DigiActive.org

Campaign: Save the Ottawa Arts

Description: The Canadian city of Ottawa is planning to close a gap in their 2009 budget by cutting funding for the arts by as much as 100%. To protect funding for Ottawa festivals and galleries, the Council for the Arts in Ottawa has launched a campaign opposing the cuts.

Digital Activism Tools: web site, Youtube videos, social bookmarking and sharing platforms like Digg, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us

How These Tools Are Being Used: The campaign’s centerpieces are two humorous YouTube videos, Artsy Clean (above) and Crazy Larry, both simulating over-the-top commercials. The first video is a fake info-mercial for the product “artsy clean,” which magically removes culture from a city. The second video simulates a commercial for a blow-out sale at a car dealership – all art must go!

As mentioned in the DigiActive video guide, humor can be an effective way to attract interest and stimulate viral effects (people emailing the video to their friends). The videos end with a call to action – write your City Councillor and tell them not to cut the arts budget.

The videos are hosted on their own web page, http://www.crazylarry.ca, with links to content-sharing platforms, like Digg, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us. The goal in linking directly to these platforms is to encourage the viral sharing of the campaign to a large number of citizens who will hopefully take action.

Outcome: The Ottawa budget has still not been decided upon.

Hat-tip: Beth Kanter