Open letter to the Heritage Committee re: arts budget cuts
Below is my open letter to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which I’m releasing under a Creative Commons attribution license.
Honourable members of Parliament:
This is an open letter regarding the recent announcements of Federal cuts on spending in the Arts.
As a visual artist living and working in Kitchener-Waterloo, the Secretary of CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens) Ontario and a supporter of arts & culture, I am deeply disturbed by the staggering number of programs and the amount of money being cut from the Arts.
I, and many other members of the arts community, was extremely pleased by the announcement of the increase of $30m in annual funding to the Canada Council for the Arts(1). However, this is an increase which has been offset by the recent cuts to programs and funding, totalling in excess of $46m(2). No less than ten programs have been closed altogether. The Globe and Mail reports that the savings is being re-routed not to other arts spending, but to the upcoming Olympics(3).
Why are these cuts being made and not being reinvested in the Arts, despite the recently passed Status of the Artist legislation(4), which states:
The Government of Canada hereby recognizes
(a) the importance of the contribution of artists to the cultural, social, economic and political enrichment of Canada;
(b) the importance to Canadian society of conferring on artists a status that reflects their primary role in developing and enhancing Canada’s artistic and cultural life, and in sustaining Canada’s quality of life;
(c) the role of the artist, in particular to express the diverse nature of the Canadian way of life and the individual and collective aspirations of Canadians;
(d) that artistic creativity is the engine for the growth and prosperity of dynamic cultural industries in Canada; and
(e) the importance to artists that they be compensated for the use of their works, including the public lending of them.
References:
1. http://www.pch.gc.ca/newsroom/index_e.cfm?fuseaction=displayDocument&DocIDCd=CBO071014
2. http://www.ccarts.ca/en/documents/ListofrecentcutsENG210808_000.pdf
3. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080822.wcuts22/BNStory/Entertainment/
4. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/S-19.6/index.html
Sincerely,
Julianna Yau
Tags: art, culture, government, heritage committee, money, open letters, politics, status of the artistRelated posts
By Julianna Yau
On August 26, 2008
At 6:14 am
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Funny how people are quick to judge the arts as a waste of time and money. I grew up for a small time thinking business and other cookie cutter fields were the way to go. A true artist is something special. It is what separates us from the animals and lets us think outside of the box.