Mezzo-soprano Lee Hayes says she will be affected by cuts to the Canada Music Fund.
As we dance into the digital age, tuning the toggle on the transistor to try a different tune has given way to the speed and convenience of a keyboard click. The federal government plans to invest further in digital music for our expedient pleasure – at the cost of avant garde music production.
The decision to eliminate the Canadian Musical Diversity category of the Fund – worth $1.35 million annually – in April 2010 has left specialized musicians questioning their artistic future in what they see as a growing pool of conventional compositions.
Lee Hayes, mezzo-soprano of Ottawa’s voice and percussion quartet, Canterra and a former recipient of an Ontario Arts Council grant says specialized music is a dying genre. She also wonders where specialized musicians should now turn for funding.
“I think diversity in music has been suffering for a while,” Hayes says. “It is hard to say who needs it and who deserves it because it doesn’t just impact one genre."
In an attempt to streamline the fund, the government will divert money from the diversity component to focus on digital platforms and increase the presence of Canadian music in the international market.
In an interview with CBC this month, Heritage Minister James Moore said the move will promote the funding of artistic ventures that are of a higher priority for government and for the industry.
John Geggie, an improvised jazz composer, says he is anxious about the government’s decision. As a grant recipient, he says he hopes the public will be mobilized against what he says is a disrespectful and destructive move against non-mainstream artists.
“The government thinks that it is in a position to decide what is defined as Canadian art,” he says.
Greg Harris, coordinator of the annual “Alt-Whatever” country music festival, says that while the lack of a grant to assist in recording an album might result in a poorer quality product, musicians can still continue to make music to their hearts' content. But he questions how the government will succeed in digitalizing Canadian music to international acclaim.
"If it is a bunch of old farts and bureaucrats in charge of doing this who have no idea of what is going on they are probably going to do it wrong, " says Harris.
Though he sees this as unfortunate, Harris says he finds comfort in the prospect that the funding cuts may not be forever.
"You want to tell people not to get discouraged because at the next election you can just change it,” he says.