Artist brings his talent online
Pary Bell isthe director of online media for Alliance Atlantis Communications.
Pary Bell has an eye for a challenge and the brush strokes to support his ambition.
As a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, he had cultivated a successful career as an exhibiting painter whose work was sold across the country.
But that wasn’t enough for Bell. Having watched the Internet grow from obscure university research tool to a mainstream form of communication, he wanted to explore the limitations of online content.
So he enrolled in Centennial College’s New Media Design program five years ago.
The one-year program helped him reshape his skills to work in online media, whether it’s web content, videogame interfaces or interactive applications for business.
“It introduced me to the principles of good online design, production and project management,” Bell says.
His success in the program earned him a 2002 Canadian New Media Award as Graduate of the Year.
A big fan of CBC Radio, Bell was eager to contribute to the Arts Canada web portal for his required college internship. He created compelling content to complement the Vinyl Café, Poetry Faceoff and other radio features.
His work turned heads at the public broadcaster, so much so that he was asked to stay beyond his internship. He was promoted to producer at CBC Television, assembling thoughtful and relevant online content.
Working with a talented team, Bell helped to redesign the CBC Kids website as a fun place to play. Traffic on the site improved by 1,300 per cent, making CBC Kids an important component of the broadcaster’s presence on the web.
Such success doesn’t go unnoticed in the television industry. He joined Alliance Atlantis Communications as director of online media this past June. Bell is responsible for extending the viewers’ experience for all 13 of the company’s broadcast networks, including The Food Network Canada and Showcase.
The work entails far more than simply posting recipes online.
“Consumers want more video (value-added content such as behind-the-scenes glimpses of popular shows),” Bell says.
He also wants to make the online experience interactive with text blogs, a way of making TV a social medium.
More than anything, Bell hopes to retire the notion that television viewing has to be passive.
