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Performances take place every 45 minutes, staring at 10:15 a.m., from May 1st to October 31, 1997.|
"If you build it, they will come." -- The Voice, Field of Dreams, 1988. |
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David Nicholson Paul St-Jean Brian Morel
Jules Paquin
INTRODUCTION
Since 1967, Montreal has achieved and maintained a worldwide reputation for its telecommunications and multimedia technology. Expo 67’s Labyrinth gave birth to IMAX, the National Film Board wins international awards on a regular basis, SOFTIMAGE has an enviable international reputation. Quebec-based expertise is recognized and exported to the four corners of the world. Montreal does not yet have a centre specifically dedicated to the promotion of its achievements in this sector. Boston presents its history and culture in the "Where’s Boston" show, New York, San Francisco, Paris … offer visitors a place where their communications industries spotlight their technical and creative abilities. The objective of the Project "D" is to establish a centre where Montrealers and visitors alike are introduced to the technical and creative abilities of Montreal and Québec in the field of multimedia technology. The applications of this project are educational, artistic and corporate. OUR PROJECT the Multimedia Centre That Project "D" Proposes Will combine:
MULTIMEDIA MASTER CLASSES
In cooperation with the Montreal universities, students in communications and visual arts will have the opportunity to work, create and develop original presentations alongside and under the guidance of their own professors and visiting experts. At present, there is no suitable location where the educational institutions can present the work of their students to the public without incurring major expenses. The establishment of a unique centre where original multimedia work is presented will generate interest among both the public and corporate sponsors. It is easy to imagine competitions and other events where the public would be able to view and experience the work of talented students. These events would also facilitate contacts between the graduating students and industry professionals. The Multimedia students would also be given the opportunity to work on the other elements of the Centre. As the "Vive Montréal" show is designed to be in constant evolution, the creative and technical talents of students could be incorporated in the team designing and modifying portions of "Vive Montréal". The services required by the clients of the Corporate Multimedia Centre and supplied by Project "D" would include opportunities for students to work with corporate communications specialists and technicians, affording students the opportunity to become familiar with the problems and solutions prevalent in the business world.
THE MULTIMEDIA THEATRE A theatre for visitors and new arrivals in Montreal will feature "Vive Montréal", a bilingual (and perhaps multilingual) presentation employing the most advanced and creative multimedia techniques in tandem with continually evolving communications technologies. Designed to attract group tours, individual visitors, Montreal-area residents with visiting friends, the show presented in this centre will be both entertaining and informative. The star of the show is Montreal, the metropolis of Québec, unique international, multicultural Canadian city, major gateway to Europe and located less than an hour from the American border. Talented Québec artists with established international reputations will design, create and constantly enhance the artistic and technological aspects of "Vive Montréal". The content will describe the history, multicultural context, intellectual, commercial and industrial achievements as well as the opportunities available in this great Québec and North American city. Secondary markets for "Vive Montreal" include the school visit programmes carried out by schools at all levels in Quebec, other provinces and neighboring states. Teachers and administrators of schools are constantly seeking new entertaining and instructional outings for students at the secondary school level. These visits can be scheduled for normally slow attendance periods and generate a steady revenue stream throughout the school year. "Vive Montreal" also will be a "must-see" for meeting planners and organizers to show to potential clients, as well as a tool for corporate recruiters to convince target employees of the attractiveness of employment and life in Montreal. A further market to be explored is that of new arrivals to the city who will benefit from the general historical and cultural background information presented in a unique manner.
THE CORPORATE MULTI MEDIA CENTRE
International and Canadian organisations increasingly plan conventions and meetings in accessible, well equipped cities that offer professionally planned facilities along with efficient telecommunications and transportation facilities, safe, varied and attractive social experiences for attendees. Montreal has become an important convention city. However, there is no auditorium in Montreal that offers the combination of state-of-the-art equipment, acoustics and technical assistance that international meeting planners have come to expect from some of Montreal’s rival cities. The DIVA Corporate Multimedia Centre is conceived to meet the requirements of corporations and professional associations seeking a state-of-the art multimedia centre for presentations to Canadian and international sales teams and buyers interested in their products. The DIVA centre will offer a range of services from the furnishing of equipment required for the organisation bringing its own "show, to the supplying of technicians and creative assistance for the development of new or revised versions of a corporate presentation. The costs generally associated with this type of "imported" presentation at international conventions and exhibitions will be considerably reduced while the technology made available to the corporate user will be of the highest quality. In their continued quest for international convention clients, the Montreal Convention Centre (Palais des Congrès de Montréal), the Place Bonaventure Trade Show Centre and the Montreal Convention and Tourism Bureau will all benefit from the ability to offer to convention and meeting planners a modern and professional multimedia presentation facility. In addition, exportable versions of these presentations will showcase Québec's creative and technical talent on the international scene while at the same time demonstrating the value of Québec-produced commercial and industrial products.
CONCLUSION
The DIVA proposal is founded on the principle of cooperation and collaboration with the many educational, cultural and corporate organisations of Montreal. The vast potential of available multimedia technology complements the expertise in parallel sectors such as film, computer technology and artistic talent for which Montreal is renowned. The DIVA Multimedia Centre project can be housed in either an existing building or one for which a new vocation is sought. The recent announcement concerning the expansion of the Palais des Congrès offers an ideal location for the Multimedia Centre which could be incorporated in the plans from the outset and thus located in immediate proximity to the convention market. This would give the organisations marketing Montreal as a meeting and convention site an additional tool to attract convention business. The twinning of "Vive Montréal" conceived for tourists and new arrivals to Montreal with the centre for Multimedia Master Classes and a specialized auditorium designed for international business presentations combines to make this project attractive to a host of business, tourism and academic sectors of Québec. The markets for each will feed off one another, generating a constant flow of new clients for each of the elements. The investment required to develop this project is minimal compared to the commercial and societal benefits which will accrue to the city from the presence of an internationally recognized centre of multimedia excellence. Moreover, the products created by the DIVA project will give visibility to the creative talents and entrepreneurs of Montreal and Québec. Please read a letter by Westmount Mayor Peter Trent
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from - COLUMN - 'Cinema complex opposed'
...proposed development on St. Laurent Blvd....., the project now being considered will probably sound pretty good. Daniel Langlois, president and founder of Softimage, the entertainment software firm which Microsoft bought in 1994 for $40 million, proposes to tear down a couple of derelict houses to make way for a multimedia complex which would include cinemas, offices and ground-level shops. It would house Montreal's "other" film festival - the Montreal International Festival of Cinema and New Media.
December 19, 1997 Old Port jewel wrecked (saved)
September 25, 1997 Bell kicks off multimedia wars by Jan Ravensbergen, The Gazette... Remmember 'Alix' again Bell is out of date before the test stats.. test program in effect until May 31, 1999 will teach Bell how to package and market ??? Vidéotron, which only last Aug. 22 consolidated its position as monopoly cable-provider in the Montreal area by completing its takeover of CF Cable TV Inc., made a pre-emptive move against Bell last spring in Repentigny, by offering huge introductory discounts for its cable-modem Internet service.(saved)
When you see [e-mail for copy] it means 'click here' for a copy, as the The Gazette only keeps files on line for two months. We store only those few that remain relevant to continuing discussion.
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Performances take place every 45 minutes, staring at 10:15 a.m., from May 1st to October 31, 1997.
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© 1996 David T. Nicholson
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