Canuck Arts Communiques Aplenty

Well, though many in the arts community (myself included) are still on the freelance version of "vacation," the emails are really starting to fly about letters to send to the government regarding the millions in recent arts cuts.

Some of the communiques include:

• Tech expert Michael Geist's commentary on how these arts cuts hurt the digital dissemination of Canuck culture worldwide. A tidbit: These program cuts seemingly guarantee Canada will fall further behind the digitization race, leaving Canadians without online access to their cultural and historical heritage and doing precious little to promote Canadian content to the rest of the world. The decisions may provide short-term gains among some voting constituencies, but also promise long-term pain for Canada's presence in the online world.
• Simpleposie's ongoing and extensive archive of coverage on the cuts, as posed in the form of cogent questions such as What does The Canadian Writer's Union say? What does The Straight say?
• Man Booker prize winner Yann Martel's appeal on his blog: The cancellation of PromArt was recently announced. The program, administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, helps cover some of the travel costs of Canadian artists and cultural groups going abroad to promote their work. The grants to individuals are small, often between 750 and 1500 dollars. The budget of the entire program is only $4.7 million dollars. That’s about 14 cents a year per Canadian. For that small sum, Canada shows its best, most enduring quality to the nations of the earth. .. to cut an international arts promotion program is to vow our country to cultural anonymity.
• Fuse magazine editor Izida Zorde's form letter to the Heritage Committee based on one by Penn Kemp: To Heritage Committee members: I understand that you are meeting today to discuss the recent Arts cuts. The latest news is that Mr. Harper plans to "redirect all savings" from his drastic cuts to Arts programs to support Vancouver Olympic programs and bilingualism. What an unfortunate dichotomy this sets up.Arts or Sports? Surely this Either/Or situation is not necessary! Here’s to Both/And!Sports and Arts are both funded by the Department of Heritage, so why are arts programs being targeted? There are many Roads to Excellence and Action Plans. I’m holding the torch for Arts as well as athletics, in both official languages.
• Theatre artist Jacob Zimmer's extensive draft of a letter to same at the Dancemakers Centre for Creation blog: Capacity for doubt, challenge, hope and curiosity is as vital for a nation as it is for a writer, a physicist, a politician, an athletics coach or a medical researcher. None of these fields should by tied to a single simple “majority rules” moral ideology. (This is not to say that there are not conversations of ethics that are crucial to address in all these fields.)

As a bright note to round it all off, the Conference Board of Canada released a report in the last few days stating that the arts makes a big contribution to the Canadian economy: In 2007, it estimates the sectors represented $46 billion of the overall economy, or about 3.8 per cent of GDP.

Not that Harper's actually listening, but y'know, the stats do help.

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Weekend Wonderings: Tory cuts, Harbourfront hops, Queen West walks

So the Tories revealed yesterday that the some of the $40-mil they've cut from the arts will be mainly be redirected to athletic teams, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Mr. Harper, I know you must be a dedicated reader of my blog, but such misguided accounting decision was not what I meant when I posted on Art vs. Sport earlier this summer.

After all, funding of art and sport need not be an either-or decision. Both should be funded well in a wealthy nation like ours. Thankfully, others have taken up this point in the last couple of days. Still, to reiterate:

• Both Art and Sport represent Canada on the world stage. Sport has events like the Olympics and World Championships that highlight this, just as Art has events like the Venice Biennale and Documenta. In both cases, when Canadians perform well in these events, the world takes note. This is as true for David Altmejd at last year's Venice Biennale as it is for Jason Burnett at this year's Olympics.
• Both Art and Sport are activities that, at an amateur level, improve the quality of life for many Canadians. Whether we're talking little-league soccer or Sunday still-life painting classes, both sport and the arts allow individuals of all ages to participate in something that brings them great pleasure, improved health, and, often, increased community fellow feeling.
• Art and Sport are hardly mutually exclusive domains. As Martin Creed and, closer to home, the Movement Movement have shown, sports like running can be performance art in themselves. And as scoring structures for sports like diving and gymnastics demonstrate, aesthetics can be a vital part of sport. Further, as recent art exhibitions on sport have shown, these domains further interrelate on a mass level around the world.
• Some aspects of Sport may be as negatively impacted by some of these "arts" cuts as Art is. Why? Because part of these cuts related to ending a collections digitization program--in other words, doing things like scanning historical photographs from museum collections to make them available online. There are many historical photographs, of course, that deal with sport from past years, whether it be awards ceremonies for 1950s hockey tournaments, group shots of Calgary curling teams from 1919, or images of past Olympic heroes like Bobbie Rosenfeld.

Sigh. Election, anyone?

In other news, there's still some art at Harbourfront, and on Queen West.

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Shout-out: Vid Ingelevics on Canadian Arts Cuts

After doing some more online reading related to our huge arts funding cuts of late, I just wanted to deliver a shout-out to Toronto artist, curator and educator Vid Ingelevics. That's his Woodpile 7, 2006, above, and you know, I'll be damned if Ingelevics, in the troll-laden fray of online commenting boards over at the Globe, doesn't manage to neatly stack a cord of reasons why these cuts are ill-thought-out. For example:

I will give an example of exactly the kind of thing that we will not see anymore with these short-sighted and ideologically-motivated cuts to Canada's cultural programs by the federal government.

As an independent curator I worked with a team on a project for one of Canada's largest public archives to digitize and put on-line a history of Eaton's department store display windows that covered the entire country and almost a hundred years of our history. With almost 200 hundred images, this important aspect of Canada's history is now available to anyone in the country (or the world) who has access to a computer and the net. A significant chunk of the funding for this ambitious project was provided by Canadian Culture Online, a program that the Tories have just cut.

Speaking for myself, it is truly disheartening to have a government that demonstrates such utter contempt for our culture and, ultimately, our history.

Or:

Skeptical Realist from Canada writes: 'Can someone give me an example of our 'unigue' Canadian culture that we tax payers need to support? Do we have any?'I just did.

See above. Culture = history.

Sensibly pointing out flaws in logic without hitting the wall of invective is also useful:

sally stink from edmonton, Canada writes: "grants from the heritage department to ethnic groups decidedly on the left of center are great vote getters as well."

Hmmm. Just out of curiousity would you mind identifying for us which "ethnic groups" are left of centre? Do you mean like all Indians, all Pakistanis, all Nigerians, all Mexicans, etc? Who are you talking about?

I didn't realize that entire nations were now being classified by our lovable Tories according to some bizarre ideological scale.

Thanks, Vid, for the clarity at a time of high emotion. I know others are probably doing as much behind the scenes, but it's hopeful to see some commentary in the Internet forums.

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Review & Interview: Circus Posters in Toronto, Animal Feats in Halifax

A couple of quick links to my articles in the media today:

• German artist Corinna Schnitt's Once Upon A Time... (still above) looks to be one of the many highlights of a show opening tonight in Halifax on human-animal relationships. Today the National Post published my condensed interview with show curator Peter Dykhuis.
• Art shows at the Toronto Reference Library are a real hit and miss affair, but they've rightfully entered the big top of show quality with their current exhibit on circus ephemera. Read more in my review today in NOW.

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Analysis & Thorny Issues: Canada's $44-mil in arts cuts

Well, it looks from the news like $44.8-million has been slashed from federal arts funding in the past two weeks, with more arts cuts coming.

I’ve been holding off on a post on this rather massive matter, as I’ve been trying to get a sense of what the response has been across the country since the beginning of the cuts were announced. I also, quite frankly, have my own cynicisms about the arts, and was unsure how to rationalize (beyond the usual "art is important"!) to non-arts lovers why spending on these things is important, how it serves us all. (More on that later on in this post, where I outline some challenges to reversing these cuts.)

So far it seems most of the outcry is from the traditional arts centres (and traditional non-Conservative political sectors) of Toronto and Montreal. There have been a few op-eds decrying the cuts from Edmonton , Ottawa and St. John’s . Vancouver alt-weekly the Straight gave a little coverage to recording industry outcry, but little response as far as I can see from the websites of Vancouver dailies.

The best coverage as far as I can see has been from the French media, like La Presse (who tracked down our erstwhile Heritage minister Josee Verner first). The Globe has also done a good job on tracking the story, and the franco and anglo CBC's okay too. Internationally, there's been little on view except for the post I found at Art Fag City -- a blog written by a Canuck.

Some of the orgs who have publicly criticized the cuts so far include: the Canadian Independent Record Production Association , l’Union des Artistes , Movement pour les arts et les lettres , l’Association nationale des editeurs de livre , Regroupement Quebecois de la Danse, the Bloc Quebecois, the Liberal Party , ACTRA (the national performers’ union), the Directors Guild of Canada, and the Canadian Museums Association.

A town hall-style meeting on these cuts is slated for September 3 at Toronto Free Gallery the Theatre Centre in Toronto.

It’s clear to me that there are many challenges to the arts community in effectively reinstating arts funding. Here are a few:

1) As evidenced by the media coverage of this issue, there is little linkage right now between outcry in the Conservative government strongholds of the West and more rural areas of Canada and the traditional arts/Liberal party/NDP strongholds of Toronto and Montreal. In order to defeat these cuts, it is crucial that linkages be made between cultural communities across Canada regardless of past regional rivalries. We need a statement from the Glenbow Museum. We need a statement from the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Art Gallery of Calgary, and Calgary artist-run centres. We need letters from their board members, from their patrons, from those who collect art, and from those who sell it. We need editorials—or at least letters to the editor-in the Vancouver Sun and the Calgary Herald from these people.

2) Another challenge will be connecting anti-cut endeavours across disciplines. It’s not just visual artists who are affected by these cuts, but the book industry, the magazine industry, dancers, theatre artists, and musicians. These are groups of people who tend to have their own associations and factions in their respective creative communities. They will need to bond together for this one, and get out of their usual circles to create a wide-ranging movement.


3) All artists in every discipline (film, music, literature, art or performance) against these cuts needs to get better at explaining the importance of the arts to those who are not involved in them. This explanation needs to be multipronged, with emphases on economics, educational benefits and community development as well as on aesthetics and the intangibles of art. The explanation also needs to apologize for (or at least recognize) the elitist way in which many arts have been presented to the public in the past. It needs to link the pleasures of big-ticket hits like Juno and Bon Cop Bad Cop and Arcade Fire and Cirque du Soleil to the funding systems that have been cut. (Ellen Page got her start in Canuck-funded TV and film, dontcha know. If it weren’t for that, even given all her talent, she might be barista-ing it up in Halifax like so many talented young people.) This explanation also needs to talk heritage, like the memories that will be lost from generations past—we’re talking historical artefacts, not art--through cuts collections digitization program.

4) Efforts from the arts community will need to put pressure on both the Liberals and the New Democrats, who up to this point have been loath to come together in vocal and concerted opposition to Conservative policies. I understand the Dems don’t want to give any votes to the Libs, but come on, we all have to start somewhere in actually acting like an opposition instead of like warring siblings. This goes for matters on the climate change and job creation fronts—which the Conservatives have handled horribly--as well as on the cultural ones.

These are my thoughts on the matter so far. I look forward to hearing what others might think, especially on how to rationalize arts funding to the unconvinced.

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Quick Hits: Kitty Scott Q&A, Roy Arden review, Mary-Anne Barkhouse interview

I'm away this week, so posts will be few and far between. Still, here's a few quick hits on my recent stories published elsewhere:

• Last fall, former National Gallery of Canada curator Kitty Scott left a much-vaunted post at the Serpentine--after just one year on the job--to be director of visual arts at the Banff Centre. In a Q&A with her this week at Canadian Art Online, Scott talks about why she left, as well as her views on the recent David Franklin/Pierre Theberge debacle at the National Gallery. Also of particular note is the curating symposium she's co-coordinating for the fall, which will have (gasp!) actual curating grads speak on their programs, rather than the program heads themselves. A smart move. It will be interesting to see what she does next, and whether her goal of refocusing the Banff residency program on artist (rather than administrator) interest will succeed.


• Respected Vancouver photog Roy Arden has spent the last decade-plus amassing 32,000 images from the Internet. In my recent NOW review of his current show at Monte Clark Gallery, I talk about how this practice makes the internet a kind of uber-camera for human experience. Don't know if Arden would agree and all, but I think it's an interesting idea. It also fits with the very conceptual approach of the Jeff-Wall-epitomized Vancouver school of photography.


• On a (strangely) more fun note, Ontario artist Mary-Anne Barkhouse has coin-operated horsie rides stand in for the four horses of the apocalypse in her current installation at the Ottawa Art Gallery. In my interview with her published recently in the National Post, Barkhouse makes a compelling case for why "end of days" fears actually have a recurring, short-term quality for each generation. If you're in town, sounds worth a spin.

Image of Figure In a Mountain Landscape creative residency working plein air at Sunshine Meadows, Banff, photo by Adam Costenoble, courtesy of the Banff Centre

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Shout-out: Chris Nuttall Smith on the Royal Ontario Museum's Reno Woes

Given my continued griping about the financial mismanagement at the Royal Ontario Museum (and related admission fee jumps) I want to do a shout-out to Toronto writer Chris Nuttall-Smith, whose much-needed feature on the ROM's renovation-cost woes is the highlight of the recently released September 2008 issue of Toronto Life magazine.

In it, Nuttall-Smith reveals the following ROM errors of judgment:

• In 2001, the consulting firm KPMG predicted that with an appropriate reno, the ROM could raise attendance from 650,000 visitors annually to between 1 to 1.6 million visitors. The ROM (unwisely) then projected their post-reno attendance to hit 1.65 million right off the bat (that's 4,500 visitors per day).
• The project's cost spiralled over an 18-month delay from $200 million to $320 million. At each step of the way, the ROM trustees okayed going into debt and blue-skying things like monies to be received from a (still unapproved) sale of a nearby planetarium for a 46-storey condo development.
• In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the ROM greeted 986,171 visitors—fewer visitors than in pre-reno 2000.

Of course, Nuttall-Smith's assessment attempts for balance too, with a profile of past successes of CEO Bill Thorsell, as well as a general tone of detachment and recognition of international accolades from Conde Nast travel mags. 

Still, it's not hard to see that Thorsell (who, it's implied, has a very hard time taking constructive criticism or naysaying) and the ROM trustees have really dug their own boom-mentality grave on this one.

Interestingly, in anticipation of this expose (however gentle) Thorsell has issued his own press release linked on the ROM frontpage, a very rah-rah assessment noting that attendance is now averaging 3,000 a day (still well below the basic budgeted requirements detailed above), with $232 mil raised (still $90 mil short of what's needed) and a 94% guest satisfaction rate (that's of people who managed to get into the museum, not those who are kept out by admission barriers, or who decided, as Nuttall-Smith documents, hin the past year that they will never return). 

Definitely worth a read or two, or three.

Image of fireworks at the ROM's June 2007 opening from the Royal Ontario Museum website.

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