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Earlier this month I was contacted by the Surrey Board of Trade to do a short presentation at Surrey’s Creative Economy Business Dialouges event, focusing primarily on the work I’ve done with the Surrey International Film Festival. The event was pretty awesome and inspiring, and it’s great to see the City of Surrey being so engaged with the arts.

On Wednesday, November 27th at the Surrey Arts Centre (13750 88th Ave) from 7:30 – 11:00 a.m., the Surrey Board of Trade and the City of Surrey hosted the Creative Economy Dialogue, Part 2.
In this focused dialogue event, attendees contributed ideas to an action plan on building Surrey’s Creative  Economy, Attendees heard  from the business community to determine what arts and culture can do  for Surrey’s economy, and what business can do for arts and culture.

Panel Sessions:
1. Successful creative new initiatives/entrepreneur panel:

a. Glen Chua, Festival Director at Surrey International Film Festival
b. Kashif Pasta, Director, Editor, Writer, Co-Founder at dunya.ca
c. Candace Radcliffe, Department Head and Artistic Director/Producer, Beach House Theatre Co.

2. Cultural Hub panel:
a. Elia Kirby, President of the Arts Factory Society & Marietta Kozak, Treasurer of the Arts Factory Society
b. Justin Langois, Emily Carr Professor/Co-founder and Research Director of Broken City Lab
c. Sandee Moore, Artist, and former Director of Video Pool Media Arts Centre in Winnipeg This event included breakout dialogue sessions on four discussion topics:

  • Transforming unused spaces for creative industries

  • Creating and promoting existing creative industries in Surrey

  • Supporting young entrepreneurs in creative industries

  • Attracting the creative class

– source: Surrey Board of Trade website (www.businessinsurrey.com)