By Jessica Crowe
Canada’s poor showing at the Olympics has started a debate over whether or not our athletes are getting enough funding.
But amateur sports isn’t the only area where Canada is lacking money. Government cuts to arts funding in the early 1990’s have left arts communities scrabbling to survive.
Ottawa filmmaker Josephine MacFadden’s predicament illustrates this point. An established figure in the local arts scene, she should have few difficulties finding money for a project.
Yet her struggle to raise money to make a movie about the life of Colonel John By is well-known. Despite having support from the public and a roster of Canadian movie stars, MacFadden hasn’t been able to secure the last $40,000 she need
The pragmatic economic climate that ruled during the early 1990’s is still here.
With a $12 billion budget surplus the federal government can restore arts funding to what is was before the recession, but it has not done so. In November 1995 the Harris government cut $220 million from its arts budget that it has not restored.
This and the transition board’s veto of a regional council decision to give $500,000 to local arts groups is proof that politicians see the arts as an expendable branch of their budgets.
In 1997 the Canada Council for the Arts’ budget was increased by $25 million and another $10 million was added last year, but this still isn’t at pre-recession levels. And if the economy takes a fall, any small increase will not matter. The arts will assuredly be one of the first areas cut.
Donna Balkan from the Canada Council for the Arts says that arts is one of the fastest growing job sectors. Jobs in theatres, galleries, movies, and as authors are becoming more and more available.So why not give more money if only to facilitate job creation?
All of this is important because art, in all its forms, makes our lives better.
When an artist creates a piece of music or writes a novel, they are extending out a part of themselves to anyone willing to take it.
The sense of wonder a person feels when they understand and connect with it, shouldn’t be limited to the privileged.
Despite what politicians think, art is not a disposable medium. We need shelter, we need food, and to be fulfilled people, we need art.
Since Canada can’t measure its artists against those of other countries like it can with its athletes, the consequences of minimized arts funding aren’t always apparent.
If there were a way to do this, our artists wouldn’t fare any better than our athletes.