The fundamental contradiction at the core of this discussion
Further to the discussion on the previous post, and this one, and this one too.
Category: arts funding cuts
Grey Relay Day
BC artists have been busy organizing since provincial government announced draconian 90% cuts to arts funding in their recent budget. Much of the action has centered around the theme of a grey square, which through repetition has gained a significant amount of traction as a meme in the media.
Today in Vancouver this theme will be taken to the next level with The Grey Relay. More specific instructions have been provided to confirmed participants, but the general jist provided on the event’s Facebook Page is this:
“*** The Grey Square Grand Plan ***
A minimum of 16 people, dressed in GREY, walk single file SILENTLY and make a grey square SILENTLY on a city corner.
Someone in that group will be designated timekeeper.
After 15 minutes, led by the timekeeper, they walk single file to another city corner and make another square.
This goes on all day, all around the city.
People can be funneled in and out once the route and times are ascertained.
We need: people to form grey squares; volunteers to hand out leaflets; volunteers for communication and organization tasks.
This is not a protest. This is about art and artists taking their space.”
Culture implodes in British Columbia
Image by Laszlo under a Creative Commons 2.0 license
by Michael Wheeler
Wow, Theatre Skam wasn’t joking when they predicted back in March that the government cuts to culture would cause A Total Eclipse of The Arts.
The recent BC budget called for a 90% cut to arts and culture, while most industries averaged out at 7% cutbacks: From $47.8 million in 2008/09 to $3.75 million in 2010/11. It is not hyperbolic to refer to this as utterly devastating. Within a year, many organizations will cease to exist. Looming over this “arts-pocalypse” as Globe and Mail critic Kelly Nestruck first referred to it on Twitter, is the Cultural Olympiad occuring in BC as part of the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.
The dilemna seems clear: The lead up to the games is the only time cultural leaders will have any leverage with the government. They, along with some of the best talent from across the country, are required to entertain the whole gosh-darn planet in a few of months. Afterwards it seems they will be expendable and dispensable, which is a thesis heavily supported by the provincial budget.
But who wants to mess up the Olympics? Many artists have worked their whole lives to arrive on a stage as bright as this. Almost everyone in the arts knows someone who has an amazing opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have due to the Cultural Olympiad.
How to handle this situation will certainly require a sophisticated response from BC artists. It’s a mean-spirited position to put an entire industry and community in. There has been quite a bit of action on the Facebook Group: Organizing against Campbell’s cuts to the arts. Within days it has skyroceted to almost 2500 members and looks to be a central hub for information on this topic.
Are we really going to have one of those ridiculous national “Does art matter?” conversations again? What do you think should be done? How can the rest of Canadian artists support those in BC? One day everything on this website will be about art and how much fun it is to make it!
Total eclipse of the arts
The provincial government in BC has the arts community piping mad after they reduced arts funding to 1980s levels in a single pre-election budget! (Did these guys pay attention to how well that worked out for the government in the federal election?) Theatre Skam has responded with your typical, “Don’t get mad, record and remix a really hilarious song about it” response. Click the link below to hear:
Town Hall photos . . .
September 3, 2008 Town Hall meeting to mobilize in the face of sweeping arts funding cuts in Canada. Above, Toronto Arts Council Executive Director Claire Hopkinson.
And here, author/activist Naomi Klein rallies the troops.
Thanks to Naomi Campbell for passing these shots along. We’d love to post more. Send your Town Hall photos here. Thank you.
Arts funding cuts
Does anyone have any information or opinions on the federal government’s recent cuts to the Trade Routes and the PromArt programs? Some are saying this is a vicious and sweeping attack on Canada’s culture industries.
Here’s a Globe and Mail primer on the cuts: Ottawa axes second arts subsidy in two weeks.
What does all this mean? What should we do?
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