Summing it all up and on to the next project!

The Edmonton Event - before and after
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KimSolez
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Joined: Tue Jul 02, 2002 8:47 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Summing it all up and on to the next project!

Post by KimSolez »

http://www.kimsolez.com/per_blog.php?date=082008

Leonard Cohen International Festival is over. Ahh! On to the next project!

When I first agreed to direct the Leonard Cohen International Festival I never imagined it would be so much fun, or that the press coverage viewtopic.php?f=25&t=11812&p=130320#p130320 would be so wonderful, not just reaching the Edmonton Journal culture section http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 9c818a206b , but also front page http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 975bb59eb1 and editorial page http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 43fd5fcb7a . The multitasking to keep all the balls juggling in the air as I prepared for the event with all the other great people helping me was stimulating and enjoyable, I even wrote a poem about it http://www.canada.com/cityguides/edmont ... 48dad13f6f .

The friendships with the wonderful artists who performed was maybe the best part. My friends in music internationally now number approximately the same as my friends in medicine, all great people and so much fun to interact with! The fourteen hundred people we attracted to the Winspear Concert Hall on Saturday night for our Gala Concert is five or six times the number of people who attend the consensus generating meetings I run every two years in medicine http://cybernephrology.ualberta.ca/Banff/ . Different configurations, different aims, but both types of gatherings are important, each accomplishes something unique and significant.

So what now? Well on the Leonard Cohen side the next International Event is in Krakow, Poland in the summer of 2010. And what do I have to do for that? Absolutely nothing, I just need to show up and enjoy.

On the medical side our planning for the next Banff Conference on Allograft Pathology in August 2009 is well in place http://cybernephrology.ualberta.ca/Banff/2009/ , the program is set and we have begun to invite speakers and sponsors. Already thinking way ahead there, the 2011 Allograft Pathology meeting will be in Paris, 2013 will be in Brazil (Rio? Manaus?) and 2015 in Sweden. The meeting will not be back in Banff, Canada until 2017.

Increasingly it looks like standard setting in medicine of the type we do in these meetings will be even more important in the future than it is today. Interest is growing, more people want to take part.

Quite the opposite of most people, now that our big July event is over I am not going anywhere, or doing anything special in August and September. Just staying here in Edmonton immersing myself in the medical work routine during the days which is nice to be able to focus on again, and in the evenings enjoying the local cultural scene where others perform and organize and I can just sit there and soak it in!

Have a great rest of the summer!

Best regards. - Kim
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Andrew (Darby)
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Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 5:46 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Summing it all up and on to the next project!

Post by Andrew (Darby) »

Kim,

Well done and it's nice that you can relax a bit now in terms of being on the right end of event experiences! ;-)

The whole festival had such a nice variety of fabulous and interesting components, whether it was concerts, dance performances, theatre, experimental audio-visual work, academic talks, films, walking tours/visits (eg, Sisters Of Mercy house)! Moreover, the standard of performances across the board was top notch: such talent and excellence! 8)

I think most who experienced them would agree that Monsieur Camembert was a great investment, particularly when you think of the longer term ramifications that others will benefit from. I spoke with Yaron about the whole experience and they really loved it and you wonderful Canadian hosts! :D

What's more, Yaron said MC is very keen to perform in Krakow in 2010 and is fully aware that their Eastern European style of music would be perfectly suited to this event. Happily, I was also able to subsequently discuss this prospect with some core members of the Krakow committee (on my recent visit there) and they are equally keen to have this happen! 8)

With this in mind, I'm going to be encouraging Yaron early in the piece to see what strategies can be developed to get MC there at a nominal cost to our Polish friends (eg. perhaps as part of a MC European tour in 2010).

Cheers :)
Andrew (Darby)
'I cannot give the reasons
I only sing the tunes
The sadness of the seasons
The madness of the moons'
~ Mervyn Peake ~
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