OTTAWA, January 14, 2008 - The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, and Peter Herrndorf, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Arts Centre, today launched the Podcasts.culture.ca website, the Government of Canada's very first directory of Canadian cultural podcasts.
"Podcasts.culture.ca is an excellent tool for raising the profile of Canadian talent," said Minister Verner. "It offers Canadians a collection of links to hundreds of cultural podcasts which represent the vitality and diversity of Canadian culture online."
"The National Arts Centre is very pleased to participate in this major project by contributing its new media expertise, particularly in the field of webcasting," said Mr. Herrndorf. "It is wonderful to be able to help Canadians explore a rich array of culturally valuable information online."
Podcasts.culture.ca, an on-line service accessible through Culture.ca, is a new Internet directory of audio and video files for listening or viewing on demand. Web visitors are invited to download the files directly from the directory, which has a starting collection of more than 300 Canadian podcasts related to the arts, heritage, and society. The collection is constantly changing and growing.
Culture.ca is an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The site is aimed at anyone who wants to explore, find, and share in the best of Canada's cultural and creative life.
Together with the National Arts Centre, the Department of Canadian Heritage has designed the new podcast directory to help Canadians more easily share and express their cultural experiences with one another and the rest of the world.
For more information on the new directory of Canadian cultural podcasts, visit www.podcasts.culture.ca.
Information:
Dominic Gosselin
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage
and Status of Women
819 997-7788
Donald Boulanger
A/Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Heritage
819 994-9101
