Orchestras Canada

Federal Budget 2010: Arts Sector Key to Canada’s Economic and Social Prosperity

The Canadian Arts Coalition is pleased to see that arts and culture investment has been sustained in Budget 2010 and that the Government will continue to deliver on stimulus measures for the cultural sector identified in the Economic Action Plan. In particular, we commend the Government for wisely protecting investment to the Canada Council for the Arts, and look forward with interest to the unveiling of the Canada Prizes with hopes that this initiative will focus on celebrating the exceptional talent of our Canadian artists.

Budget 2010 makes repeated reference to the need to keep Canadian businesses competitive in the global marketplace. While no measures were introduced to advantage Canadian cultural products, it is hoped that going forward, initiatives such as a new support for international market access and development and increased investment to the Canada Council for the Arts will be introduced – ensuring Canadian cultural content maintains and enhances its presence and competitiveness at home and on the world stage.

As Canada embarks on a path of economic recovery, the arts sector is poised to play a key role in the revitalization of Canadian communities as an efficient engine of job creation across a number of sectors including industry, hospitality and transportation,  that benefit from increased cultural activity. There is a growing consensus among leaders in all economic sectors that arts investment is a cost effective catalyst for high economic returns and we hope to see the Government lever this tremendous opportunity through new and increased investment in the arts going forward. The Conference Board of Canada has noted that cities rich in cultural resources are hotbeds of creativity, economic wealth generators, and magnets for talent across all sectors of the economy.

As part of the creative, knowledge economy, the cultural sector is growing at a rapid rate.  Cultural workers, including artists exceed 600,000. “One in every 30 people in Canada has a cultural occupation. That’s twice as many people as work in the forestry sector and more than twice as many as work in Canadian banks,” said Eric Dubeau, co-chair of the Canadian Arts Coalition. “We need to be part of the plan going forward.”

The Canadian Arts Coalition is Canada’s largest ever group of artists, business leaders and volunteers assembled from across the country. We are united in the knowledge that greater public investment in the arts is essential to Canada’s future. We believe that the high quality of life, for which Canada is known, depends on a rich, vibrant and diverse arts and heritage community.

British Columbia Budget 2010

(We provide this excerpted report courtesy of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture)

Emerging from [Tuesday’s] budget lockup at the BC Legislature, Alliance for Arts and Culture Executive Director Amir Ali Alibhai, Victoria Symphony Executive Director Mitchell Krieger, and ProArt Alliance of Greater Victoria Coordinator Scott Walker expressed disappointment at the budget’s half-hearted support for the arts in British Columbia.

“Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen seem to have largely disregarded the recommendations of their own Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services and continue to ignore the importance of the creative sector ” said Mr. Alibhai.

“The Cultural Olympiad was a significant achievement for Canadian artists” Mr. Krieger added. “With this budget, however, it appears that what we have recently experienced was only a moment in time, as support for the arts continues to fall to record levels.”

At first glance, the 2010/11 Budget for arts and culture does appear to fully restore funding to 2008/09 levels, as recommended by the Standing Committee.

On further exploration, however, the arts community spokesmen noted that funding for the Royal BC Museum ($12.1M) is included in the figures presented this year; previously it has not been included. There is also a “mystery” $10M allocation, which is currently not fully defined nor allocated to any existing funding organization, such as the BC Arts Council.

“We would welcome the opportunity to work with the government to make the most effective use of this investment,” said Mr. Krieger.

The following table attempts to compare “apples to apples” and gives a summary of our interpretation of the 2010 Budget. Gaming funds for arts and cultural allocations as well as funding for BC Arts Council grants are significantly lower than in 2008/09.

“Why not just restore BC Arts Council to the $19M level of 2008/09″ asked Mr. Alibhai. “Where has the $7M cut from Gaming funds to the Arts and Culture gone?”

“Artists, arts organizations, community partners, corporate sponsors and our audiences throughout will respond to this budget in a forceful manner” predicted Mr. Alibhai.

“We’ve shown the world what BC artists can do,” concluded Mr. Walker. “What we were hoping for was that the government would learn from the past two weeks and continue to invest in the Arts. When all those visitors return – as the government tells us they will – what they’ll find with this budget is a lot of closed doors and cancelled arts programs.”

During the 2008 federal election campaign, advocacy efforts of the Canadian Arts Coalition – Canada’s largest consortium of arts, culture and heritage supporters – and others resulted in unprecedented media attention and public debate about the value of and need for public investment in the cultural sector. Since that time, many artists, organizations and supporters have continued to advocate for increased investment. However, post-election, the collective effort of the coalition has faded. Without central coordination, the sector is potentially advancing conflicting messages, leaving the government confused about our collective priorities at a time when money is tight and choices must be made.
 
An early fall election was narrowly avoided in September. Had it been triggered, we would have been sorely unprepared to launch a national arts and culture lobby, let alone one with the same reach and impact as in 2008. The question is not if there will be an election, but when.
 
In the absence of the CAC, alliances such as the Mouvement pour les arts et les lettres, Performing Arts Alliance (PAA) and Visual Arts Alliance have continued to coordinate messages and keep lines of communication open. However, as an election approaches, a more widely representative collective action is essential to advancing the priorities of the sector. With this in mind, the PAA convened representatives from National Arts Service Organizations and equivalent groups in late October. Attendees discussed a proposed re-launch of a national arts coalition to coordinate the messages and actions of the arts sector during the next federal election campaign. The proposal, drafted by the Canadian Dance Assembly, received an enthusiastic response and incited much discussion about how to collectively keep arts issues on the public and political agenda.
 
At the end of the organizing meeting, there was unanimous agreement to form a non-partisan arts coalition specifically to lobby on behalf of arts issues. The short-term goals of the coalition will include two specific asks that coalition members will advocate to all parties: 1) increase the annual budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $300 million; and 2) invest in a new market access and development fund – an investment measure aimed, in part, at replacing cut programs that supported international touring and dissemination.
 
Membership in the Coalition is open to any national arts service organization or equivalent that represents a significant number of arts, culture or heritage stakeholders, supports one or both of the asks, and participates in and promotes the work of the Coalition. Coalition membership is $100 plus we will need significant financial contributions in addition to membership fees. Membership in the Coalition entitles the organization to nominate and vote for a national steering committee and to participate in the work of the Coalition. The seven-person national steering committee will consist of two co-chairs and five other volunteers. Four of the steering committee members must be experienced in previous Canadian Arts Coalition activities.
 
A volunteer interim steering committee has been formed to guide this membership recruitment and voting phase of our work. We have committed to launching membership recruitment and the nominations process within the next few weeks. We will be conducting as much of the activity as possible online and keeping you informed through email and updates to the Coalition’s Facebook page and website.
 
The interim steering committee is:
Katherine Carleton, Orchestras Canada / Orchestre Canada, co-chair
Bastien Gilbert, Conférence des collectifs et des centres d’artistes autogérés / Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference, co-chair
Éric Dubeau, Fédération culturelle canadienne-française
Melissa Gruber, Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens
Shannon Litzenberger, Canadian Dance Assembly / Assemblé canadienne de la danse
Christina Loewen, Opera.ca
Christina J. Murray, Association of Canadian Choral Communities/Association des communautés chorales canadiennes
Lucy White, Professional Association of Canadian Theatres
 
Once the national steering committee is formed, next steps will include the creation of working groups to embrace such tasks as strategy development, communications, regional animation, and finance and resources.
 
Animating the widest possible number of supporters for the Coalition will be a critical factor in our success in getting our messages to each and every MP. Although membership in the Coalition will be reserved for paying organizations, participation will be encouraged through our many networks of colleagues, members, audiences, volunteers and other stakeholders.
 
The [re] formation of a national arts coalition is another milestone in the maturation of the Canadian arts community. Participation is open to all and we hope that you too will join the movement!

The Coalition Facebook page and website will be updated shortly.  In the meantime, for more information about the Coalition and its plans, please contact Orchestras Canada Executive Director Katherine Carleton by email at katherine [at] oc.ca.

Last week, Orchestras Canada Executive Director Katherine Carleton spent three busy days in Ottawa – taking one day to meet with MPs (including Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Heritage critics Pablo Rodriguez [Liberal] and Charlie Angus [NDP]) and policy staff, and two days in the annual National Arts Service Organization meetings with over 60 colleagues from colleague arts service organizations from all disciplines and senior staff of the Canada Council for the Arts.  While she will be posting more about these meetings on her blog later this week, Carleton highlighted one major outcome from an in camera meeting of the NASOs:  a unanimous and enthusiastic agreement by the group to re-invigorate the Canadian Arts Coalition, a collaborative, non-partisan national arts lobby.  An interim steering committee has been formed to guide the Coalition’s work over the next several weeks, and more news will be released about this shortly.
 
An all-party federal arts caucus has recently held its first meeting in Ottawa.  The brainchild of Paul Dewar, NDP member for Ottawa Centre, the new arts caucus is intended as a non-partisan forum for MPs to learn about the arts and to to create a stronger link between Parliamentarians and the arts and culture community.  All MPs were invited to join, and a remarkable twenty-nine signed on.  The caucus is being chaired by NDP MP Denise Savoie.

Ignatieff made these commitments in a series of meetings with various cultural agencies in Montreal, including popular and classical music and theatre.  He was to meet later with officials from museums, cinema and television. The Liberals are meeting with representative of groups involved in culture across the country.”