By Laura Thornton
Ottawa city council’s recent decision to return $616,000 to general revenue from arts after losing the bid to be the cultural capital of Canada is being met with controversy in the community
The money, which has been budgeted for arts and culture funding since 2006, was put into general revenue after a 12-10 council vote. Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes described the process as “a typical Ottawa anti-arts vote.”
City council allocated the money in the 2006 budget when they put together their bid package. If successful, the federal government would have matched the sum and added more so that the city would have had access to $2 million in funding.
On June 25, when council learned that the bid had failed, the cultural services and funding committee tabled a motion to keep the $616,000 already budgeted in 2006 in the arts sector. The motion was easily passed, said Holmes.
Legal and Financial Services asked the branch to bring forward their motion at the Aug. 29 city council meeting, so it could be reconfirmed. “It was assumed the motion would carry,” said Holmes. “We thought that they would put community first.”
Peter Honeywell, executive director of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa, says he was always hopeful that the cultural capital bid would succeed, but was not surprised when it failed. “We were running against very progressive cities that invest a lot into their arts,” he said.
Of the seven largest cities in Canada, Ottawa spends the least amount of money on the arts. In 2003, the municipal government spent just over $10 million on building, expanding and promoting arts and culture in Ottawa. Montreal, the city that spends the most money on its arts and cultural events, spent just under $90 million in funding.
Holmes and Honeywell agree that council’s decision has been a disaster for the Ottawa arts and culture scene. “It’s a real example of ‘One step forward, two steps back,’” said Honeywell.
Holmes said she is worried that this series of events will discourage other city branches and their employees from applying for money from higher levels of government. Losing federal funding is one matter, but losing the municipally budgeted funding as well sends the message of “don’t bother,” said Holmes.
Honeywell said that the worst loss for the city is the $150,000 that would have been spent updating the corporate art collection. “Local artists are producing huge amounts of work that may not be available two or three years down the road when the funding finally comes through,” he said.
Ottawa needs to spend more money on the local artists, and stop relying on federal programs to get by, insisted Holmes. “Most artists can’t afford to rent the National Arts Centre to put on a play.”
Not enough grassroots support, she said, forces Ottawa artists to move to more artistically friendly cities to develop their craft until they can come back as nationally recognized names.