News Releases - < 2000
The Canada Council for the Arts Announces Three Staff Appointments
Ottawa, 7 December 1998 - Shirley L. Thomson, Director of The Canada Council for the Arts, today announced the appointments of François Lachapelle as Head of the Visual Arts Section, David Poole as Head of the Media Arts Section, and Keith Kelly as Director of Planning and Research.
FRANÇOIS LACHAPELLE
François Lachapelle comes to the Council from the Musée régional de Rimouski, where he has been the Director General since 1991. During his tenure there, he designed strategic policies that significantly increased public and private funding and attendance figures at the museum. From 1985 to 1991, he was an Officer in the Visual Arts Section of the Council, during which time he instigated the Prix de Rome in Architecture and the Ronald J. Thom Award programs, and helped redesign the Council's programs in architecture and for artist-run centres. He also recently became President of the Canadian Art Museum (CAMDO) Directors Organization. Lachapelle is an art history graduate of Université Laval.
The Council's Visual Arts Section offers grants and services to support professional visual artists (in painting, sculpture, fine crafts, architecture, photography, installation art, performance art) and visual arts organizations (such as museums, public galleries, artist-run centres and artists collectives) for creation, production and dissemination of the visual arts. In 1998-99, its grants budget amounts to $ 15.2 million.
DAVID POOLE
David Poole has been Acting Head of the Media Arts Section since June 1998. He has initiated projects and new undertakings that will provide increased production opportunities for media artists, and launched the First Peoples artists outreach tour in Western Canada to help make the Council more accessible to these communities. He first came to the Council in 1986 as Explorations Officer for Ontario, and from 1989 to 1998 he was a Media Arts Officer responsible successively for the Distribution and Presentation and Film programs. Poole received his B.A. from the University of Guelph and an M.A. in Cinema Studies from New York University,
The Council's Media Arts Section offers grants and services to professional media artists ( in film, video, new media and audio) and to organizations (such as non-profit artist-run Canadian producers and distributors of independent works) for creation, production and dissemination in the media arts. Its 1998-99 grants budget amounts to $ 8.8 million.
KEITH KELLY
Keith Kelly has been appointed Director of Planning and Research. This is a new position whose functions include coordinating the existing research program for the Council on national and international arts issues, directing the ongoing work of policy, planning and government relations, and collaborating on the establishment of a renewed advocacy plan.
Keith Kelly recently concluded a ten-year term as the National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts to pursue other interests in the cultural community. A strong advocate for the arts, he has experience in the administration of an organization that advocates for artists, and is widely known and respected in Canada and abroad.
-30-