Making the case for culture to politicians
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008This is in response to the article Make the case for culture to ordinary Canadians, artists told from the CBC.
I’m disgusted by the fact that politicians believe we need to make a case at all, and that they don’t understand why we’re outraged by the arts budget cuts.
The spending on the arts was approved by Parliament, and so were the programs receiving the funding and the amount of funding being allocated to the programs.
The budget cuts were done in secret, without approval by Parliament, without consulation with the arts community, without clear, specific and direct explanations on why the particular cuts were made, without formal announcement to the public or the arts community, and without clear and direct information on where the excess of $60m was being redirected.
If the government really cared about arts & culture, they would already be aware of the many reports and studies on the importance of arts & culture. So-called “ordinary Canadians” live and breathe art & culture all the time; if they are not happy with the way the money is being spent on the arts, it’s either because of a lack of understanding of the jury process or because we need to improve the process with consultation with the arts community. I know of no other sector where funding is cut, without consultation with the stakeholders, because “ordinary Canadians” or ideologically-threatened policymakers don’t like the product. How do we allow cigarettes to be freely marketed, but arts funding to be cut at the whim of a minority government?
So, to those who need a case presented to them, here is a short list of resources which show why art & culture is important:
- Hill Strategies Research
- Cultivating Demands for the Arts (pdf report)
- Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy (pdf)
- Art classes improve diagnostic skills of medical students (CBC article)
- Canadian Tourism Commission
- Status of the Artist legistlation
- Valuing Culture: Measuring and Understanding Canada’s Creative Economy (report)
Please post any other resources in the comments.
