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CBC Celebrates Culture Days as the National Broadcast Partner

Sep 17, 2012

CBC tells the Culture Days stories with programming and events leading up to and throughout the weekend of September 28-30, 2012

September 17, 2012 - CBC is celebrating the third annual Culture Days weekend leading up to and throughout the three-day cross-country event from September 28 to 30, 2012. For the third year running, CBC is the national broadcast partner of Culture Days, a collaborative coast-to-coast-to-coast volunteer movement that aims to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities.

This year's Culture Days weekend will feature thousands of free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate "behind-the-scenes," to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, designers and other creative people in their communities. Culture Days welcomes the participation of all Canadians to play a role in the movement and encourages any arts or cultural organizations, community groups, artists, municipalities, libraries, schools, citizens, and business people to participate. Canadians can find out about activities registered for the Culture Days weekend in their community at culturedays.ca.

In addition to CBC's support of Culture Days through on-air promotion through the broadcaster's radio and television outlets leading up to the weekend, there are several CBC-partnered events taking place in Calgary, the 2012 cultural capital of Canada.

On Thursday, September 27, Q WITH JIAN GHOMESHI kicks off Culture Days with a broadcast recording from MacEwan Hall on the University of Calgary campus, with thanks to Tourism Calgary. The show will feature country music phenom Paul Brandt, singer-songwriter Chad VanGaalen, Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring from the CBC Radio comedy program THIS IS THAT, humanitarian and activist Amanda Lindhout, an all-Calgary edition of our media panel, and more. The recording begins at 7 p.m. MT with doors open at 6 p.m. MT. The show will air on Friday, September 28 at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. ET (10:30 NT) on CBC Radio One.

"Culture Days offers an incredible opportunity for Canadians across the country to not only explore but to participate in the cultural communities and activities that exist in their areas that they may have not even be aware of before," said Jian Ghomeshi. "This is a weekend I look forward to every year and I'm proud to play a role in CBC's celebration of this important and meaningful national movement."

CBC has also partnered with Culture Days, Calgary 2012, and the City of Calgary to present a free concert for Calgarians on Saturday, September 29 at Olympic Plaza, featuring homegrown artists including High Valley, Samantha Savage Smith and The Dudes. CBC LIVE will be at the concert capturing the sights and sounds of the concert and telling the Culture Days stories at www.cbc.ca/live.

CBC centres across the country are participating in Culture Days activities, working closely with the Culture Days Provincial Volunteer Task Forces. CBC Vancouver has helped create a digital photo contest using the 2012 Culture Days theme, "I Love Culture", asking the public to upload photos to the CBC BC website with their interpretation of what culture means to them. In Winnipeg, there is an official Culture Days kick off on September 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Old Market Square, while in Toronto, METRO MORNING will be doing a live broadcast on September 20 at the opening of the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

In addition to the events across the country, CBC has produced 11 regional half-hour specials celebrating cultural secrets and cultural influences that will air on CBC-TV on Thursday, September 27 at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Canadians can keep up-to-date with Culture Days on Twitter by following @CultureDays and are encouraged to join the national conversation by using the hashtag #CULTURE, and completing the sentence "#CULTURE is ________ to me". Culture Days is also on Facebook with links and videos suggesting how Canadians can get involved and take part in their cultural community.

Sports are an important pillar of Canada's cultural make-up as it is truly reflective of our multicultural population. Hockey Night in Canada's Play On! and the third annual Sports Day in Canada, two sport-specific grassroots programs that help build awareness for the importance of sport and hockey within communities across Canada, take place on September 29. In anticipation of the festivities on the big day, additional activities surrounding Sports Day in Canada are scheduled across the country beginning September 24.

About CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus five languages for international audiences. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada celebrated 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.

For further information, please contact:
Simon Bassett, Publicist, CBC
Simon.Bassett@cbc.ca 416.205.8533 (Office)/416.988.1590 (Mobile)