Some Spirit Festival” money directed to BC Arts Council, but little & late

If you haven’t seen the text of Minister responsible for the arts Ida Chong’s announcement on July 7, view it here.

The government has used some money from the $60M “Sports And Arts
Legacy Fund” established in the 2010 budget to keep the BC Arts
Council at a “stable” level in terms of its grants budget (although we
understand there may be a shortfall in money for BCAC-related staffing
at the Ministry). This is an achievement of sorts, as the mis-named
“Legacy Fund” was meant to provide money for politically-advantageous
initiatives, theoretically in the amount of $10M a year over three
years, and was not meant for the BC Arts Council, which some members of Caucus
see as a non-advantageous delivery mechanism. So, to have acquired
part of this budget (again, similar to last year) is not a small
thing, and congratulations are no doubt due to the BCAC Board and to
people at the Ministry.

However!

It is apparent that there is little will for either replacing the
investment formerly made through Gaming Direct Access (a poor delivery
mechanism, but one which compensated for the fact that the BCAC has
never had a budget adequate to fulfill its mandate), or for increasing
cultural investment at the provincial level in way which will enable
us to leverage and increase other sources of cultural investment,
enable us to bring more art to more publics, and enable us to create a
better working environment for artists and artists’ organizations.

The manner in which this year-to-year budget “stability” has been
achieved is also troubling. The BCAC started this budget year with
about half of the previous year’s grants budget, and with no apparent
commitment to increasing that budget during the year. It was not until
the evening of Thursday July 7 that the actual grants budget seems to have been
finalized. This is not conducive to proper planning: one quarter of
the year has gone by, a quarter in which projects have been juried
and assessed and funding allocated to them based on a plan containing
question marks where there should have been figures.

BC’s arts and culture industry needs, as other sectors need, stable investment if we are going to produce the kind of vital sector that attracts residents, good jobs, tourism, and general social health to the region.

Federal arts cuts coming?

Federal Finance Minister James Flaherty (rather than Heritage Minister James Moore, interestingly) issued threats of potential arts cuts just days before Canada Day. His warning came on the heels of the abrupt slashing of grants to Toronto’s successful Summerworks Festival  which had drawn the ire of the Conservative government the summer before for its political content. The cuts to Summerworks are clearly politically motivated, are an utterly unacceptable interference in the arts, and are a threat to basic Canadian freedoms. Further threats to investment in other parts of the Canadian culture industry are also unacceptable, a reversal of the Harper government’s stated intentions during their election campaign, and economically let alone socially unwise. CBC story follows:

Don’t count on grants, Flaherty warns arts groups – Arts & Entertainment – CBC News

“Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has a warning for cultural institutions that have come to rely on regular government funding: don’t count on it.

Flaherty delivered the message Tuesday shortly after announcing $500,000 in support for this year’s Canada Walk of Fame Festival, to be held in Toronto.

The funding falls under the Canada Arts Presentation Fund administered by Canada Heritage.

On Monday, SummerWorks, an acclaimed Toronto indie theatre festival, announced it had lost its federal funding. The festival made headlines last year after staging “Homegrown,” a play about a convicted terrorist, a member of the group known as the Toronto 18.

In a note posted on its blog, the festival said it had received federal funding for five straight years — totalling $140,000 — and was surprised to learn it would not get more money this year.

But Flaherty says arts organizations should not set their budgets assuming they’ll get government funds.

“One thing I’d say, and maybe it’s different than it used to be, is we actually don’t believe in festivals and cultural institutions assuming that year after year after year they’ll receive government funding,” Flaherty said.

“They ought not assume entitlement to grants … no organization should assume in their budgeting that every year the government of Canada is going to give them grants because there’s lots of competition, lots of other festivals, and there are new ideas that come along.

“So it’s a good idea for everyone to stay on their toes and not make that assumption.”

____________________________

For more information on the cuts to Summerworks in particular, read:

Globe and Main: SummerWorks appearance gave Victoria’s Ride the Cyclone legs

And just as an aside, here’s what the federal government thinks is worth investing in, culturally, outside the Canada Council or other arms length agencies. Is the government deciding what our culture will be now or does Canada’s culture industry perhaps make more informed choices, let alone better and wise use of tax dollars?

1. Canada’s Walk of Shame: It’s your tax dollars at work

2. Ottawa plans $100-million celebration of War of 1812

The 1970s in Canada were a golden age of culture in Canada (NFB, CBC, film, visual arts, design) & we could do that again.

Or fighter jets.

What sort of country do we want?

Write Minister Flaherty and Minister James Moore and tell them that you as a Canadian citizen and audience member do not want cuts of investment to Canadian culture and the Canadian culture industry. It might also be good to tell them that government must not dictate the content of Canadian culture, and that the cuts to Summerworks are disturbing.

Flaherty.J@parl.gc.ca
james.moore@parl.gc.ca

A couple of lines is enough.

Thanks!

Dutch political theatre around arts cuts – ad in the New York Times

Via artandeducation.net.

 

 

Dutch protest arts cuts

The Hague, June 27, 2011. “The Dutch arts community protests the pending 200 million euro cuts which will decimate the unique Dutch cultural landscape.”

Full story at CBC and  Guardian. Amazing video of clash with police here.

Globe and Mail poll: should gaming grants to arts be restored?

This was a poll that ran in the Globe and Mail in October. Pretty definitive. After last year’s gaming grant cuts, during which almost all arts organizations in the province were made entirely ineligible for grants, many jobs were lost in the arts. There is a legally binding agreement between the BC government and charities (of which the arts were a founding member) dictating that a significant portion of gaming revenues would go to arts and other charities. The BC government has never extinguished this agreement and yet is not abiding by it. We have been calling for return of these funds – especially in the context of the huge expansion of gambling in this province – to no avail. It seems that the public agrees with us. Restore the funds. British Columbians gamble believing their money is going to charities. It mostly isn’t. The public ought to be made aware of this fact.

Sign the BCACG’s petition here. The BC Ass’n of Charitable Gaming is the organization that advocates for all charities receiving gaming funds. Thank you.

British Columbia – the Last Place on Earth… to fund culture!

British Columbia, “The Best Place on Earth”? Last place on earth to find culture, too. In Canada, anyway.  The piece above, silkscreened on recycled and pulped lottery tickets, is by BC artist Bill Horne. See the entire piece on his site here. As you may or may not know, slightly more than half of BC arts funding came from gaming (gambling) revenues. These funds were called gaming or “Direct Access” grants. Last year, the BC government made arts ineligible for gaming grants. BC was already last in Canada in terms of investing in provincial arts and culture, and now we are last by a very, very large margin. What is the BC government doing, gambling that BC arts can survive this spell? Why does the arts sector, which provides 80,000 jobs in BC, deserve zero investment when other industrial sectors receive such generous subsidies?

Globe & Mail: Ministry name-change leaves artists concerned

By Marsha Lederman. Reprinted from the Globe and Mail, October 25, 2010

What’s in a name? A lot, say some B.C. artists, and they’re worried.

In Monday’s cabinet shuffle, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts disappeared, replaced by a Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. That makes British Columbia the only Canadian province or territory without a culture ministry. Sure there’s “culture” in “cultural development,” but that distinction makes some people in the arts community extremely apprehensive.

“I think it’s probably a very, very negative move,” said Lindsay Brown of the advocacy group Stop B.C. Arts Cuts. “ ‘Cultural development’ sounds so euphemistic, and my worry about it is you can then make it anything, and you don’t actually have to state in it any kind of commitment to any arts funding.”

Ms. Brown was “overjoyed,” however, about the removal of Kevin Krueger from the culture portfolio. “He was probably the most unprofessional and incompetent arts minister we have ever had to endure.”

The relationship between Mr. Krueger and the arts community had deteriorated over the past year-and-a-half, beginning with cuts in provincial arts funding and, more recently, with Mr. Krueger stating in some media interviews that he felt threatened while meeting with arts groups.

Ms. Brown welcomed a fresh start with a new minister, but expressed concerns that the new minister, Stephanie Cadieux, is a rookie in cabinet. “You can’t see that as a good sign. … But no matter how bad she [might turn out to be], she can’t be as bad as Kevin Krueger.”

NDP Culture Critic Spencer Chandra Herbert said on Monday that he was worried about the ministry’s name change, especially on the heels of what he called “huge” cuts in arts funding.

“To me, it’s a bit of an insult to everybody who supports arts and culture in the province, and seems to point to a further de-prioritization of arts and culture from this government. When you eliminate ‘arts’ out of the title, that does send a signal that, to government, it’s not very important. Certainly by their actions in terms of major cuts in arts investment they’ve shown that, and now they’re just confirming it.”

The executive-director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, Amir Ali Alibhai, said the name change could “suggest that there’s less of a priority being placed on the professional practice of the arts.”

Mr. Alibhai was quick to say that’s not necessarily a bad thing: “It has the potential to be very inclusive. It suggests to me that there’s something to invest in, to develop, and it’s kind of forward looking. … But of course there’s some concern about not sacrificing values like artistic merit, but I think that’s safeguarded by the B.C. Arts Council.”

Gillian Wood, executive-director of the arts council, said it will be business as usual under the new ministry and minister.

Ms. Cadieux was not available for an interview on Monday.

Letter to BC’s Finance Committee by Bill Horne of Wells, BC

All photos: Bill Horne

Dear Finance Committee Members:

I am writing as an artist and small business owner with 15 years’ experience in small town BC. I am also a Director of our Local Chamber of Commerce and the Vice-President of CARFAC BC, the provincial affiliate of Canadian Artists’ Representation/le front des artistes canadiens.

The two main things I would like you to consider are the restoration of all Gaming monies to the non-profit sector, without any strings attached, and a tripling of the province’s investment in the cultural sector.

The seasonal tourism economy in the north central interior is fragile enough as it is, especially in the wake of the recession, the pine beetle epidemic and this summer’s forest fires. I know that the gallery my wife and I operate brought in just 60% of the sales we had in 2009, and we are doing better than many people.

The decline in tourist numbers and sales makes us acutely aware of the impact of things like drastic cuts to the arts budget, the dissolution of Tourism BC, the siphoning of Gaming monies from non-profits, the unpredictable and unstable application of policy and funding in the arts sector, and the introduction of the HST.

Those of us who operate businesses in small communities are dependent on each other’s successes for our individual survival.Although it might be simpler to process HST remittances for our own particular business, its negative effect on local restaurants is causing less of their customers to circulate or stay in our town. The effect on outdoor tourism operators is another negative that will impact us, too.

My wife and I moved to Wells in part because of the existence of Island Mountain Arts, a non-profit which has been offering arts programs and operating a gallery for over 30years. In recent years it has also organized the Arts Wells Festival.

There is no question of its significant role in the culture and economy of our region. The relatively small investments of public funding this organization has received have a ripple effect that is estimated to bring $500K each summer to the north Cariboo, and easily twice that when the Festival is included.

When the government cuts arts funding, changes gaming fund rules, changes them again, changes rules retroactively, it wreaks havoc in the arts sector. It makes it extremely difficult for volunteer boards and staff to carry out a sound business plan. It creates uncertainty among businesses such as ours, as well as accommodations and restaurants, and it weakens our already fragile market.

Imagine the outcry from industry if the government were to slash funding to the school of forestry at UBC, or from mining if geology programs were cut. From this point of view, I believe that the reckless, disproportionate cuts to the arts — without consultation with the sector’s stakeholders — has threatened to undermine the potential of our province’s creative economy. And because the arts are not as separate from the majority of British Columbians as the government may like to think, these ill-advised policies are undermining other parts of our economy as well.

Last fall I began creating a series of portraits of people in various trades and occupations who support a strong arts sector. Their participation and enthusiasm underlines our connectivity and contradicts the myth that the arts are elitist and somehow separate. The response to my online “Solidarity Series” has been very positive, both from artists and from non-artists. I hope you enjoy the samples on the following pages. The complete text can be found at http://www.claireart.ca.

Bill Horne
Wells, BC

David Diamond’s submission to the BC Finance Committee

David Diamond is the Artistic/Managing Director of BC’s Headlines Theatre. This is his submission to the Standing Committee on Finance, spoken in person to the committee today in the course of its public Vancouver hearing:

To the Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services:

September 16, 2010

Hello, my name is David Diamond and I am the Artistic Director of Headlines Theatre. The best way, I believe, to talk about arts and culture is to make it personal.

One of the reasons I am here because sometime in the last 30 years, Headlines will have done a project in every single one of your constituencies; projects on addiction, family violence, racism, intergenerational conflict, homelessness, gang violence, suicide prevention and many others.

I want to acknowledge off the top that I am very happy that a portion of the money that was cut from Arts and Culture has come back to the BC Arts Council. Let us not think, however, this has solved the problem.

Mr. Les – you came to the opening of Meth, in Sto:Lo Territory – Meth toured into 27 communities across BC and then toured western Canada. I remember you came to me after the show, literally vibrating and said you had never experienced anything like this powerful theatre project on addiction;

Mr. Ralston – you might recall “Here and Now”, on gang violence. It was so deeply embraced by the Indo-Canadian community it was created and first performed inside the Ross Street Temple in Vancouver and then moved to the Surrey Arts Centre;

Mr. Donaldson – I carry a Gitxsan name because of the theatre work over many, many years throughout the Hazelton area – in Kispiox and Gitanmaax in particular.

Mr. Rustad – Street Spirits in PG who do work with at-risk youth, who I am sure you must know, were born directly from a Headlines’ workshop over 10 years ago.

I could go on through all of your constituencies.

(Cont’d….)

Arts Supporter Profile – Sandy Garossino

This is the first in a series of posts profiling British Columbian arts supporters from across the province. It is a little known fact that much of the muscle behind this fight for a proper level of BC arts funding does not come from artists and arts professionals. It comes in fact from arts supporters—committed, interested members of the audience. These are people who want to live somewhere with a vibrant identity of its own. Each of these highly successful individuals has contributed significant volunteer time and energy to building arts and culture in this province, and this series of profiles serves as a reminder that the fight for arts funding is not the self-interested agitation of a bunch of artists but in fact a much larger struggle for a better British Columbia.

Our first profile is of Sandy Garossino, a board member of the Alliance for Arts in Vancouver and volunteer chair of its Advocacy Task Force. Despite also working full-time, she has stuck with this fight for over a year.

Sandy Garossino comes from the business community to chair the Alliance Advocacy Committee.  Originally from small town Alberta and a lawyer by training, she formerly owned and operated 3 Metro Vancouver taxi companies–at the time one of the largest privately held taxi fleets in Canada.  Using technology developed in Richmond, Garossino’s companies pioneered the use of computerized taxi dispatch in North America.  Since the sale of those businesses, she has been active in private investments and incubating businesses through global partnerships, primarily in Asia.

Garossino sits on the SFU India Advisory Council and has ties to UBC’s Asia strategy.  She has been involved in arts governance for over 15 years, sitting on the boards of the Writers Festival, Public Dreams, and co-chairing the Vancouver Biennale.  She currently advises the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration, and sits on the board of the Alliance for Arts.

Garossino believes in culture’s often unseen yet powerful role in shaping the destiny of a city, a region, and a nation.

“Look at New York City.  150 years ago there was money there, and little else.  Vision and will turned New York into one of the greatest cultural centres on the planet.  And it is culture that underpins its position of global influence and impact.  Culture draws power, talent, energy, and excitement.  It drives human potential and achievement, usually through our collective unconscious.  And it is the foundation of the shared experience that make for harmonious, happy lived environments both urban and rural.

When leaders ignore the power of attraction–unknowingly they relegate their region to obscurity and the second rate.

These years are critical to BC.  We face a new, and largely uncertain future, with seismic shifts in global power that will profoundly affect our fate–sooner than most of us realize.  In myriad ways, our destiny will be shaped by forces we cannot see or know–and to a surprisingly large extent by a very few individuals who influence us with a single, very personal choice: to build their futures here or in some other, more attractive place.

It’s a big world out there, and we are in a global competition for the best and the brightest in everything.  Our cultural policies should reflect an awareness of that competition, put us in the game, and at their core, do something much more important:  shape our own identity.”

Next profile: Yulanda Faris.