This is my letter for a scholarship to the Interactive Screen Conference at the Banff Arts Center
I am posting it because it describes my approach and the general thoughts and attempts to work as a steward in a ecosystem based media structure.

The theme was “The emerging society of Makers”:

I have always been interested in art through community collaboration. When I was involved with Independent media in Hamilton and Community TV in Vancouver, the concept of “horizontal media” structure was rather popular. (i.e. Media that operates on a flat, non-hierarchical plane)

But that concept, to me started felling limiting as it reminded me of a flat line. It seemed that the model within the community media circle worked great for giving people the bases to be involved in media production, and the ability and platform to tell their own stories.  However I found that once you learned the bases there was little emphasis and guidance on mastering the artform.  (My definition of art is anything that is done well) I have to admit that as an artist, ‘horizontal media’ did not give me the space to continue growing creatively and at some point I started wondering, if we were just adding to the digital media noise that is overwhelming all of us and wondering how can we channel or concentrate that noise into an engaging soundscape?

I am interested in a media structure that works as an ecosystem, a dynamic web of many layers where, each participant is growing and is contributing to the rest of the system, by simply being the best they can be.

The question then, is, what is the role of an artist within the media ecosystem? This is very similar to the question I have been pondering in my film Green Dream, which is, what is the role of a human within the natural ecosystem?  To me the artist is a creative steward (read more)

Below are some interesting articles on horizontal media and corporate structure

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001136.html

http://www.anarchy.no/horizon1.html

http://casalemedia.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/who-wants-to-be-a-horizontal-network/

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