By Joseph Quesnel
Funding for the arts in Ottawa is safe — for now.
At last week’s budget discussions, Ottawa city council decided to continue funding for its museums, libraries and vast array of festivals.
That is good news. But the problem is that the funding is only for one year and is not assured for the future. That means Ottawa will have to go through this debate again.
It’s interesting that it took weeks of protests from casual arts lovers and lobbying by arts organizations to finally convince Ottawa to back off.
Arts and culture was never seen as a core priority in the same way as public health and sanitation.
However, before the reader protests that arts is not as important as keeping us healthy and safe, it should be borne in mind that cultivating the creative arts is just as essential to healthy development as learning to brush your teeth.
Participating in the arts is essential for normal human development, say experts.
Bernard Andrews teaches education at the University of Ottawa and he says that the skills arts develops are crucial.
“The left brain is only half the story,” Andrews says, referring to the rational side of the brain that is developed through study of language arts, science and mathematics.
The right side of the brain, he says, is associated with creativity and problem solving.
Working with the visual arts, dance and music enhances the ability to think creatively and find alternative solutions to problems.
Andrews says the reason that these skills aren’t appreciated nowadays is because of the emphasis on linear, non-creative skills.
He says this is a trend in the education system. Schools have come to embrace standardized testing because they are easy to mark and cost less to administer and prefer concrete subjects such as math, science and technology.
This is unfortunate, because the creative, problem-solving skills that are enhanced through the arts are actually essential to many jobs and could make the difference in our competitive economy.
Learning how to design better, more comfortable cars for the public, for example, is a question of artistic skill — not one of a linear perception.
According to Andrews, more and more employers of engineers are concerned over the fact that engineering schools emphasize concrete logic over creative skills.
They are realizing, he says, that engineers need imagination as much as technical know-how.
Ottawa city council should take the first step in the direction of making sure we have events that allow us to develop these skills.
Doing so would also put Ottawa at a competitive advantage in the knowledge-based economy.
This should not, however, be used as license for the city to accept any art — the recent pedophilia film as one example —or invest in too many starving artists.
The question is how did we get to where we are today?
Why do we have to choose between the arts and, say, the fire department?
What makes arts an afterthought?
Historically, the arts were not seen as separate from everyday existence and culture.
Geraldine Finn, a professor of art and culture at Carleton University, says that before the emergence of the market economy in the 19th century everyone participated in the arts and benefited from them.
With the dominance of the market, art began to be seen as a commodity and something apart from the masses and the community.
Art was no longer the common heritage of everyone and artists had to seek out patrons to continue their work.
Eventually, with the emphasis on a market model for society, and practical subjects such as science and technology — subjects which promoted the efficiency needed for the mass economy — arts began to be marginalized,
Making arts a staple part of the community, however, is one way to make sure this doesn’t have to happen.
Ottawa council can start to recognize this by making the arts as essential as health services.
But, it’s not just arts in general that needs to be cultivated. Promoting a vibrant local arts scene is essential to understanding local community.
“Building local projects help build local self-consciousness and that’s important,” says Finn.
Local art and culture, says Finn, provides one of the only outlets for locals to learn about their identity and have it validated as important.
This means Ottawa council cannot get away with simply pointing to the NAC and other major national arts institutions in Ottawa and say “well, all our cultural needs are taken care of. We don’t need to invest as much locally.”
It’s essential that the local galleries and festivals that Ottawa funds remain vibrant.
It’s also not clear that corporate sponsors will remain in the business if they see the city withdrawing.
For the good of Ottawa and ourselves — let’s settle the debate once and for all.