LUCID FORGE

Normally, The Arts don’t make it to headline issue status during a federal election, but like all things surrounding the 2008 campaign, things are far from ordinary. Arts and arts funding have quietly become a pronounced issue in this election, so much so that Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to stymie the hit he took over them by announcing Monday a new tax credit for parents enrolling their kids in arts programs and classes. But before the announcement of the Federal election, the Harper government committed to a number of cuts to arts and culture programs, announced mostly through various leaks that amounted to some $50 million in total.

 


Normally, The Arts don’t make it to headline issue status during a federal election, but like all things surrounding the 2008 campaign, things are far from ordinary. Arts and arts funding have quietly become a pronounced issue in this election, so much so that Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to stymie the hit he took over them by announcing Monday a new tax credit for parents enrolling their kids in arts programs and classes. But before the announcement of the Federal election, the Harper government committed to a number of cuts to arts and culture programs, announced mostly through various leaks that amounted to some $50 million in total.

It started on August 11th when an official in Foreign Affairs told press that the $4.7 million to PromArt, a program that sends artists abroad, will be cut next year, effectively eliminating that program. Although Anne Howland, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, initially said that this manoeuvre had nothing to do with ideology, but when pressed she said, "Certainly we felt some of the groups were not necessarily ones we thought Canadians would agree were the best choices to be representing them internationally."

She was referring to the band Holy F**k, which received funding from PromArt to tour abroad following the release of their second album which received a Juno award nomination and the group itself was shortlisted for the $20,000 Polaris Music Prize. "Some of the groups we felt had little to do with our foreign policy, or how Canadians would want us to be perceived abroad," Howland said, although it is unclear if she was also referring to past PromArts fund recipients like Les Grand Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, author Gwynne Dyer and former CBC broadcaster and author Avi Lewis.



"I guess more than anything it's a little bit annoying that we've been made the scapegoat when you consider how much money we receive relative to the budget for the entire program," said Holy F**k bass player Matt McQuaid on CBC radio’s Q in response. "We've been nominated for a Juno award — that's as mainstream as you get for popular music in Canada," he added, pointing out that the band's videos appear on MTV and MuchMusic. "That argument falls flat in our case and from what I've read … for a lot of other people as well."

If artists weren’t already mad, they got a heck of a surprise at the end of August when a House of Commons review showed that some $45 million in arts and culture funding had been surreptitiously cut by the Conservative government. The cuts included:

 

• Canadian Memory Fund (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $11.57 million.
• Research and development component of Canadian Culture Online (to be phased out as of April 1, 2010): $5.64 million.
• Northern Distribution Program (to be phased out as of April 1, 2010): $2.1 million.
• Culture.ca web portal (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $3.8 million.
• Canadian Cultural Observatory (culturescope.ca) (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $560,000.
• AV Trust - Feature Film Preservation and Access (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $150,000.
• AV Trust - Canadian Music Preservation and Access (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $150,000.
• Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $1.5 million.
• National Training Program for the Film and Video Sector (to be phased out as of April 1, 2009): $2.5 million.
• Trade Routes (contributions to be phased out as of April 1, 2009, remainder of program phased out as of April 1, 2010): $7.1 million.
• Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program (two components to be phased out and one component reduced as of April 1, 2009): $3.9 million.
• Supply Chain Initiative component of the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (reduced as of April 1, 2008): $1 million.
• Support for Industry Development component of the Canada Magazine Fund (to be reduced as of April 1, 2009): $500,000.

But money is one thing. Early this year the divide between the government and artists began to tear with the proposal of Bill C-10, a bill that would give the federal Heritage Department the power to deny funding for films and TV shows it considers offensive. Much of the controversy surrounded the film Young People F***ing, which was released earlier this summer.

Filmmakers organized a screening of the film in Ottawa in May to demonstrate to lawmakers that, despite its provocative title, the film isn’t all that offensive, but only a handful of MPs showed up – none of them Conservative. But reaction from filmmakers over the bill was swift and negative. Legendary Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg said that Canadians have a reputation for making edgy dark movies that go places other filmmakers wouldn't venture. "It sounds like something they do in Beijing," he told CBC News.



But the election call gave Canadian artists a new sense of urgency, a need to rally to get the word out the public, their fears, that a Tory majority would be irreparable damage through deep cuts to the arts and culture programs in Canada. In response to a growing outcry, Harper last week tried to phrase the issue in populist terms, saying in Saskatoon that the protests over funding cuts to the arts is a "niche issue for some." He added, "You know, I think when ordinary, working people come home, turn on the TV and see … a bunch of people at a rich gala all subsidized by the taxpayers, claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know the subsidies have actually gone up, I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people."

Last Thursday, renowned Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent gathered some 20 other ACTRA members in Toronto to respond. "To say, 'Ah, they're just a bunch of whiners who want more money,' is so fundamentally ignorant, and it just betrays his lack of understanding of how the fabric of [various industries] all work together," said actor Colm Feore at the press conference.

But artists are working grassroots too. A Toronto-based organization called the Department of Culture has made news in the last month for organizing video campaigns, concert rallies and outright protests; including a strong showing against a Harper campaign stop in Burlington on September 17th. "I'm concerned about the two-facedness of the arts cuts, where on one hand they say it is just a government review and they are giving more money than the Liberals did, but on the other hand, it comes out in a memo that the reason for the cuts is because the money goes to people who are too political," said David Frisch, a Toronto-based actor, to the Burlington Post.

 

Quebec has naturally not been silent through his entire affair, having its own, home-grown, artistic community that’s been thriving in recent years. At a concert organized to protest the cuts in Montreal last week, both NDP leader Jack Layton and Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe appeared in support of Quebec artists. The NDP crafted a series of ads directed specifically to Quebec artists, shedding light on what Layton believes is Harper’s disregard for the arts in Canada. "Mr. Harper says protecting artists and funding arts is a waste of taxpayers' money," Layton said. “We say that creative industries are an enormous part of our country's future … I say we give them the fair shake and treat them as the entrepreneurs and small business owners that they are.” As for Stéphane Dion, I broached the subject to him in person this past August in my other life as a political reporter. He had made a stopover in Guelph to campaign for local candidate Frank Valeriote. “We need a strong industry of artists now more than ever. First, because it’s fun; we enjoy good emotions and good feelings when we go to see a movie or to the theatre or go to a museum,” said Dion. “Freedom of art and culture is at the core of a sustainable Canadian economy. It’s a bigger industry than mining, forestry and fisheries put together and so for the government to weaken the promotion of arts and culture, weakens artists and culture around the world. We have a government now that is inspired by a moral-right approach, a right-wing US mentality that we don’t like what is different than the standard.

But the protests and proclamations will continue for the remaining two weeks of the election. Coming up, the musicians will get their turn to speak. Hawksley Workman is touring campus radio stations in southern Ontario this week, talking about arts issue and pressing the need on young people to get out to vote. Then, coming up next Thursday, the Department of Culture will be putting on a concert event called “This is Not a Conservative Party” featuring Dave Bidini, Jason Collett, Jim Creeggan, Friendlyness, anitou Kwe Singers, Nadjiwan, Parachute Club, Porkbelly Futures and The Skydiggers.

No matter where you stand, remember: Election Day across Canada is October 14th.