THE PROVINCE
Friday, June 21, 1969

Intermedia Invades Victoria

The Canada Council has announced a $40,000 grant to a Vancouver cultural organization which doesn't exist yet.

The organization called Intermedia of Vancouver, is still in the planning stages.

Its chairman, painter Jack Shadbolt, said Thursday night: "A responsible and active committee has been formed and has been working on the project. We hope to bring it into a tangible form within the near future.

"But as far as we are concerned the announcement of the Canada Council grant is premature."

Shadbolt said Intermedia, which will deal, amongst other things, with electronic exploration in sound and light, is a pioneer in its field in Canada-and it is for this reason that the Canada Council is so interested.

"What we will be trying to do is to explore the whole new area of sensory experience," he said.

"We have no connection with the psychedelic stuff, that happens to be in vogue at the moment and we do not want to get tarred with the same brush."

"We are seriously interested in the theater and in opera and in films, but our proposals are not confined to any definite patterns. We are exploring."

"Education will play a function in our work, examining patterns of response and so on. Our organization will be primarily an electronic and technical workshop. It 's a serious experiment."

Other Intermedia executives include: Joeseph Kyle, Simon Fraser University business consultant, manager: Victor Doray, director of the new University of B.C. school of Visual and Technical Education, technical advisor; and David Orcutt, presently working for the Canadian government at Expo, workshop manager.