ca) to express your interest. 

We will contact the people selected by email to let them know the next steps. A symbolic honorarium of $50 will be offered to external facilitators. 

MEETING DETAILS

Date : May 12th, 2022
Start time according to your time zone:

Pacific Daylight Time (Vancouver): …………..9:00 AM
Mountain Daylight Time (Edmonton): ………10:00 AM
Central Daylight Time (Winnipeg) : ………….11:00 AM
Eastern Daylight Time (Toronto/Montréal): 12:00 PM
Atlantic Daylight Time (Halifax): ……………….1:00 PM
Newfoundland Daylight Time (St. John’s):..1:30 PM
The event should last approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Registration

The roundtable is open to all, but you must register!
→ Follow this link to register directly via the Zoom platform.

If you prefer to register by phone, we invite you to write to us (engagement@imaa.ca) to arrange a telephone meeting.

You can also call us at (514) 522-8240, extension 0. Please leave a message for Marilyne Parent with the following information:

– Your name, email address and city
– Your organization and job title if applicable
– If you require ASL interpretation? (Please let us know by May 5, 2022)
– How well do you know Zoom software (1. Very proficient, 2. Would like help, or 3. I know little or nothing)
– If you need anything else (services, technical considerations, etc.) to make this experience optimal? 
– What topic would you most like to discuss (1. Intellectual property, 2. Compensation, 3. Online accessibility, 4. Technical issues). Please also specify the topics that interest you. (Find details here)
– Do you agree to have your contact information shared with the people attending this workshop? 
– Can you help us facilitate this meeting? (Find details here)

Interpretation services and accessibility

Presentations at this meeting will be in French and English. Participants will be able to join discussion groups in either language.

If you require interpretation services (ASL), please notify us before May 5th. How? Simply register on Zoom, and respond to the accessibility question indicating your needs.

For all other requests or questions, please contact Marilyne Parent.

IMAA needs your support!

The sudden surge of new presentation models exposes an urgent need to formalize standards for streaming and other types of online presentation of media art. Current recommended fee schedules in Canada only partially reflect these new models, and lack consensus on recommended minimum fees or presentation standards. 

To address these issues, IMAA is launching a national conversation with media artists, arts service organizations, film festivals, independent distributors, galleries and other presenters. This work will establish a minimum fee schedule and create a best practices guide on intellectual property, remuneration, accessibility and technical issues for the presentation of media arts online.

This project will benefit the media arts community by: 

– Encouraging the fair remuneration of media artists when their work is shown online;

– Clarifying fees and best practices for the online presentation of audiovisual work; 

– Building the capacity of Canadian presenters to present audiovisual work online; 

– Enhancing the accessibility of Canadian independent media arts disseminated online; 

– Expanding the technical knowledge of Canadian presenters of media art online.

There are many ways to support this work:

1- Become a project supporter: Please consider making a financial contribution to this important work! By doing so, you will help ensure that all research participants are fairly compensated for their time, that project contributors reflect a broad diversity of voices and regional representation, and that our project’s outcomes are widely circulated and broadly accessible to our community free of cost. We suggest a contribution amount of $500. Your organization’s financial support will be acknowledged and displayed at all related events, press releases, media and promotional materials. IMAA is a charitable organization and can issue receipts for your donation if required.

2- Take part in the discussions: Join us for a round table discussion of these issues on March 24th. Follow this link to register. A second round table will be organized in June.

3- Spread the word: Sign up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels below to follow our process and receive regular updates. Relay news from our project through your own communications channels and invite your community to join the upcoming round table.

4- Declare your support for these standards: Once the updated fee schedule and best practices have been approved by IMAA’s membership, we’d like you to demonstrate your commitment to upholding these standards. Stay tuned for details on how to display your support for our new fee schedule and best practices guide!

Get in touch with us:

If your organization is able to make a financial contribution please contact our Project Manager, Benjamin J. Allard. 

For more information about the upcoming roundtable or to get involved in the process, please write to our Engagement Manager, Marilyne Parent.

_____________

About IMAA

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.

IMAA is a charitable organization and can issue receipts for your donation, if required.